Exploring the Meaning of Orgasmic Absence Using the Story Completion Method

When orgasms are positioned by biomedical discourse as the pinnacle of healthy sexual expression, and when popular culture urges individuals to work on their sexual technique to get bigger, better, and more intense orgasmic pleasure, how do people account for the absence of orgasm? This question was explored in a qualitative study using the story completion method where participants complete the end of a story in which a male or female partner does not have an orgasm during sex. Story completion was originally developed as a projective measure within psychoanalytic traditions, designed to access people’s inner thoughts, feelings, and motivations. This case study describes the benefits of using the story completion method as a social constructionist approach to examining the sensitive topic of sexuality.