Arousal and Response

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Arousal and Response

• Lighting the fire, Stoking the flame

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The Essential Hormones

• Two basic types Steroid Neuropeptide
• Steroid Hormones secreted by the gonads and
  adrenal glands
• Examples testosterone, estrogen, etc.
• Not simply male or female both sexes produce
  each, but in varying amounts

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Neuropeptide Hormones

• Produced in the brain, they influence sexuality
  and behavior
• Perhaps the most significant
• Oxytocin the love hormone, it influences our
  erotic and emotional bonds

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Testosterone the motivator

• Men have 20 to 40 times more
• Effects desire (libido) more than function
• But deficiencies do decrease sensitivity and
  desire
• Castration the surgical removal of the testes
  causes dramatic reductions in sexual interest and
  desire

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Testosterone uses
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Less Testosterone

• Antiandrogens drugs which reduce testosterone
  levels
• Occasionally given to sex offenders
• Usually decreases sexual interest and activity
• But sometimes offenders assault for other reasons
  , such as anger, power and control

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• Hypogonadism testosterone deficiency due to
  diseases of the endocrine system
• If it begins before puberty, development is
  slowed
• If it starts after puberty, a marked decrease in
  desire follows

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Estrogens and Desire

• Their influence is undeniable but exact role is
  unclear
• Research findings differ as to whether they
  increase desire

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Females Testosterone

• Testosterone clearly increases female sexual
  desire, sensitivity and activity
• True even for women after menopause or removal of
  the ovaries

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• Women with normal levels of sexual activity and
  hormones who receive additional testosterone show
  significant increases in sexual arousal,
  sensation and even lust
• Theresa Crenshaw . when a womans testosterone
  dwindles, so does her sex life.

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More On Testosterone

• Women have much less testosterone, but are much
  more sensitive to its effects
• For women, too much testosterone causes problems,
  such as unwelcome changes to secondary sexual
  characteristics
• Women see levels fall more rapidly after
  menopause than males more gradual decline

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• If measured, it is free (unattached)
  testosterone that matters, not total
• Testosterone Replacement Therapy
• commonly available for men
• now, slowly becoming an option for women

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Marketing Testosterone
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oxytocin

• A neuropeptide from the hypothalamus that effects
  sexual response and attraction
• Bonding occurs through its release
• mother/child breast feeding
• sexual partners arousal and response
• Autistic children have low levels and
  corresponding difficulties forming bonds and
  expressing love

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Oxytocin and Love

• Release is triggered by touch
• Its circulation increases the skins sensitivity
  to touch
• Levels increase within us as we go through the
  cycle of arousal to orgasm
• Presence remains in blood stream after orgasm
  facilitating pair bonding

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The Brain Our Most Sexual Organ?

• Our cerebral cortex stores memories and images
  producing powerful fantasies
• Our culture has conditioned us to have certain
  preferences for what we consider physically
  attractive
• World-wide prototypes?

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Exemplars of Beauty

• A 2005 poll of plastic surgeons revealed the
  following as possessing the most desired
• Nose Nicole Kidman
• Eyes Catherine Zeta Jones
• Lips Angelina Jolie

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Nose
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Eyes
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Lips
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The Limbic System

• A subcortical brain system of several related
  structures that impact sexual behavior
• Investigated through a number of studies

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Olds (1950s)

• Implanted electrodes in rats limbic system
• Allowed them to control stimulation
• When given the chance, rats will dial their own
  number until they reach exhaustion, even up to
  several thousand times an hour
• pleasure centers

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Heath (1972)

• Humans with a variety of disorders were allowed
  to self-stimulate their limbic system
• One man pushed his button over 1500/hr, described
  intense sexual pleasure, and complained whenever
  a session ended
• A woman reported similar experiences, even
  multiple orgasmic responses

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The Hypothalamus

• Stimulation greatly arouses rats
• Its destruction crushes response
• Apparently, the medial preoptic area (MPOA) is
  especially sensitive
• Heroin, morphine and other opiates suppress
  activity of the MPOA
• Dopamine and testosterone excite it

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Serotonins Influence

• Presence inhibits sexual activity
• Seems to have the opposite effects of dopamine
• Released after males ejaculate and blocks or
  dampens sensitivity to dopamine and oxytocin
• SSRIs have many negative effects on sexuality

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The Senses

• Many sources of erotic stimulation
• Their influence leads to tremendous variety and
  amazing sexual complexity

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Touch

• Our nerve endings are unevenly distributed,
  locations which are most sexually responsive are
  called our
• Primary Erogenous Zones, which include our
  genitals, lips, buttocks, inner thighs, neck,
  mouth, perineum
• But we find tremendous variability

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• Secondary Erogenous Zones
• other areas touched within the context of
  sexual intimacy
• Could be anywhere on the body
• Established through classical conditioning?

