SEXUAL AIDS: CREAMS AND LUBRICANTS
The vagina produces a natural lubricating fluid within a few seconds of effective sexual stimulation. This normally makes penetration by the penis easier and pleasurable. However, if a man does not persist with foreplay long enough, the vagina won’t be given the chance to produce lubrication. Some women, too, do not produce enough lubricant and most, at different times in their lives, for instance after childbirth and the menopause, will produce less secretions than usual. At these times, an artificial lubricant may be used, and creams and jellies that are
water-soluble are widely sold. (Take care when using petroleum jelly such as Vaseline, which may irritate the vagina.)
Creams and lubricants come in handy, too, when anal stimulation or intercourse is contemplated, and when manually stimulating your partner. Many men use them during masturbation to ease friction and enhance their pleasure. During massage, too, scented oils or creams can add to the pleasure.
Many women feel pressured not just by society or their partners but also by their own feelings about the presence or absence of lubrication as a sign of arousal. It is comforting to remember that erection of the clitoris and lubrication of the vagina, even erection of the penis, are merely reflexes that do not always accurately reflect our emotional or aroused state. Women can be intensely aroused without being well lubricated, and similarly men can be intensely aroused without an erection. It is an untenable sexist view of things to think that a well-lubricated vagina is solely an opening for an erect penis.
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