Orgasms are an important part of sexual health, but oftentimes, people aren’t having them enough.
If you thought the pay gap was bad, the orgasm gap between men and women is even worse. That’s why many female celebrities have become outspoken about sexual health, particularly the importance of women climaxing, over the years.
Christina Aguilera launched Playground, a company making eco-friendly and clean lubricants, as a way to shift the focus to women in the bedroom.
“[I hope to] inspire other women to feel comfortable with talking about their experiences and owning their body and their sexuality and what that means to them,” the singer told People. “Because every woman is different.”
From talking about their sex lives to even sharing details of their first orgasms, many celebrities are taking the conversations that were once taboo and bringing them to the forefront. Unsurprisingly, many women came for the first time through masturbation.
Jada Pinkett-Smith’s grandmother taught her “about self-pleasuring” at age 9 because “she wanted me to know that that pleasure was from me.”
“She didn’t want me to fall into the hands of a man — and if he gave me pleasure, to think that that was him,” the actress said on Red Table Talk.
Jada continued her education into her early 20s while she was “abstaining” from men. “I’ve had a lot of experience with sex toys,” she continued. “I gave myself multiples first. Multiple orgasms. I was really into it at one point, just because I was in an exploration state.”
Everyone is different, but typically for women, the road leading to orgasm starts sooner than you think. Masters of None star Lena Waithe said what we all know to be true: “Foreplay is extremely important.” Take notes, people!
“It’s kind of cheesy, but my girlfriend and I live together and my schedule allows me to be at home a lot when she goes to the office. So I always make it my business to make sure the house is clean when she comes home,” Lena said in 2016 of her then-partner Alana Mayo. “That’s a big part of our foreplay: making sure when she comes home that she’s in a clean house and feels really good. That’s really important. People think sex only happens when people get naked, but it really starts when your partner gets home and when you’re doing things to get them in a really sexy place.”
Keep reading for more celebrity quotes about orgasms.
Halle Berry
“I remember my first orgasm and I did it to myself,” the actress said. “I was diddling, and I was figuring out my sexuality, like most girls.”
Khloé Kardashian
The reality star said the first time having sex is “weird” and “hurts” on her now-defunct blog, adding, “You definitely don’t have an orgasm your first time. I didn’t for the first few years! I didn’t even know what the feeling was until I had one; I just liked the intimacy part. When it happened, I was like, ‘Ohhhhh, that’s what that is!!!'”
Gabrielle Union
“[When I was 5] I used to have an oversized stuffed animal that had like a potbelly, and I’d laid on it. And I was like, ‘Whoa, oh, oh, ignition, hello!’ Yeah, I was like, ‘This is awesome if I kinda hump this stuffed animal.’ I just knew that it was amazing. What I was feeling was awesome and I just rolled with it,” the actress said. “To this day … Self-love is the best love. [In my book, We’re Going to Need More Wine,] I also talk about thinking that because that’s where I thought the fun was, I thought that my clitoris was my vagina. It just never occurred to me to do a deeper dive, because that was amazing. What else could there be?”
Christina Aguilera
“I’ve gotten to know my vagina well over the last 42 years. And literally there are pleasure points that keep opening up as you get older,” the singer said. “And that’s something that I’ve really noticed. There’s four different places that I can orgasm from around my vagina, and that is the truth.”
Nicki Minaj
“I demand that I climax. I think women should demand that,” the rap artist said. “I have a friend who’s never had an orgasm in her life. In her life! That hurts my heart. It’s cuckoo to me.”
Amy Poehler
“Try not to fake it: I know you are tired/nervous/eager to please/unsure of how to get there. Just remember to allow yourself real pleasure and not worry about how long it takes,” she wrote in her memoir Yes, Please. “God punished us with the gift of being able to fake it. Show God who the real boss is by getting off and getting yours.”
Kim Cattrall
“I believe that a man should know how to make a woman experience orgasm until she is truly satisfied,” the Sex and the City actress wrote in her book Satisfaction: The Art of the Female Orgasm.
Lizzy Caplan
“The female body is far better equipped for sex than the male body. Women can have multiple orgasms; men cannot. They’re actually the sexual athletes, not men,” the Mean Girls actress said.
Margaret Cho
“I never fake it, and I am sure sometimes people would wish that I did, but I don’t care,” the comedian wrote on her website. “Remember, always, that sex is for you first.”
Betty Friedan
“No woman gets an orgasm from shining the kitchen floor,” the feminist icon said.
