I know that you will think that I am weird. All of my friends describe an orgasm as a time when you scream with delight and just feel altogether good and excited. I think that I have had an orgasm, but if it is like that I am unsure. Please describe what an orgasm is supposed to feel like.

Believe me I don't think you are weird. Actually more honest than most as this is a more common question than you may think. Many people will go "Oh come on you know when you feel it." Maybe yes, maybe no.

The reason I wrote my third book THE BIG O is to dispel the myths and give people accurate researched information about orgasms.

To begin with, your friends may be displaying how they actually experience their orgasms or as often happens their behavior mirrors how they THINK orgasms are experienced based on film depictions (think the orgasm scene in When Harry Met Sally), adult/porn material (know they are 'acting'), or books telling them they have to have various types multiple ongoing orgasms, simultaneous etc.

Know that the screaming occurs for some women but not all and some orgasms feel like they are going to be amazing and kind of pffft out at the moment. So don't comparison shop your sexual experiences with your friends.

'Orgasmic Fingerprinting' is a term that describes how uniquely each woman experiences her orgasms and was coined by sex researchers Hartman, Fithian and Campbell.

Translation: your orgasms however created and experienced have a completely unique orgasmic pattern to you, hence the term 'fingerprinting' .

To address how an orgasm feels, the best physical analogy I know of is the physical sensation that accompanies the build up to a sneeze. It starts in a small area and spreads in intensity as it builds and ends with a sudden very satisfying release.

An orgasm similarly is a buildup of nice to amazing sensation in the genitals that builds and builds until there is a major release. Even though the sensation is felt in the genitals the place that creates the sensation may be farther away, for example your mouth during kissing, your breasts during stimulation.

This buildup is also accompanied by increasing respiration, heartbeat and at the moment of orgasm the sensation of waves of pulsation/muscular contractions that are felt in the pelvic genital region

So you may very well have experienced 'your' orgasms if you have self-pleasured/masturbated, or had a partner with skilled hands, tongue or body.