Sex Techniques for Female Pleasure Explained: Shallowing, Angling, Rocking and More

Shallowing, angling, rocking, pairing, orbiting, rippling and broadening are names for sex techniques for female pleasure that women described in large surveys. Four of them come from a 2021 study in the journal PLOS ONE, which surveyed 3,017 women in the United States and gave names to habits that had none. The other three come from the wider technique library of OMGYes, a sex education company that has worked with Indiana University researchers.

None of these words describes a secret move. Each one names a small adjustment many women already make, so they can recognize it and ask for it.

This guide defines each term in plain language, reports what the research found, and explains where the evidence is thin. It also covers how to bring the topic up with a partner without turning it into a critique.

Where these technique names come from

These are real research terms, but they are young ones. They grew out of a partnership between OMGYes and sexual health researchers, and the most formal definitions sit in two peer-reviewed papers.

The 2018 genital touch study

The first paper, led by Debby Herbenick, appeared in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy in 2018. In June 2015, 1,055 American women aged 18 to 94 completed a confidential online survey drawn from a nationally representative panel. Herbenick, a professor of applied health science at Indiana University, said OMGYes approached her team to collaborate.

The headline finding was variety. Women reported very different preferences for where they liked to be touched, how firmly, and in what shape and pattern. That study did not coin the penetration terms, but it set up the approach the later work followed.

The 2021 penetration study

The second paper, led by Devon Hensel of Indiana University School of Medicine, ran in PLOS ONE in 2021. It drew on a national probability survey of 3,017 women aged 18 to 93, recruited through the Ipsos KnowledgePanel. Before writing the survey, the team ran pilot surveys with 4,270 women from around the world, recruited through social media ads.

From that work came four techniques that had no names in the research literature: angling, rocking, shallowing and pairing. Co-author Christiana von Hippel told ScienceAlert that OMGYes then gave them descriptive names and made diagrams and videos to explain them.

Who paid for the research

Readers should know who funded it. For Goodness Sake, LLC, the company behind OMGYes, paid for the 2021 study and helped design it, analyze it and write it up. Hensel also consults for the company. That does not make the numbers wrong, and the paper went through peer review. It does mean the company that sells the technique videos also shaped the research behind them.

The seven techniques at a glance

The quickest way to tell the seven terms apart is by what they change. Four adjust penetration, and three describe touch on the outside of the body. The figures in the last column come from different surveys and questions, so read them as rough signs rather than exact rankings. For angling and pairing, the figure is the share of women who had ever used it. For rocking and shallowing, it is the share of women who had tried it and rated it as pleasurable.

The top four rows rest on a published, weighted national sample. The bottom three come from OMGYes survey figures repeated in news and lifestyle coverage, which is a weaker kind of evidence.

Angling, rocking, shallowing and pairing: what the 2021 study found

All four techniques were common, and each describes a way to change sensation without changing the sex act itself. The survey did not measure them all the same way. For angling and pairing, it asked whether women had ever used the technique. For rocking and shallowing, it asked women who had tried it how pleasurable it felt.

Angling: adjusting the pelvis

Angling means rotating, raising or lowering the pelvis during penetration to change where the contact is felt inside the vagina. It was the most widely used of the four, reported by 87.5% of women. The researchers split it into two forms. Raising the hips was the more common, at 83.5%, while 67.6% had tried lowering them.

In practice, angling can be as simple as a pillow under the hips or a slight tilt while lying down. The point is that the woman controls the angle, so she can steer toward what feels good.

Rocking: staying close instead of thrusting

Rocking replaces in-and-out movement with steady contact. The base of a penis or sex toy stays pressed against the clitoris because the penetration stays deep and close, instead of pulling back. Among women who had tried it, 76.4% rated it somewhat or very pleasurable. Rocking with a partner’s penis was rated pleasurable by 70.2%, and rocking with a toy by 35.8%.

The 2021 authors note that earlier research on body positioning, such as the coital alignment technique, was limited to penis-vagina sex between a man and a woman. Rocking was described with either a partner or a toy, so it is not tied to that one pairing.

