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Sex In Human Loving! Facts About Human Sexuality This material is the product of years of research into human sexual response, and summarizes the main findings of the sex researchers from Masters and Johnson onwards.
[ Sexual response Cycle - This Page ]
SEXUAL DESIRE AND RESPONSEWe owe our knowledge of how people respond to sexual stimulation to the courageous pioneering research of Dr William Masters and Mrs Virginia Johnson in the 1950s and 1960s. Then, in the 1970s, the work of Dr Helen Singer Kaplan provided some crucial theoretical advances. Every person responds differently to sexual stimulation, but there is a pattern that applies to most people, most of the time. It probably doesn't apply to any individual all of the time. It is not a measure of what is "tnormal" - only a description of what usually occurs. This pattern has three phases: sexual desire, sexual arousal or excitement, and orgasm; there are real physical responses that distinguish them from each other. Sexual DesireWe know more about what happens in the second two phases, excitement and orgasm, than we do about the first. Desire is still something of a mystery. Sexual desire - also called libido - is what moves us to seek out sexual situations. It is the magnet that draws us toward other people and draws them toward us too. It is difficult to describe scientifically because it is rooted in a brain center and is therefore subject to hormone levels and the complex circuitry of the brain. As we come to understand the details of brain functioning better, we will have a better appreciation of how sexual desire arises. We do know however that if there is a chemical imbalance, nerve circuit or transmitter problem in the appropriate area of the brain, a disorder - a sexual dysfunction - may result. This disorder may be specifically one of sexual desire or it may show itself as an arousal or orgasm problem too. The desire phase has been discussed in detail by Dr Helen Singer Kaplan in an important book called Disorders of Sexual Desire. Q: What about hormone shots for someone who isn't interested in sex? A: Men who show low levels of testosterone are sometimes given shots of that hormone and they appear to help. Sexual desire may be increased and so may the volume of semen. In women, testosterone may also increase sexual desire and may lead to an increase in clitoral size. However, lack of interest in sex is not necessarily related to a shortage of hormones. Usually, it is the result of a complex interaction of emotional factors that must be understood by a trained clinician before treatment of any kind is begun. Q. I keep hearing about different foods and drinks and drugs that increase desire. Which ones work? A: None of them. There is nothing you can take into your body that will increase the real level of libido. If however you believe that something will have that effect, you may be more active in your responses - or think you are. Desire and sex is such a complex interaction of physical and psychological aspects that what you think is happening may be almost as influential on the outcome as the actual physical response to stimulation. That is why drugs such as alcohol are believed to be particularly effective in stimulating desire. In fact they make no difference physiologically (unless taken in large quantities, when they have a sedative effect) but they can reduce inhibitions. Their influence is almost entirely psychological. Sexual ExcitementSeveral bodily changes happen as desire develops into excitement. The most obvious is that extra blood accumulates rapidly in the genital area in both men and women. This is called vasocongestion. Vasocongestion in men shows as erection of the penis. As blood flows into the spongy tissue of the penis it swells. How quickly it does so and whether the penis reaches its maximum possible size depend on the nature and intensity of the stimulation and on the man's age (erection usually comes more slowly in older men). Vasocongestion in women shows as vaginal lubrication: the vagina becomes moist. What happens is that blood flows into the vaginal area and the pressure of it forces natural tissue fluid through the walls of the vagina. Moisture is also secreted from the cervical area. The vagina is then ready to accommodate a penis if intercourse is to follow. Lubrication can take 20 to 30 seconds, but the time depends very much on the nature and intensity of the stimulation. Touch, smell, sight, fantasy all stimulate both sexes; how quickly people respond depends on how they are feeling and on circumstances as well as on how intense the stimulus is. Another general response that applies to women and men both is an involuntary tensing of the muscles throughout the body (called "myotonia"). It diminishes after orgasm, which is why people feel relaxed after they have come, and then disappears. There are several other important bodily changes in this phase, affecting women more than men. Both sexes experience nipple erection, in which the nipples become firmer and stand out more, but it is more common and more obvious in women. The dark area surrounding women's nipples (the areola) becomes darker and their breasts, especially if they have not breastfed a child, increase in size. As sexual tension mounts, the pulse rate and blood pressure go up in both women and men. At this stage the sex flush is likely to appear in many women. This looks like a rash, and usually appears first on the upper portion of the stomach and then spreads to the breast area. It is liable to be patchy and may spread to the back as well. Some men show a sex flush too, though it is likely to be less marked. A reaction that is wholly female is the sex skin color change. As the labia swell from vasocongestion, their color changes. The inner labia of women who have had children change from red to deep wine, and those of women who have not go from pink to bright red. Once the labia have changed color the woman will have an orgasm if stimulation continues. Two other important changes happen to women in these last stages of the excitement phase: the vagina lengthens and widens, and the clitoris retracts under its hood. People sometimes get anxious that the clitoris