Even if I don’t care for the song, I can’t deny that smarmy fuck John Mayer was correct when he crooned “your body is a wonderland.” With upwards of 30 distinct erogenous zones spanning from head to toe — each with their own unique methods of stimulation — our bodies are a horny cornucopia of hot spots for sexual pleasure.
Visiting each spot can feel like a tall task, but hey, Rome wasn’t built (or fucked) in a day. Like a tourist in a fresh new city, you’ve got to slow down and explore each one, spending time to get to know its ebbs and flows. To that effect, here’s a roadmap of some of the body’s greatest cum-spots to hit along the way…
A-Spot
Formally known as the anterior fornix erogenous zone, the A-spot is located on the frontal wall of the vagina, due north of the G-spot by a couple of inches. Situated directly between the cervix and the bladder, it has a smooth texture similar to the rest of the vaginal canal, though it may feel soft or spongy to the touch. Because it’s so far up there — between 4 to 6 inches in — you may need a longer finger, toy or penis to reach it. If you don’t have one, the receiver can pull their legs into their chest, cannonball-style — this shortens the vagina a little, making such a deep spot easier to access.
The A-spot also plays a role in self-lubrication. In a recent study, 271 women received “gentle, repeated stroking of the inner half of the anterior vaginal wall,” 77 percent of whom reported “copious” or “appreciable” vaginal lubrication during the act. Nearly 40 percent of them were able to reach orgasm. The A-spot also responds particularly well to anal stimulation — it can be indirectly reached through the front wall of the rectum, which may explain why anal sex makes some people with vaginas very, very wet.
Butthole
The butthole is the access point through which prostate and A-spot stimulation is possible, but it comes with its own set of stimulating sensations. The anal sphincter (the ring of muscle surrounding the anus) is innervated by thousands of nerve endings, and the best way to stimulate them is to make that bussy pop with a sudden change in the hole’s fullness.
You can do this by slowly thrusting the head of a penis or dildo in and out of it, but the best way is to use anal toys that are beaded or ridged. As each sexy little speed bump of the toy passes through the sphincter, it can create a tingly, massaging sensation that radiates pleasure to other areas, too.
C-Spot
Not to be confused with the other C-spot (the clitoris), this C-spot is the cervix. A cervical orgasm can be achieved by applying rhythmic pressure to the ectocervix (the part that protrudes into the vagina), which usually requires deep penetration and, because it’s near more sensitive organs that can be painful if bumped, a slower build-up of sensation. Researchers think that the reason why cervical stimulation feels good is because the same nerves that innervate the clit and G-spot also travel along the cervix — that means pleasuring one of those areas might also create some hot sensations in others.
Like the A-spot, the cervix is easiest to access through positions like doggy style or by using a long toy, penis or fist, and it tends to produce orgasms that crash down like waves and spread out through every part of the body like a so-called “shower of stars.” Not everyone has them — and prodding a cervix can also be uncomfortable — so make sure to start slow and gentle with this one.
Clitoris
While the fleshy bud at the peak of the labia is what we generally think of as the “clit,” that pea-sized knob is only the head (or glans) of the much larger organ. As we discussed last year, the internal clit includes a set of “bulbs” and “legs” made of nerve endings, blood vessels and erectile tissue that wrap around the vagina and sit in clusters on either side of its external opening. When someone gets aroused, these structures fill with blood, making things feel much warmer, more sensitive and more pleasurable.
Many people with clits find stimulation to this area essential. A 2017 study showed that 37 percent of women say clitoral stimulation is necessary to orgasm, with another 36 percent reporting they could climax without it, but that it didn’t feel as good. It makes sense why — the clit is packed with more than 8,000 nerve endings. That’s more than any other structure on the human body, and twice as many as the penis.
Mouths, fingers and vibrators are a great way to stimulate the clit — just make sure it’s properly lubed up and that you start with a gentle touch.