Shallowing: attention at the entrance

This technique is penetrative touch just inside the entrance of the vagina. It is not on the outside, and it is not deep inside. A fingertip, toy, penis tip, tongue or lips can all be used. Among women who had tried it, 83.8% found at least one form somewhat or very pleasurable.

By form, 69.7% rated touch with the tongue or lips as pleasurable, and 67.1% said the same of a penis tip. A fingertip was rated pleasurable by 60.4%, and a toy by 37.8%. When asked what shallowing changed about later penetration, about 40% said it brought more pleasure and about a quarter reported stronger orgasms. Only 10.1% said it made orgasm more likely, and 37.4% said the effect varied. So shallowing seems to change how sex feels more often than whether orgasm happens.

Pairing: adding clitoral touch

Pairing means stimulating the clitoris with a finger or toy at the same time as penetration. The study split it by who does the touching. In solo pairing the woman touches herself, and in partner pairing her partner does it.

About 69.7% of women had used pairing to have more pleasurable sex or orgasm more often. Partner pairing was a little more common, at 49%, than solo pairing, at 40%. Partners usually used a finger (43.1%) rather than a toy (17.5%).

Orbiting, rippling and broadening: OMGYes touch categories

Orbiting, rippling and broadening describe touch on the outside of the body rather than penetration. They come from OMGYes’s own catalog of techniques, which the company built from its surveys. They do appear in search results and in news coverage. The 2018 peer-reviewed study measured related touch patterns, but no peer-reviewed paper using these three names was found for this guide.

Orbiting: circular touch

Orbiting means touching the clitoris with a continuous circular motion, which can include circles, ovals or figure eights. StyleCaster, summarizing OMGYes data, reported that 78.1% of women preferred it. An OMGYes spokesperson told Bustle that the details matter, because touch that feels great and touch that hurts can be millimeters apart.

The 2018 Indiana University study offers firmer ground here. About half of women (51.6%) said they enjoyed circular movements. About three-fourths endorsed a motion that circles around the clitoris. That study was part of the same OMGYes research program, so it is not an independent check. Still, the figures differ with the wording, which shows how much a question’s phrasing can shift the answer.

Rippling: vibration at a distance

Rippling means holding a vibrating toy near the clitoris, for example on the pubic bone, so the vibration travels to it without direct contact. Metro reported that 73% of women in an OMGYes survey use it. The appeal is gentleness. Because the external tip of the clitoris is very sensitive, direct vibration can be too much for some people.

Broadening: wider pressure

Broadening means pressing or moving the whole vulva against a surface, such as a pillow or mattress, instead of focusing on one point. According to Metro, 87% of women in OMGYes’s survey with the Kinsey Institute said they use it. The same report said 75% discovered it before ever having partnered sex, and 80% prefer not to tell others for fear of judgment. A therapist quoted in the piece said clients often ask whether it is normal, and it is a common experience.

How solid is the evidence for these three?

It is weaker than for the penetration techniques. The figures above come from journalists and lifestyle writers relaying OMGYes data, not from a published, weighted analysis. The write-ups also disagree with one another on survey size and method. Bustle described a poll of over 1,000 women run with Indiana University. Metro described about 20,000 women. Treat the percentages as a rough sign that these habits are common, not as precise rates.

Why these techniques can help: anatomy and the orgasm gap

Most of these techniques do the same job: they bring more of the clitoris into play during sex. That matters because, for many women, penetration alone provides little clitoral contact.

The clitoris is larger than it looks

The part of the clitoris you can see, the glans, is only about the size of a pea. Inside the body, the rest of the organ is shaped like an upside-down wishbone that wraps around the vagina. From tip to the ends of its legs, the whole structure is about 3.5 to 4.25 inches long.

The glans has about 10,000 nerve endings, so direct pressure can feel painful rather than pleasant. That helps explain why indirect methods like rippling exist. Sex writer Tracey Cox told the BBC that the four penetration techniques all make sense as ways to reach the internal clitoris.

What the orgasm gap data show

The 2018 Herbenick study found that only 18.4% of women said intercourse alone was enough for orgasm. Another 36.6% said clitoral stimulation was necessary during intercourse. A further 36% said it was not required but made orgasms feel better.