should disappear at this critical moment but they shouldn't. It is natural that it should and it is a good sign, for orgasm is very close. By the end of the excitement phase both men and women are full of sexual tension and feel that just a very little more stimulation will tip them over the top and they will have an orgasm. Masters and Johnson called this part of the excitement phase the plateau. OrgasmJust before orgasm, the pulse rate, blood pressure and breathing rate are at their peaks; many muscles are tensed. What then triggers orgasm is not quite certain. It appears to be a complex interaction of physical, emotional, social and hormonal factors, and there may be others as yet undetermined. Eventually the brain signals spinal cord centers and their reflexes set off orgasm. When a woman has an orgasm, her uterus and the outer third of her vagina both go into a series of rapid contractions. There may be just a few or as many as 15, and they occur at intervals of less than a second. The male orgasm divides into two stages. The first is a feeling of inevitability, caused by the semen pooled at the entrance to the urethra. At this point the man knows he cannot help coming. Very quickly thereafter he has a series of contractions of the ejaculatory ducts and the muscles around the penis which causes the semen to be ejaculated. The process takes only a few seconds and the intensity of the contractions decreases after the first few spurts of semen have left the body. No-one has yet succeeded in describing properly the sensations of orgasm. The pleasure is so intense that it seems there are no words subtle or strong enough to describe it. The last part of the orgasm phase is called resolution. In women it means a gradual return to normal of pulse, blood pressure and breathing rate; the labia return to their normal color, the sex flush fades away and the nipples lose their erection. The vagina also returns to its normal size. In men, resolution means loss of erection and a gradual return of the penis to its normal flaccid state. Any skin flush and nipple erection will also disappear, whereas a woman who is in the early part of the resolution stage can have orgasm again if she wants it, a man can not. He has to go through a "refractory period," during which he is unlikely to be able to get an erection. The sexual response and orgasm cycle of men. A man rises to the plateau phase and then to orgasm, but cannot proceed to a second orgasm until he has gone through the necessary refractory period. The duration of the refractory period depends particularly upon the man's age. erection, let alone maintain it. The refractory period may be a matter of minutes or of hours, with the general rule that the older a man is, the longer it will take. Women, however, can carry on and with the right stimulation achieve repeated orgasms. You may ask, how did Masters and Johnson study the sex responses of men and women? Masters and Johnson studied 382 women and 312 men between the ages of 18 and 89 for more than ten years. During that time, they recorded and analyzed more than 10,000 orgasms achieved by heterosexual intercourse, mutual masturbation and self masturbation. The subjects were all volunteers and were paid for their participation. During their sexual activity the men and women were monitored and filmed by very sensitive medical equipment. For example, a number of women inserted in their vaginas a clear plastic penis containing a tiny camera so a film could be made of the changes that were going on inside them. Men were filmed as they were being stimulated and getting erections. These and other experiments were repeated thousands of times to give Masters and Johnson adequate data to make generalizations about how men and women respond. Multiple orgasmMultiple orgasm means having several orgasms within a short period. Every woman has the physical capacity, though each individual woman may experience multiple orgasm frequently, occasionally or never. It all depends upon appropriate continuing stimulation after the first orgasm. Once you know you can experience multiple orgasm it becomes easier to do so. Men do not usually have multiple orgasms, however in 1978 two researchers in California, Dr Mina Robbins and Dr Gordon Jensen, reported on their work with 13 men who had multiple orgasms. These men reported they had learned how to control ejaculation so they would only ejaculate after having a series of orgasms. Robbins and Jensen believe men can be taught to control ejaculation and experience several orgasms, and further, they suggest that the reason most men don't is that they've grown up with the idea that they can't. Our culture says men can have only one orgasm at a time. More work needs to be done to validate Robbins' and Jensen's theory. Of course, some men cannot reach orgasm and ejaculate at all - they have delayed ejaculation and need treatment to enable them to ejaculate normally during sex. Do women ejaculate ?Two researchers, John Perry and Beverly Whipple, have film evidence that some women in a study they conducted released fluid from the urethra during orgasm. The fluid was analyzed: it was not urine but a substance resembling male semen without sperm. They are now carrying out further research on the source of the fluid and the relationship between its presence and certain kinds of orgasmic contraction. If their studies withstand the scrutiny such claims produce, we will hear a great deal more about this interesting phenomenon. Most literature describing orgasm sets up unrealistic standards and expectations. We get images of unbelievably explosive orgasms, measure our own experiences against them and conclude that ours are nowhere near the 'ideal.' The important thing to remember about your sex life is that it should be fulfilling for you and your partner. Your sexual feelings are unique and so are your partner's. The way you respond to each other is unique too. Descriptions of orgasms you read may well be idealized, and even if they are truthful, they are someone else's experience, which can never be the same as your own. Trying to match your feelings with accounts of other people's can only interfere with your enjoyment.
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