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‘Like a lightning flash’: what is a nipple orgasm?

Nipples are a ‘hardwired erogenous zone’ and they can be stimulated for pleasure and experiencing an orgasm

Adrienne Matei

Tue 15 Oct 2024 17.00 BST

Last modified on Tue 15 Oct 2024 17.02 BST

My friend Alex had her first nipple orgasm in her mid-20s.

“It felt like I had an electric wire connecting my left boob to my clit,” she says.

Alex, who requested to withhold her last name for reasons of privacy, said the orgasm occurred during oral stimulation of her nipple. The feeling brought to mind an audiovisual exhibition about the human nervous system where illuminated nerves “spangle across the body, and emanate outwards, like a lightning flash”, she says, but “very warm and sustained”.

When we think of orgasms, we typically think of ejaculation, vaginal orgasms and clitoral orgasms. But there are about 15 different kinds of orgasms, depending on an individual’s body and how it reacts to stimulation, says Tuğçe Balik, a tantric practitioner and sexologist in the process of getting her PhD in human sexuality. These other types include orgasms based in certain parts of the body, such as the prostate, cervix and nipples. It also includes what Balik called “energetic” orgasms, which can result from meditation and fantasy, without any touch involved, and sleep orgasms, which an estimated 37% of women and 83% of men have experienced.

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When Alex had her first nipplegasm, it was totally spontaneous. Now, she knows she can have orgasms in which the nipple is the key site of climax – alone, or with a partner. Still, they’re somewhat elusive: “It doesn’t happen all the time,” she says.

How do nipple orgasms happen?

Nipples have long been considered an erogenous zone. Although there’s no data estimating what proportion of people have experienced climax from nipple play, a 2006 study found that 82% of women and 52% of men find nipple stimulation arousing.

It wasn’t until 2011 that Dr Nan Wise – a New Jersey-based psychotherapist, sex therapist and neuroscientist – conducted a study revealing how nipple stimulation actually affects the brain.

According to Wise, it was already established that “the clitoris, vagina and cervix are mapped on the genital sensory cortex”, a section nestled between the brain’s two hemispheres that she also calls the “hedonistic pleasure zone” or “the crotch of the brain”.

To explore how different body parts activate the brain, Wise and her team asked research subjects to stimulate various areas and have different mental fantasies while lying in an MRI machine. This allowed them to observe how distinct parts of the brain responded to various experiences. For instance, when a woman imagined inserting a dildo in a sexual context, the genital sensory cortex lit up; however, when she imagined a medical speculum, there was no significant response.

For the nipple stimulation portion, Wise had participants touch their left nipple. Initially, she expected to see activity in the brain region associated with chest sensation. Her theory was that nipple orgasms might occur because nipple stimulation releases oxytocin, a hormone that can cause uterine contractions, potentially leading to vaginal orgasm.

But instead, she discovered that nipple stimulation activated the genital sensory cortex itself.

“The nipples are a hardwired erogenous zone, like the genitals,” Wise explains. “When nipples are stimulated, the brain gets activated, and regions processing the sensation communicate with those responsible for pleasure.”

“We have a saying in neuroscience,” Wise says. “Neurons that fire together wire together.” This suggests that the “electric wire” connection Alex described may indeed reflect a tangible neural pathway between the nipples and the genitals.

How do you have a nipple orgasm?

Balik, the sexologist, embarked on a deliberate journey of learning how to make her breasts a source of greater pleasure. Beforehand, she “actually had pretty desensitized nipples”, Balik says.

Balik started by focusing on sensual massage, along with deep breaths and relaxation. “You really want to warm up the body when you’re going to stimulate a new area,” she says. “Start massaging your inner thighs, give your arms a squeeze, relax your neck.”

Balik recommends a technique called “skipping”, where you touch yourself, but intentionally omit the focus area, to “build anticipation in your body”.

Another tantra technique she often recommends to clients is called pleasure transfer, which involves stimulating a “very pleasurable point in your body”, such as the G-spot or clitoris, and “introducing stimulation of the nipple” both separately and simultaneously as you build arousal. “What this does is basically tell your brain ‘this is very pleasurable,’ and tell your body, ‘this is an area of pleasure,’” says Balik. In time, you focus your touch on the area you’re hoping to sensitize to orgasm – in this case, the nipples.

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People commonly find one nipple more sensitive than the other, or that nipple sensation changes with their hormonal cycle or mood.

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In Balik’s experience and that of her clients, if you have desensitized nipples or have never had a nipple orgasm, patience and consistency can be key. “It’s really hard to say how long it will take,” she says. “For some people it might be the first try, for some it might be the 50th.”

For Balik, a nipplegasm doesn’t feel similar to clitoral orgasms, but more like a “really, really, really heightened sensation” that “spreads out starting from the nipple, this burst of tingling and pleasure”.

Wise also has advice for those seeking to experience their first nipple orgasm. Her method, “touch plus imagery”, involves gently touching your body sensually without trying to masturbate, then alternating between touching and just imagining the feeling of that touch. This helps strengthen the connection between your brain and your body, making it easier to feel and enjoy sexual sensations. Over time, it can help you tune into your body and enhance your sexual experience.

What if I can’t have a nipple orgasm?

If the nipple orgasm has one lesson for all of us, it’s that the body brims with potential for pleasure. Wise describes pleasure points like nipples or the clitoris as “keys” that, when pressed in tandem, amplify sexual experience. “The more of those keys that you activate, you’re going to get a bigger bang for your buzz,” she explains.

One orgasm style accessible to many is the blended orgasm, where multiple erogenous zones are stimulated during a sexual encounter, even if the climax originates from just one. This technique creates a more intense, holistic erotic experience, transforming the sensation of isolated pleasure into one of full-body immersion.

“This is about laying down pleasure pathways” beyond just the genitals, Wise says, recognizing the body as a site of curiosity and pleasure beyond what we thought was possible.

Wise emphasizes “experiencing” rather than more goal-oriented language about “achieving” when referring to novel styles of orgasm.

“We don’t want to strive for nipple orgasms. Because when we start striving to achieve things, we go into performance mode,” says Wise. “For women, we are so trained to be objects for other people.”

Alex has felt that pressure with someone who knew she had experienced a nipple orgasm. “Sometimes people get obsessed with the novelty of you having something within you that they’ve never experienced in someone else,” she says. “I really hate that, because then they’re too focused on making it happen and then you’re like … ‘it’s not going to happen.’”

Balik says pressure can indeed distract from pleasure: “If you go in with the attachment to the orgasm, it’s going to be much harder to receive the orgasm than if you go in with curiosity.”