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Vision

• Very important in our society
• Emphasis on physical attractiveness, grooming,
  clothes and cosmetics
• Are males more aroused by visual stimuli?

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• Kinseys survey said, YES!
• But once women were presented with the
• 1) right stimuli,
• 2) in the right settings, and
• 3) measured the right way,
• STRONG similarities between men and women were
  found
• though womens self-reports say no

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Smell

• Are genitals smells arousing or awful?
• Depends largely on where you live and your
  acceptance or rejection of fragrance claims.

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Pheromones

• Odors secreted by the body which relate to
  reproduction
• Common for mammals
• The vomeronasal system relates to their use
• Present in humans,
• But is it functional?

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What Works

• Smells that arouse
• Women licorice, banana nut bread, cucumbers
• Men lavender, pumpkin pie, doughnuts

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What Doesnt

• Women barbecued meat, mens colognes
• Men Nothing

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Aphrodisiacs

• Substances that supposedly increase sexual desire
  and capacity

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Do They Deliver?

• Many claims little evidence
• Alcohol, amphetamines, barbiturates, cocaine and
  marijuana reduce inhibitions but also sexual
  response
• The power of suggestion seems key

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Hope on the Horizon?

• One substance, yohimbine hydrochloride (sap of
  the tropical evergreen) does increase desire and
  performance

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Anaphrodisiacs

• Substances which inhibit sexual desire and
  performance
• Many things work
• Drugs such as opiates, tranquilizers, and
  antidepressants inhibit ejaculation and cause
  erectile problems in males and decrease orgasmic
  capacity for females

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Other Anaphrodisiacs

• Birth control pills decrease free testosterone
  levels
• Nicotine both decreases vasocongestion and
  reduces testosterone levels

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Sexual Response

• A highly individualized process
• Research has revealed common patterns of
  physiological changes

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Kaplans Three Stages

• Desire a prelude to physical sexual response,
  ignored by Masters and Johnson
• Excitement
• Organism

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• Masters and Johnson
• Sexology Trailblazers
• Direct Observation

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Masters and Johnsons Four Phases

• Excitement
• both men and women
• muscle tension, anatonia
• increased heart rate/blood pressure
• engorgement
• sex flush

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More Excitement

• Women
• engorgement
• lubrication
• enlargement
• Men
• erection
• enlargement/elevation

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Stage II - Plateau

• The acceleration of processes begun in the
  excitement phase
• Females
• the orgasmic platform the significantly
  engorged outer 1/3 of the vagina
• Lasts from a few seconds to a few minutes

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Phase III - Orgasm

• Involuntary muscle spasms
• Blood pressure, respirations, heart rate peaks
• Males emission then expulsion

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• Are the males and females experiences
  different ?
• Descriptions are indistinguishable.

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Are some Orgasms superior ?

• Freud thought so, claiming that vaginal orgasms
  are more mature than clitoral
• This view, influential for decades, has been
  abandoned
• Masters and Johnson established that there is
  just one kind of female orgasm, though most arise
  from clitoral stimulation

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Return to the G Spot

• Once found, manual stimulation produces variable
  sensations
• Intense pleasure and orgasm usually follows
• Some women even experience ejaculation
• But the source of the fluid is uncertain

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Finally, Resolution

• Process through which sexual systems return to a
  nonexcited state
• While in most respects the sexes experience this
  process similarly, men go through a refractory
  period during which they cannot experience
  another orgasm

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Aging and the Response Cycle

• Function continues but intensity declines
• Older women longer for lubrication
• Occasional decreases in desire,
  sensitivity, and capacity
• Older men longer for erection/orgasm
• greater control
• longer refractory period

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Where the Sexes Differ

• Despite surprising similarities, some
  distinctions remain
• Variability
• Women have three patterns within the sexual
  response cycle
• Men just one

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The Male Refractory Period

• Why?
• Evolution based ? Give another guy a chance ?
• Dependent on midbrain- hypothalamus pathway ?

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Multiple Orgasms

• Women can have several, in succession
• But just 14 to 16 ?
• Masters and Johnson say most can have 5-6 !
• Men can too ?!?

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