As you may know, sex in the man on top or missionary position is a wonderful experience. The physical and emotional intimacy is indeed unsurpassed in any other position. However, most women find that they can’t orgasm during man on top sex. (Or, indeed, in any intercourse position.)

And, despite, or perhaps because of this, couples tend to stick with a routine of foreplay, penetration, and male orgasm. But male orgasm usually signals the end of sex for a couple. And this, as you can imagine, is not terribly satisfying for most women.

The reason why the woman doesn’t climax, of course,  is that man on top sex doesn’t actually stimulate her clitoris. And the clitoris is precisely where most women need stimulation before they can reach orgasm.

Experts now say that few if any women reach orgasm in the man on top position during intercourse. And yes, the position feels lovely, even without female orgasm, but it could be so much better. What about multiple orgasms or simultaneous orgasm, for a start?

Well, let’s get one thing straight. Lack of female orgasm is no reflection on the relationship, or indeed on the level of love between the two partners. It’s a reflection on human anatomy.  Women can’t reach orgasm during man on top sex because of the human genital anatomy.

So can women enjoy orgasm during sex?

Some experts advise resorting to a vibrator, oral sex, or some other way of bringing the woman off. And they say it’s best to do that before the man enters her.

That’s missing the point! It’s not what women say they want.

What women want is an orgasm during intercourse! And because the man on top position allows full body connection and emotional intimacy, women like it. They also want to achieve climax in this intimate sexual position.

Advice from experts to use positions like woman on top, where the woman can rub her clitoris against the man’s body is advice which misses the point completely.

Many women want missionary style intercourse with orgasms!

Most men want to make love in the missionary position as well – simply because it feels great! However many men come quickly in this position.

So. How do we make sex last longer, and give women a chance to reach orgasm?

Answer: The Coital Alignment Technique!

Abbreviated to the letters CAT, the coital alignment technique was introduced in 1988 by sex researcher Edward Eichel. He set out to find a way in which women could have orgasms during intercourse – specifically, missionary position sex.

How To Do The CAT

To start with, the man does NOT lie on top of his partner chest to chest. Nor does he thrust in and out of her, with his penis more or less horizontal.

Instead, he moves up her body – that’s to say he moves up her body horizontally, so that his chest is closer to one of her shoulders.

As a result his penis is forced downwards (or more accurately backwards), at least as you it when look at the man is lying on top of his partner.

When his penis is inside her in this sexual position, the base of his shaft and his pubic area make much more contact with the woman’s clitoral area.

This provides direct clitoral stimulation which may enable her to reach orgasm.

At the time the coital alignment technique was announced it seemed like a massive hit. There was even a book written about it called The Perfect Fit. But  over the last 20 years, it’s become more and more ignored – why?

Mostly, I think, because the instructions aren’t always very simply presented.

But research has continued over the years, and we now know the coital alignment technique really does help women have orgasms during missionary or man on top intercourse.

Learning the CAT may not be the easiest thing in the world. However if you get it right, you soon realize it feels intimate, enjoyably different, and it leads to orgasms for both partners.

Surely that has to be worth it?

So, if you’re a couple who in any way expect to improve the quality of your sex lives, this is the most obvious and simple way to do just that!

How The Coital Alignment Technique Works

When you look back at what Edward Eichel said about it, it was really very simple. He took the most commonly used and most popular sex position – the man on top – and shifted the man’s position a bit. He also added more co-ordinated movement, relaxation, and a slower pace and rhythm of sex.

This new way of making love offered women orgasms during intercourse. He called it the coital alignment technique.

And apparently women really do have more orgasms during intercourse when couples use the coital alignment technique. (CAT for short.) In fact, Redbook magazine wrote gushingly about the CAT that it “is the greatest thing that has improved sex since the invention of the bed”.

And Eichel himself observed even women in their fifties who had never climaxed (ever!) could reach orgasm when they used the CAT. This shows that the CAT does have the power to improve people’s sex lives.

Eichel has come in for some criticism, but then everybody who comes upsets the status quo gets criticised.

One sex therapist said “this is a new gimmick, and sex is not that simple.” I won’t mention the name of the sex and marriage therapist in question! Really, the point is this – lots of women and men say that the coital alignment technique works. And a few die-hard therapists say nothing in life is as simple as this!

The problem, I think, lies in the fact that the coital alignment technique is not simple to learn.

When it first “came out” there was massive interest in it, which is not surprising, because this was back in 1992 or thereabouts. People were just getting to terms with the fact that sex was normal, enjoyable, and everyone did it!.

Indeed, this was probably the ideal time to introduce a new sex technique which was all about female pleasure! No wonder it garnered massive interest.

But unfortunately the coital alignment technique rapidly became – well, if not ignored exactly, at least it faded into obscurity. Why? Because it takes effort.

Also, in some men’s minds, sex becomes goal oriented (she must have an orgasm!). But then, women who don’t come, even with the help of the coital alignment technique, can start to feel like “failures”. They aren’t achieving something that they “ought to be able to do”!

Orgasm Can Be A Goal During Sex

Maybe we need to regard intercourse as something that’s and enjoyable shared experience, even if the woman (or man) doesn’t orgasm.

To say that people have to make love in a specific way to achieve orgasm is questionable. It’s notable that Beverly Whipple, one of the discoverers of the G spot, was careful to avoid setting up the objective of reaching orgasm through G spot stimulation as another goal for women to achieve during intercourse.

She recognized there was enough pressure on women to conform to certain sexual ideals already. She did not want to impose more expectations on women.

And yet, and yet, there is something rather magnificent about the idea of female orgasm during intercourse. Even better when it’s achieved by simply changing the man’s position and how the couple move during lovemaking.

This doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with somebody who is NOT having orgasm during intercourse.

Furthermore, we all need to be open to anything that can improve the enjoyment of both partners during sex. Perhaps we’ve lost sight of the fact that anything we do can be made better simply with refinement and practice – sex included!

It’s also true that some of Eichel’s attitudes look a little bit, well, old-fashioned, shall we say. He believes that men and women should remain monogamous and stay faithful to each other, and that they should use the coital alignment technique to achieve simultaneous orgasm.

Does The CAT Work?

Research has been mixed, and really quite informal – so it’s not very clear what the success rate of the CAT depends on.

But I think I can tell you: it depends on how well somebody learns it, which in turn depends on how well they’re taught it. For example, Karen Brasch, a woman who conducts sexual enrichment workshops for women and couples, asked six of her couples to try it, and all of the six women had orgasms during CAT sex.

I suspect another problem is that many men have premature ejaculation; meaning, they can’t delay ejaculation for more than 2 to 3 minutes. You see, even with the coital alignment technique at least 10 and possibly 20 minutes of rhythmic movement may be needed for a woman to reach orgasm.

So maybe the problem isn’t the CAT, maybe the problem is men’s ability to control ejaculation.

When you look at couples where the man has good ejaculatory control, there is plenty of evidence that the coital alignment technique works. (My own research sows it is very good for men who want to overcome delayed ejaculation or who have difficulty reaching orgasm during intercourse.)

Also, most complaints about the CAT seem to be from men who want the kind of wild abandoned thrusting which men enjoy. This kind of thrusting is not part of the coital alignment technique.

Some of us would say that the pleasure of simultaneous orgasm more than makes up for the loss of hard thrusting!