Dickhead
The head of a dick is composed of three major parts: 1) The glans (the mushroom-like tip of the cock); 2) the urethra (the hole); and 3) the frenulum (the stretchy piece of skin on the underside of the penis that connects the glans to the shaft). The head itself has about 4,000 nerve endings, while the frenulum, containing the most concentrated cluster of pleasure sensors in the penis, functions as a sort of cum trigger.
Bobby Box, a sex educator, journalist and host of the Bad in Bed: Queer Sex Podcast, says he finds frenulum-focused orgasms to be more powerful than your standard orgasm. “It’s a slow and gradual one,” he tells me. “It builds over time, starting as a gentle tickle that begins to feel more intense and erotic as you continue. It’s basically edging, and because this climax takes time to build, it’s explosive.”
While pleasuring the urethra is possible through sounding, both the glans and frenulum can be stimulated through vibration or putting them in and out of nearly any hole — whether it involves oral, manual, anal, vaginal, a Fleshlight, or as a certain queer romantic drama reminded us, fruit.
Ears
Ears are covered in extremely sensitive skin and contain hundreds of sensory receptors, so with the right attention, a little earplay can send sexy shivers running down your entire body. Lightly running your fingers along someone’s lobes can feel exciting on its own, but the best way to achieve pleasure aurally is, well, orally. All it takes is a well-placed whisper, some heavy breathing or simply licking, kissing or nibbling all over the ear to make someone realize not all the pleasure zones are down south.
Feet
On the other hand, some erogenous zones are as south as it gets. Many are turned off by the idea of feet, considering they’re often dirty and we use them to stomp on bugs. But it doesn’t take a foot fetishist on Tarantino’s level to recognize that our feet, particularly the bottoms of them, are highly sensitive to touch. The best way to get your dogs barking is through massaging pressure points and seeing what feels best, or by sucking on each toe like it’s an all-you-can-eat shrimp buffet (toe-sucking is called shrimping).
G-Spot
The Grafenberg spot, or G-spot, is a dense cluster of nerves, blood vessels and erectile tissue that sits around two to three inches up inside the vagina, on the frontal wall. It’s not a standalone organ, however, as prevailing theory says the G-spot is actually part of the larger network of the internal clit. The simplest way to find this spot — which is capable of inducing world-ending orgasms and squirting — is by inserting your fingers into someone and pulling them toward you in a sort of “come hither” motion, like a floor manager at a catered affair beckoning an employee to criticize their customer service. Curved vibrators work, too.
Nipples
Nipples are the great equalizers. Though they come in vastly different shapes, sizes and colors, part of the great beauty of these sensitive protrusions — which have hundreds of pleasurable nerve endings — is that everyone has them. Stimulation to the nipples is also experienced in the same part of our brain that registers genital orgasms, meaning nipple orgasms, while rare, are achievable.
The sensitivity of people’s chest tchotchkes varies wildly, though, so it’s best to start slow when figuring out your or someone else’s tolerance for tit touching. Start with gentle titty kisses or light rubbing. If those nippley niceties don’t feel too much, move on to licking and pinching, and then biting and twisting. With the right combination, you or your partner will be twitching from the titillation of it all.
Prostate
The prostate is a walnut-shaped gland at the internal root of the dick. It can be most easily accessed through the anus by angling your insertable up a few inches in the rectum toward the cock (though it can also be massaged through the perineum, the bridge of skin that lies between butthole and balls). The prostate’s main function is to produce the seminal fluid that carries sperm when a dick cums. Pressing against it creates a unique sensation, which a dear friend once described to me as “if someone tenderly punched the cum out of you.” True to that, seminal fluid often leaks out of the cock when the prostate is being stimulated.
The prostate is the main reason anal sex can be so pleasurable for people who have (or have had) dicks. And much like the G-spot, this slutty gland has no refractory period, meaning that with the right amount of rhythmic pressure via fingering, fucking, fisting or vibrating, you can milk the cum out of someone multiple times. Many people with prostates also use specially shaped butt plugs to have mind-blowing, hands-free orgasms.
Well, there you have it. I’ll be over here, vibrating my ear.
Chingy Nea
Chingy Nea is a writer, comedian and critically acclaimed ex-girlfriend based out of L.A. and Oakland.
