Loose Lips	Loose Lips Archive

When Miss Poubelle was in the supermarket a few weeks ago, she happened to glance at the cover of Glamour magazine, and was amused to see the title "Orgasm Face: Guys Compare Notes­ He reveals his secret thoughts about your ecstasy expression." Miss Poubelle and her lover laughed about the new area of anxiety that Glamour seemed to be creating for women. They imagined readers thinking things like this:

"Let's see, my hair is now acceptably styled, and I finally have got the mascara that makes my eyelashes look long enough, but have I spent enough time practising my orgasm face?"

View our poll archive

Or perhaps engaging in a dialogue like the following:

"Did you hear about Tiffany?"

"No, what happened?"

"Tyler broke up with her 'cause her orgasm face grossed him out."

"If only she had read Glamour, this never would have happened!"

Miss Poubelle cannot honestly say that she ever spent much time personally considering what her orgasm face might look like, though she hopes that it has been acceptable to her partners over the years. On the other hand, maybe the mysterious failure of Raoul to return her phone calls was actually due to...(gasp!)...bad orgasm face. She supposes she will never know at this point.

Humans, of course, do have some distinctive facial expressions that go along with orgasms, but oddly enough Blanche is not familiar with any particular slang that happens to describe that particular expression. When she was in college, she remembers hearing the rumor that the phrase "turning Japanese" in the song by the Vapors, was a reference to masturbation, according to a theory that an orgasm face makes Caucasians look more Asian. But she has read the lyrics to "Turning Japanese" rather carefully, and cannot find anything in them that supports a secret masturbation reference. Nor can she say that her own observations have tended to support the Asian orgasm face theory.

But a distinctive orgasm face is not restricted to humans, Miss Poubelle was interested to note. Among other primates, there is a special orgasm face or "ejac face" that has been noted in stumptail macaques, rhesus monkeys, and chimpanzees, so it might be safe to assume that orgasm face is an ancient part of the biology of human beings.

As to why we make the face, Miss Poubelle feels safe in saying that the scientists have no idea. Most human facial expressions are unconscious communications of emotion to other people. If our faces are noticeably sad, angry, or fearful, then those around us will tend to take some appropriate action, such as comforting us, withdrawing from us, or protecting us. It makes sense that humans would have evolved these kinds of facial expressions because they actually play some function in mediating social interactions with each other.

But what signal does orgasm face convey to another person? And how often is it even observed by others? No doubt, the answers to this are lost in the dim mists of our primate heritage, and we are now stuck with this quirky thing called orgasm face. We'd be wise to make the best of it. And if Raoul is out there somewhere, drop Miss Poubelle a line. She's been practising her face with you in mind....