Can Sex Without Orgasm Bolster Marriages?

Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Matt Cook hasn’t had an orgasm in seven months, and he hopes never to intentionally have one again. The 51-year-old publisher from Virginia isn’t celibate. Happily married for 25 years, Cook said his sex life is more exciting than ever and giving up the goal-oriented climax has improved every aspect of his life.

Cook, the father of two adult sons, is a newcomer to karezza, a form of intercourse that emphasizes affection while staying far from the edge of orgasm. Climax is not the goal and ideally does not occur while making love.

“It creates a deep feeling in a relationship that is very difficult to describe — much deeper than conventional sex,” he said.

Cook is one of a growing number of men who have embraced karezza and have found it has helped heal their marriages, inject more spark into their sex lives and even shed porn addiction.

A recovering porn addict, Cook suffered from performance anxiety with girlfriends. Sex got better with his wife, but he didn’t know how much until he discovered karezza.

Now, he has sex almost every day.

“It kind of never ends,” said Cook. “Why would I want to give that up for a 15-second orgasm?”

Deb Feintech, a counselor from Portland, Maine, uses karezza to help couples repair their broken relationships.

“The people most interested are men,” she said. “It’s very radical for them, but they are finding the emotional intimacy far outweighs any of the thrill of the chase and the mating mind.”

And Feintech said the practice is not just helpful for middle-aged couples struggling with the ennui of a long marriage, but for young couples headed to the altar.

“I offer this to them as something to try for a month or so,” she said. “They wake up every single morning and they are not even thinking about genital stimulation. They are snuggling, holding and breathing with eye contact and flow. It’s very conscious — from the genitals to the heart.”

It puts the emphasis on attachment, not climax.

The word karezza was coined by Dr. Alice Bunker Stockham, a Chicago obstetrician and early feminist who promoted birth control, a ban on corsets and sexual fulfillment for both genders. In 1896, she wrote a book by that name — from the Italian word carezza, which means caress.

For strengthening marriages, she encouraged what was then called “male continence,” although in the interest of equality, she asked that women abstain from orgasm, as well.

Marnia L. Robinson has carried the contemporary torch in her 2009 book, Cupid’s Poisoned Arrow, and on her website, Reuniting: Healing With Sexual Relationships.

“Even for those with the highest libidos, performance can become a grind and drive a craving for novelty,” said Robinson. “Such feelings, although perfectly natural, can create projections and resentment that cause disharmony, especially after our temporary honeymoon neurochemistry wears off.”

Technique is “virtually immaterial,” she says. “It’s a practice about not doing, about getting your goal-driven mammalian mating system out of the way long enough to fall into a state of relaxed union.”

A former corporate lawyer and now a devotee, Robinson argues that karezza’s power is rooted in neuroscience.

“Orgasm really isn’t in our genitals, but actually between our ears,” she said.

In the “passion cycle of orgasm,” the hormone dopamine rises in anticipation of sex, and then crashes after orgasm, creating a biochemical “hangover,” according to Robinson.

In men, that happens almost immediately after ejaculation; for women, it can be two weeks before the brain returns to homeostasis, according to Robinson.

“Karezza turned out to be an enjoyable way to tiptoe around biology’s agenda,” she said.

Overstimulation of the pleasure receptors can also desensitize the brain to pleasure or create a craving for more. When men are addicted to pornography or have frequent orgasms, “no amount of pleasure can satisfy,” she said. “We are always looking for something novel.”

But in karezza, lovemaking never finishes, so sexual energy continues to flow, helping to prevent boredom with a partner, say advocates. Karezza also elicits the relaxation response and encourages the brain to release the “love” hormone ocytocin, which helps in bonding behavior.

Robinson, unable to sustain intimacy, had been married twice before meeting her husband Gary Wilson, a former science teacher who helped her in her research. He had experienced depression and alcohol addiction, but after the couple explored karezza together, he was able to give up Prozac and drinking.

She found she was able to sustain a lasting and harmonious marriage.

“We sit tight, next to each other 24/7 and are never apart,” said Wilson. “I don’t feel the need to have my space, which is unusual.”

Though many other men look at Wilson “like I am crazy,” he said karezza can surprisingly help “rekindle things” in a long-term relationship.

For each couple, the experience is different.

“The natural ‘karezzanauts’ would be committed couples who want to sweeten the harmony of their relationships,” said Robinson.

But young people, too, can try their hand at karezza, she said. In the very least, the practice is an effective form of birth control.

“I doubt any of us forget how to have conventional sex if pregnancy is desired,” she said. “You can still ride a bike, even if you drive a car.”

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio