good or painful. This will be especially
important as she experiences more intense sensations and moves closer to the Big O, a time when direct pressure on the clitoris may become too much.
Communicate with yourself! Get to know your clitoris. Make sure you’re familiar with what turns you on and what kinds of pressure, stimulation, and sensations your clitoris likes, so you can share the info with your lover. Also, be sure to make a date with your clitoris on more than one occasion. What you find you enjoy when you’re tired may be totally different from what strikes a special chord when you’re already sexually charged, so it’s good to know what your body likes under different circumstances. Having this knowledge makes it easier for you to teach your lover about your body and your needs.
If it’s your clitoris, don’t get too caught up in yourself at the expense of missing out on your lover’s reactions to turning you on. Many partners find clitoral play highly arousing, sometimes so much so that it brings them to the point of orgasm themselves! So enjoy watching your adored one smiling, glowing, concentrating on, and basking in—simply spellbound by—the joys of clitoral wonder.
Give a little demonstration of what feels good. As you do so, ask your partner to cup their hand over yours in order to feel your rhythm, energy, and motions. As you eventually allow your lover to take over, don’t be afraid to guide the hand motion, all the while offering affirmative or con- structive feedback, saying, for example, “I like your rhythm, but now I need just a little more pressure.”
Finger Action for Clitoral Pleasure
� EXERCISE 2.1: Ride ’Em Cowgirl
Place your hand between her legs and cup her buttocks in your palm, resting your wrist and lower forearm against her vulva.
Ask her if she wants to “ride” your wrist or the heel of your hand, pressing herself against you. This allows her to control the pressure against her vulva and clitoris.
Soon after you’ve picked up on her rhythm, offer to take over, pressing your arm against her vulva as you massage other hot spots. If she wants to continue getting herself off, by all means, don’t in- terrupt!
As an alternative, instead of using your arm, slip your leg between her legs so that she can ride your thigh or knee.
� EXERCISE 2.2: Playing Her Like a Twelve-String Guitar
Use the thumb and index finger of one hand to part her labia while moving your other hand’s index and/or middle finger in a gentle cir- cling motion around her clitoris. You’ll notice that, with increased arousal, her clitoris will become firmer. Her verbal and nonverbal re- actions will determine how much pressure you should use and how soon you may want to move on to step 2. If she enjoys this motion, stay with it for a while. If it becomes too much, move on to the next step. If it’s unclear what she’s experiencing, ask her.
Rub the clitoral shaft, moving up and down between the hood and base, keeping your movement firm and steady.
Intermittently, rock your fingertip back and forth across the glans, applying pressure directly on it or from the side (closer to the root), as though massaging your temples.
At any point, unless her clitoris is feeling super-sensitive, tap against the clitoris rhythmically with your finger(s) or hand. Depending on her preferred style of stimulation, she may enjoy a steady smacking or slapping action against her clitoris, but this action may be more bearable—yet still quite effective—if she has clothes on. You may also get more of a reaction if her mons pubis bears part of this love tap, as doing so will remove some of the force from her clitoris.
The clitoral hood can be regarded as its own hot spot since it, too, fills with blood during sexual arousal, as demonstrated in the following ex- ercise.
� EXERCISE 2.3: What’s under Here? Getting to Know the Clitoral Hood
Rub the clitoris and clitoral hood gently between your thumb