Men vs Women

Disclaimer: I honour the beautiful diversity of gender identities and expressions. For the purposes of this publication, the terms 'men' and 'women' will refer to those assigned male or female at birth (AMAB/AFAB) to align with the context of hormonal cycles and anatomy. This is not intended to exclude or invalidate anyone’s experience - all identities and bodies are warmly welcomed here at The Heart of Pleasure.

For as long as anyone can remember, people have been trying to figure out the differences between men’s and women’s desire. From ancient times right through to the 90s bestseller Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, there’s been this ongoing fascination with how we experience pleasure - and a whole lot of assumptions mixed in too.

In the 60s, researchers Masters and Johnson set out to map exactly how our bodies respond to arousal and orgasm, giving us one of the first "official" models of human sexuality. It was ground-breaking at the time, but - surprise, surprise - it was also pretty male-centric. It treated desire like a simple, linear process: you get turned on, you have sex, you orgasm, you’re done.

But what if we stopped trying to fit everyone into the same model and started looking at desire through a more natural, cyclical lens?

Keep reading on Substack....