What the science says about clitoral stimulation

What the studies say overall

The research agrees that, for many women, clitoral stimulation is important for reaching orgasm during intercourse (Herbenick et al., 2018; Shirazi et al., 2018).

In a US sample, only a minority said that penetration alone was enough; more than a third said that clitoral stimulation was necessary, and another good third said it was not, but that their orgasms were better with it (Herbenick et al., 2018).

Studies on orgasm frequency point in the same direction. In an online sample, it was higher when intercourse included clitoral stimulation than when this was not specified or absent (Shirazi et al., 2018).

In a large sample of app users, the highest frequencies of orgasm when alone were associated with stimulating the clitoris with a vibrator or dildo, watching pornography or erotica, and stimulating the clitoris by hand (Hewings-Martin et al., 2026).

The reviews describe the clitoris as the centre of the orgasmic response (Pauls et al., 2015). An experiment with bisexual or pansexual women adds a nuance: when imagining an encounter with a man, they expected to reach orgasm less often when the script included only vaginal intercourse (Wetzel et al., 2025).

Other surveys qualify the split. In a sample of heterosexual Italian women, four in ten mostly experienced orgasms from clitoral stimulation, fewer than one in five mostly vaginal ones and the rest both (Sansone et al., 2025).

In a US cohort, vaginal intercourse was the best trigger of orgasm for six in ten women, followed by external stimulation by a partner or by themselves, and in another study almost two in three women said that clitoral and vaginal stimulation both contributed to their usual way of reaching orgasm (Shaeer et al., 2020; Prause et al., 2016).

A survey of more than a thousand women linked preferring body movement during arousal with more orgasms during intercourse, with or without clitoral stimulation at the same time (Bischof-Campbell et al., 2019).

A small functional magnetic resonance imaging study followed the brain activity of ten women: it rose up to orgasm, peaked at orgasm and fell afterwards, whether they stimulated the clitoris themselves or their partner did (Wise et al., 2017).

Where they disagree

The reviews do not settle whether or not vaginal pleasure comes exclusively from clitoral stimulation (Pauls et al., 2015).

A recent review suggests that orgasms may be more intense when clitoral stimulation, stimulation of the anterior vaginal wall and oral sex are combined in the same encounter, but this is an observation, not a trial (Arias-Castillo et al., 2023).

Surveys do not agree on the weight of intercourse either: in a US cohort it was the best trigger for most, while in others clitoral stimulation appears as necessary or as the main route (Shaeer et al., 2020; Herbenick et al., 2018; Sansone et al., 2025). The samples and the questions differ, and many women combine the two (Prause et al., 2016; Sansone et al., 2025).

Limits of the evidence

Almost all the data are self-reported and come from online surveys, apps or imagined scenarios, with people who choose to take part (Shirazi et al., 2018; Hewings-Martin et al., 2026; Wetzel et al., 2025). They do not allow methods to be compared with each other or tell us what is best for any one person.

The imaging study was carried out with ten women (Wise et al., 2017).

The studies, one by one

We have gathered 11 verified studies. Each summary is our own; the quotation in inverted commas is taken word for word from the original abstract, in English.

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