Your question assumes that the phenomenon exists. Given the volume of research in the area, what statements and by whom would you consider not supported by evidence?

I personally have approached many leading therapists and sexologists to ask them to discuss female sexual response. They have all universally refused to engage. The papers that are produced suggest speculative theories that are never proven. There is no empirical evidence to support female sexual response. It is mostly myth and hearsay from people boasting about female orgasm. Men to boost their ego and women to make money. The research that involved talking to women (Kinsey and Hite) has been ignored. Their conclusions (like Basson and many others) is that women have sex because they feel obligated or to maintain an emotional bond. Sex is primarily a male pleasure. Women please a man to tie him into a relationship. Kinsey and Hite both found that female orgasm is most explicitly described by women who masturbate. Clearly there are very few women who masturbate to orgasm.

I am asking women to explain the orgasms with a lover that we see portrayed in erotic fiction. I suspect that they do not occur in reality. I have approached many female sexologists and sexual therapists for explanations. Typically they refuse to discuss female orgasm, or they refer me to a book or they say they are too busy to respond. The fact that they are so-called experts, they do not inspire me with confidence that they experience these orgasms any more than women in the population who are also very reluctant to comment on orgasm. There is huge pressure from men on women to say that they orgasm with a lover. Men want to feel that sex is not a selfish male pleasure even if they have to pay, hassle or persuade women to have sex.

Jane Elizabeth Thomas perhaps you should be clear that they refused to discuss the subject with you specifically.

Getting people to participate in qualitative research is a tricky art, and requires establishing credibility, neutrality, friendly interest and good intentions. Before you attribute a common motivation to the people who didn't want to be interviewed you might critically review how you approached them.

Eveyone in research has had to take no for an answer from prospective participants. All you can do is minimise the risk and when it happens, thank them for listening, smile and move on. Oh – and reflect.

Thanks Ronan for your advice. I am looking for women who are prepared to be honest. Unlike a therapist, I am not paid to listen to erotic fiction. If women were having orgasms, they would understand what I am saying. They do not. They think I must be a man for talking positively about eroticism. They think that orgasm arises from being in love. This is fine in the early days but does not explain how women orgasm throughout their lives. They do not compare sex with masturbation. They are horrified by the idea of erotic fantasies, which they associate with male sexuality. They do not understand the role of erotic turn-ons. In fact, they do not understand what eroticism means. They think that arousal occurs from a man's smile or his hairy chest. They think that orgasm occurs from stimulating the elbow etc. I am not looking for nonsense. I am looking for intelligent women who can discuss sexual response with confidence. Such women do not appear to exist, in my experience. Even men have difficulty talking about sexual response explicitly. This is the taboo of sex that is generated by women's lack of responsiveness and consequent lack of understanding that crude inputs - explicit erotic stimuli - are required for orgasm. Emotional attachment has nothing to do with sexual response. If you know even one woman who is capable of discussing the topic, please ask her to contact me. I have asked sex therapists and sexologists to comment but they only engage on projects where they are paid. They do not have any personal interest in understanding sexual response as a scientific topic.

Jane Elizabeth Thomas if you want people to be honest, then you must hold out something in return : equipoise. It seems to me that you are in a difficult position as a qualitative researcher because you come to the situation with clear and emphatic ideas. I am currently working on a qualitative research project and it puts the participants at their ease to find out that I am genuinely interested and I've done my homework but I'm from a different culture. The fact that I am genuinely interested – fascinated – by what they have to say helps them to verbalise ideas that within their own culture would be unspoken since they are take for granted.

I get a strong sense of your zeal to understand female sexuality. This is a powerful motivator, but can send a person out into the field determined that they know what they will find. May I suggest that if you are the prayerful type, you pray to find something that turns everything you thought you knew completely upside down! It is there that real discoveries are made.

As Asmiov said, the most wonderful thing a scientst can say is not eurika, it is WTF???

Thanks Ronan for your support. I am highlighting that for the most part only men are willing to discuss sexuality especially explicitly. But even men cannot explain how a woman achieves arousal. They cannot even account for consistent anatomy, which is odd since the male anatomy is very consistent. If women were having orgasms with a partner, then men would know these basic facts as much as women would. Other researchers into sexuality have ASSUMED that women should orgasm with a lover. It is my personal experience that this does not happy - over decades of regular intercourse and sex play. So I am asking people to explain logically how women achieve these orgasms. Men have plenty of theories based on erotic fiction. But few women have anything to say. I would say that others are biased and come to sex research with preconceptions. I am challenging the misconceptions, the anomalies and the contradictions. I am not looking for a predetermined result as others are - that female orgasm is possible in a million different and incredible ways. I am simply asking people to explain them. No one can name even one female erotic turn-on. So if they are not aroused how on earth are these orgasms possible. Most women are disgusted by eroticism and that is why they assume that they are having orgasms as a result of being in love. But men should know that orgasm does not depend on being in love or even on being in a relationship. Clearly very few women ever masturbate to orgasm. Otherwise women would know that arousal depends on the mind being focus on explicit erotic stimuli. I use explicit erotic fantasy every time to achieve orgasm alone - based on 45 years experience of regular masturbation. Without the use of fantasy nothing happens. This intense mental focus is not possible with a lover. A woman has no choice but to assist with male orgasm to get sex over or to lie there like a sack of potatoes. I have been proactive with a lover to please him but also because a woman's roles is boring and humiliating if she is totally passive. After actively engaging in sex play for decades, I can confirm that the only climax possible (physical only) comes from anal sex and vaginal fisting. Intercourse and cunnilingus do not work. No arousal and the physical stimulation is too vague to non-existent. I know what I am talking about. I have been doing this for over 10 years every day of my life. Very few comments from women - the rewards men offer for regular sex keep women silent. But once their family is grown and they no longer need male support many women stop offering sex.

Sexologists often have a position of authority and expertise, which can create power imbalances in relationships. This can lead to a power imbalance, making it difficult for clients to feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and feelings about sex and sexuality.

My impression is that people, especially women, are not honest with therapists any more than they are with anyone else. Therapists accept without challenge anything they are told by their paying clients. As do researchers. While people believe everything that women say about sex and orgasm, they will not make any sense of it. We must be realistic about the fact that human beings lie all the time. Especially on political topics.