Originally Posted by Fal

I get the feeling that, right or wrong, the term "small death" has a less clinical meaning, and is more along the lines of glorifying the orgasm. Feeling reborn after it. The orgasm is the ecstasy or the "small death" and then the feeling of freshness due to the wash of hormones afterwards puts the person in mind of being born again. Considering that at the time such language was developing, I dare say people had less medical knowledge and felt a lot more artsy. It probably also refers to the female orgasm (which is 10 times more powerful than the male one).