A separate large American study by Frederick and colleagues, summarized in Psychology Today, measured who usually or always orgasms during partnered sex. The figure was 95% of straight men but only 65% of straight women. Lesbian women came in at 86%, close to gay men at 89%. That pattern suggests the gap has more to do with what happens during sex than with women’s bodies.

Sexual scripts and expectations

Psychologists Grace Wetzel and Diana Sanchez describe a common “script” for sex between women and men: brief foreplay, then intercourse, ending when he finishes. That pattern often leaves too little time for clitoral stimulation, and their research suggests enough of it can shrink the gap.

Expectations then follow experience. A Rutgers study of 104 couples found that women who orgasm less often come to want and expect less. Named techniques give couples a way to break that cycle, because each one is a specific change to the script.

How to talk with a partner about these techniques

The easiest way to bring this up is to point to the research rather than to your partner. Mentioning a study you read keeps the focus on curiosity, not on anything that went wrong.

Why having a word helps

The study authors argue that names are the point. Without a word for something, it is hard to ask for it. Hensel put it this way on BBC Woman’s Hour: when something has no name, it “almost becomes unspeakable”. The 2021 paper says clear terms can help women identify their own preferences, talk about them and advocate for their pleasure.

Herbenick made a similar case after the 2018 study. Because preferences vary so much, she told PsyPost, couples benefit from talking openly about techniques and building a shared language for what they want. A national survey of more than 38,000 adults in long-term relationships found that using communication strategies went along with higher sexual satisfaction. That finding is a link, not proof that talking causes better sex, but it points the same way. Frederick’s orgasm research adds a related detail: women who usually orgasmed were more likely to ask for what they wanted during sex.

Start the conversation outside the bedroom

Sex and relationships writer Tracey Cox, speaking on the same BBC program, suggested a low-key opening. Mention that you came across a study about making sex more pleasurable for women, and say which technique caught your attention. She also advised talking before sex, not during it. Partners listen better then, and feedback feels less like criticism.

Keep it short. Several small conversations tend to go better than one formal sit-down. You could also share this article and ask which terms your partner had heard of. Using the names keeps the talk practical. “I’d like to try pairing” is easier to say than a long description.

Give and read feedback in the moment

OMGYes groups in-the-moment communication under a heading of its own, signaling, which it describes as giving and reading feedback. In StyleCaster’s summary of OMGYes data, 89.3% of women said they enjoyed it. Feedback can be a word, a sound or guiding a partner’s hand.

Pressure works against all of this. Wetzel and Sanchez note that pressure to orgasm makes orgasm less likely and less enjoyable. Present a new technique as something to explore together, with no expected result. If it does not feel good, saying so is part of the same conversation.

What the research does not tell you

The research tells you what many women do. It cannot tell you what any one woman will enjoy. A few limits are worth keeping in mind:

• Only women were asked. The 2021 survey did not include partners, so it says nothing about how these techniques feel for them.
• Relationships were left out. The authors did not measure how trust, length of relationship or other relationship factors shaped which techniques women used.
• “Ever used” is not “works best.” Some questions asked whether a woman had used a technique, not how much pleasure it gave, which makes those two things hard to separate.
• Commercial funding. The company that sells OMGYes courses funded the 2021 study and helped shape it.
• One country. Both peer-reviewed studies sampled women in the United States, so the numbers may differ elsewhere.
• No technique suits everyone. Herbenick’s team found that women differ widely in the touch they enjoy, and a small share prefer that a partner avoid the clitoris entirely. ScienceAlert’s coverage made the same point: none of the four techniques is a sure-fire recipe.

Comfort, pain and when to get help

Any of these techniques should feel good. If something hurts, stop, and treat ongoing pain as a health question rather than a technique problem.

Pain during sex is common. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says nearly 3 out of 4 women have pain during intercourse at some point in their lives. For some it passes quickly, while for others it lasts. Pain can come from dryness linked to lower estrogen, infections, skin conditions, vulvodynia, vaginismus or endometriosis. Stress and relationship strain can also play a part.

