The principal stimuli in this phase are those of touch and smell. Stimulated, initially, by the looks of the sexual partner, by his or her voice, in the plateau phase touch becomes as important. Stimulation occurs from the touch of the partner’s lips, the exploring tongue, the feel of a man’s penis and scrotum, or a woman’s breasts, body, and soft vulva. These stimuli enhance sexual desire, lifting each partner into the later plateau phase when the desire to reach orgasm becomes intense. The term ‘plateau’ is perhaps a misnomer, for sexual tension increases during this time; but a man who is a considerate lover and finds that his partner is not so aroused as he is will want to help her to reach his degree of sexual tension, and will consciously ‘hold back’, so that he remains highly sexually stimulated in the plateau phase, but does not enter the orgasmic phase too quickly.

The duration of the plateau phase depends on the urgency and strength of the sexual desire, on the effectiveness of the sexual stimuli given by the partner, and on the quality of the communication between the partners. If a woman is slow to reach the orgasmic phase, but does not tell her partner that she needs additional stimuli to bring her to orgasm, she can only blame herself, or her inhibitions, should her man reach orgasm and fall sleepily into the phase of resolution, without having helped her to reach orgasm to relieve her sexual arousal.

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