Orgasm Day

Mark it in your diaries ladies and gentlemen. May 9th is officially Orgasm Day! Well, it is if you are a citizen of Esperantina, a remote town of around 38,000 people, roughly 2,100 kilometres north of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The town’s new mayor, Felipe Santolia, has just signed a bill creating the municipal holiday. Apparently the region has been unofficially celebrating the day for years but from now on they will get the day off to do it. Pun not entirely unintended.

The former mayor it seems, was unfortunately a bit of a party pooper and vetoed a bill to make Orgasm Day an official holiday but the new mayor who took office earlier this year is, in his own words, 32, single and has an open mind. He also claims that he feels the theme is very much of the moment. According to mayor Santolia, the day is about celebrating the orgasm in all its senses and he obviously intends to see the day made into a main event.

Mr Santolia who endorsed the holiday, states that it is designed to promote the improvement of relationships between married couples. From what he’s seen, ‘apparently women have more trouble achieving orgasm than men, especially in marriage’. I’m not quite sure exactly how he claims to know this (or have ‘seen’ it), but speaking as a woman, it’s a bit of a disappointing statistic if its true. Despite all the jokes about jelly bean jars, I’m sure marriage was not designed to ruin your sex life or provide you with a disappointing one.

Esperantinans are obviously of the same opinion though and so on the cards for this day there are a series of panel discussions by sexologists from across Brazil on such important topics as premature ejaculation. There is also a presentation of Eve Ensler’s play, The Vagina Monologues and I assume numerous other events. Despite the fact that celebrating Orgasm Day initially created a scandal in this fervently religious region, the residents have, we are told, warmed to the idea. And who wouldn’t?

It seems that the Esperantinans are a community that take the health of their population seriously. There are apparently scientific studies that show that when a woman is unloved and her husband can’t bring her to orgasm, it affects all the aspects of her life. It's said to affect her both at home and at work, impacting on her relationships with her friends and family and also with the city in general. So in the interest of education, harmony and a good time had by all, there is now (officially) Orgasm Day to look forward to each year. And bring it on I say, although I really can’t see Clover Moore, or better yet, John Howard going for anything like this, can you?