Some of these causes affect the area around the vaginal opening, which is exactly where shallowing focuses. A lubricant or vaginal moisturizer can help when dryness is the issue. Still, ACOG advises anyone with frequent or severe pain during sex to see an ob-gyn or another health care professional. A sex therapist can also help if anxiety or communication is what gets in the way.

Frequently asked questions

What is angling, rocking, shallowing, and pairing?

They are four techniques named in a 2021 national survey of 3,017 American women. Angling means shifting the hips to change where penetration is felt. Rocking means staying close so the base rubs the clitoris instead of thrusting. Shallowing focuses on the vaginal entrance, and pairing adds clitoral touch during penetration. Each was common: depending on how the question was asked, between 69.7% and 87.5% of women reported using or enjoying each one.

Why does shallowing feel good?

The study did not test why, so there is no firm answer. Women described its effects instead: about 40% said penetration that followed felt more pleasurable, and about a quarter reported stronger orgasms. Shallowing also keeps attention near the entrance, close to the clitoris, which wraps around the vagina inside the body.

What is the rocking technique?

It means keeping a penis or toy fully inside and moving so its base stays in steady contact with the clitoris, rather than thrusting in and out. In the 2021 study, 76.4% of women who had tried it rated it somewhat or very pleasurable. The study described it with either a partner’s penis or a sex toy.

What is OMGYes pairing?

Pairing is clitoral touch, with a finger or a toy, at the same time as penetration. When the woman does it herself, the study calls it solo pairing. When a partner does it, it is partner pairing. Overall, 69.7% of women had used pairing, with partner pairing at 49% and solo pairing at 40%.

Do these techniques work for everyone?

No. They are common, not universal. Herbenick’s 2018 research found wide variety in the touch women prefer, including a small group who prefer no clitoral contact at all. Treat each technique as an option to try and talk about, and keep the ones that feel good to you.

The takeaway

Shallowing, angling, rocking and pairing name small changes most women in a large national survey had already discovered on their own. Orbiting, rippling and broadening extend the same idea to touch outside the body, though the numbers behind them are less firm.

The real value of the terms is that they make pleasure easier to talk about. Pick one that sounds interesting, mention it outside the bedroom, and try it without any goal beyond finding out what you like. If anything hurts, check in with a health care professional before trying again.

Related reading

• What Is Sexual Pleasure?
• What Is the Best Sex Position? What Surveys Say and How to Choose
• What Is a Healthy Sex Life? Communication, Satisfaction, Safety and Choice
• How to Choose Lube: Water, Silicone or Oil?

Sources

1. Women’s techniques for making vaginal penetration more pleasurable: Results from a nationally representative study of adult women in the United States - PLOS ONE (via PubMed Central)
2. Women are highly diverse when it comes to how they orgasm and what kinds of touch they find pleasurable - PsyPost
3. Women’s Experiences With Genital Touching, Sexual Pleasure, and Orgasm: Results From a U.S. Probability Sample of Women Ages 18 to 94 - Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy (University of Arizona research record)
4. New Report Identifies 4 Techniques That Help Women Experience More Pleasure - ScienceAlert
5. The Best Orgasm Techniques to Try from OMGYes - StyleCaster
6. Dive into the ‘rippling’ sex trend loved by 25 million women - Metro
7. Broadening is the common masturbation technique that women are keeping secret - Metro
8. 12 Techniques Women Use To Have An Orgasm, According To OMGyes - Bustle
9. Clitoris: Anatomy, Location, Purpose & Conditions - Cleveland Clinic
10. Four ways women can bridge ’the orgasm gap’ - BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour
11. Who’s Most Likely to Have an Orgasm? Men and Lesbians - Psychology Today
12. Understanding the Orgasm Gap for Women Who Have Sex With Men - Society for Personality and Social Psychology
13. The Orgasm Gap Continues With Women Expecting Less During Intimacy - Rutgers University
14. Eye on Research: What Keeps Passion Alive? - Couples and Sexual Health Research Laboratory (Dalhousie University)
15. When Sex Is Painful - American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists