A Better Way of Making Love?

The coital alignment technique is an interesting new way of ensuring men and women can make love in a way that leads to female orgasm during intercourse.

Women don’t generally come (reach orgasm) during intercourse because the woman’s clitoris doesn’t get much stimulation during intercourse, unless the man or his partner plays with it manually, or uses a vibrator in the area as lovemaking proceeds.

To get round this problem, many couples have looked for different ways of making love — rear entry seems particularly popular, because the man can reach underneath and around his partner and stimulate her clitoris as he thrusts into her from behind.

However, it would be rather nice to ensure that a woman can reach orgasm without “manual stimulation” (finger play) during lovemaking, and the coital alignment technique is one method which may well be able to produce this outcome.

The technique was developed by American psychotherapist Edward Eichel. He thought  it would be possible for the man’s body, in particular his pubic area, to stimulate the woman’s clitoral area during lovemaking if the orientation of the male and female body were slightly different during sex.

And so he “invented” the coital alignment technique. Basically, a man shifts higher up the woman’s body when lovemaking commences, so his penis is pressed further downwards, into a more vertical orientation. (This may be unconformable for men whose erection stands close up against their belly.)

The idea: since the man’s pelvis will be in line directly over the woman’s pelvis during lovemaking, it is possible for the man and the woman to adopt a rocking motion rather than the normal thrusting motion, in which the man’s body is constantly in contact with the area of the woman’s mons pubis.

The end result of this is that the man’s body and the woman’s body meet at regular intervals during a rhythmic rocking motion of the pelvis, provided the two people making love have positioned themselves correctly.

Note the position of the woman’s legs – this can make the technique better for a woman (see text below for full description).

Your Position In CAT lovemaking

What does the woman actually do in the coital alignment technique?

Well, first of all, she really needs to participate actively – rather than letting her man do all the work (I believe some women think one of the advantages of the conventional missionary position is how restful it is!)

The main objective of the CAT is to keep the clitoral area in close contact with the man’s pubic bone, and perhaps also the lower part of his penis shaft (although I think this is more difficult for most couples), so that the clitoris receives pressure in a regular way as he moves up and down.

One trick that’s been recommended to help achieve this is for the woman to put her legs around the back of her man’s legs and pull herself into him.

The coital alignment technique requires a rhythm of rocking rather than thrusting. So the man is going to be moving up and down vertically, with his penis entering his partner pretty much at an angle of 90° to his body.

As you can imagine, this is very different to the standard man on top position. Also, he’s not going to be trying to thrust deeply into his partner, because for most of the time, the lower part of his penile shaft (nearest his body) will be outside his partner’s vagina.

The man needs to try and ensure that his pubic area and the base of his penis stay in contact with his partner’s clitoral area.

This requires a rhythm between both partners moving in a rocking backwards and forwards motion.

Any Problems?

While the coital alignment technique really can be a great way of improving sex for couples – and possibly bringing woman to orgasm during intercourse – in some cases the man may not feel great deal of pleasure, because he’s deprived of the opportunity to thrust in the way which is biologically natural (and therefore very satisfying) for him.

And men with short penises may find that they slip out of their partner too often to make this a practical sexual technique.

It is, however, good for the woman, who should get great clitoral stimulation. And if you don’t find the CAT satisfying, there are various things you can try to see if they work for you: put a pillow under the woman’s hips, or maybe have the man move his hips in a circular motion.

A lot of men and women suggest that the CAT is most satisfying when you find a variation which suits you as a particular couple.

In one case, a man found it was vastly improved by placing his legs outside his partners’, while she kept her legs close together as he moved up and down. Obviously this makes the vagina feel far tighter, which can give the man great pleasure, while the woman still gets the clitoral stimulation she needs to make her orgasm.