Issues in Human Sexuality - Essay Example

Issues in Human Sexuality. The premise of the article is the fact that women undergo depression, which in turn may drive them to the point of suicide when having sex using condoms or inversely, vaginal absorption of semen after ejaculation makes them react themselves to the situation quite normally. This also implies that semen is an anti depressant and can prevent suicides caused by such depressions. Another point that is stressed here is that there is a sex difference in this unique phenomenon. Men do not suffer at all from the depressive symptoms that women do. “When it comes to mental and emotional problems one of the most consistent sex differences involves the prevalence of depression.” And this depression is exclusive to women, so the article says. “However, depression scores between females who used to condoms and those who did not engage in sexual intercourse were not significantly different.” I think this last statement is significant. This makes us come to the conclusion that those to who took part in an act of coitus and those who did not are liable to be in a state of depression. If a woman is prone to depression, she can very well be depressed as well as not whether having coitus or not. And in the latter case the question of the antidepressant effects of semen does not arise at all. But most of the studies on the subject points out to the view that semen does act an anti depressant. It is found that “seminal plasma testosterone, estrogen, follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone, prolactin and a number of different prostaglandins.” Many of these compounds are absorbed through the vagina. These postulates were tested methodically at The State University of New York at Albany. The volunteers were from those who attended the upper division undergraduate courses. One could safely state that these were at a stage when they were at the height of sexual activity. The tests produced results that in a large measure agreed with the hypothesis that semen has antidepressant properties in females after sexual intercourse. It was conducted in terms of Beck Depression Inventory or BDI as is popularly known. It is a widely used measure of individual differences in depressive symptoms. But like most tests it did not produce results that conclusively prove the hypothesis. But the deviations that were apparent were not of any great proportions. Still some differences showed. Women who underwent coitus without the aid of condoms revealed lower levels of depressive symptoms than those did not generally take part in sexual intercourse. Also length of time since their last sexual act was also related to these symptoms .thus for those who did not use condoms “depressive symptoms increased as the amount of time since their last sexual encounter increased.” Under the circumstances it could lead to alternate hypotheses. The length of time since the last sexual act could also be a factor. To test this other measures have to be resorted to. It can be done by recruiting volunteers who are liable to have sexual intercourse usually but at intervals leading to varying intervals of time. Since the antidepressants in the semen enter the blood stream directly and produce the said results, effects of anal and oral absorption of the same are also need to be tested to find if the effect is uniform in all circumstances and conditions of semen inculcation. Apart from this, there is also the problem called female sexual dysfunction or FSD as it is familiarly known. It is akin to post coital depression in woman. It could be a” lack of sexual desire so great that it causes personal distress.” It is also the inability to achieve orgasm. There is no denying the fact that the physical and the mental aspects of an individual’s personality are so tied together that sometimes it is hard to distinguish one from the other. Now wonder M/s Seeber and Gorrel decided to the give the treatise Sex and Your Psyche. In its subtitle it also suggests as to what can be done about it. In this sphere also woman suffers more than man. The intimacy that is apparent in the coital act breaks down when the woman stops having interest and withdraws. This is at once apparent to the male who feels “rejected and angry.” Then everything crumbles along with the feeling of intimacy that started the whole affair in the first place. When aphrodisiacs like Viagra appeared, it seemed that only the male suffers from problems of impotency and the like and women are largely immune from it. One felt that women are fortunate as they do not need such stimulants to increase the pleasures of the sexual act. To the male it was merely a physical problem pertaining to the muscles of his penis. At the same time, any sexual failing of the woman was considered mental and did not warrant any medication for the female. Ideally, orgasm takes place both in men and women at the end of the sexual act. It is the culmination and the climax of the act and one derives the most pleasure while undergoing the experience. But things have grown to such a state that achieving orgasm is not at all considered the goal of the sexual act. According to Beverly Whipple, PhD, vice president of the World Association of Sexology, only one third of the women achieve orgasm. So it seems that having coitus sans orgasm is the new mantra. Coitus for its own very sake. But the fact remains that it is not women alone who has the short end of the stick. Men too undergo the difficulties that women do, but only to a lesser extent. But the pundits would have us believe that the women alone suffer from these. The famous Bermen sisters, Laura and Jennifer maintain that when a woman cannot achieve orgasm she has a low libido. The inability is to do so often frustrate the sexual act and she feels “a hopeless, fatalistic complacency about her sex life.” This even affects her sense of well-being. So the Bermans wants to change that. They want to “forge a mind-body perspective of female sexuality.” Nice set of medical terms at the tip of one’s tongue, but how one should go about doing it, there is no suggestion whatsoever. To them, female dysfunction is not physical alone in its implication but it has emotional aspects as well. They endorses a joining together of the realms of psychotherapy and the medical community. But how can the two divergent and specialist areas to be brought together under a single umbrella of diagnosis and cure? And to make things worse, the sisters came under a lot of criticism. Oddly enough their efforts were termed as “an attempt by the patriarchy to shackle women’s sexuality” by none less than the medical community. It seems the urological field is particularly dominated by men. One is never sure what happens next. Whipple differentiates from goal oriented people and pleasure oriented ones. The former does everything step by step, and want to progress steadily towards a goal. But when he is prevented from attaining his cherished goal, his libido takes a nose dive and he is grossly disappointed and depressed as a result. It would seem the pleasure seekers are of a different breed. For them any activity is an end in itself and need not lead to anything else. For them it is sufficient to stay inside the parameters of the act. At times holding hands and cuddling could be very satisfactory without progressing to more intimate levels, so they argue. The main thing needed is to “focus on the processes as the Whipples put it and remain within the action, not groping for more. Does this mean we can do away with sex? One wonders. Whipple is also of the opinion that the effects of dissatisfying sexual interactions are not often suffered alone, but causes distress in both partners. If a goal oriented person and pleasure oriented persons are partners in sex, and not aware of their individual orientations, they cannot communicate with the partner. Whipple advises his patients against this. Identifying such gaps and offering solutions is a good thing, but the advice has to be followed in its spirit for the treatment to work well and produce the necessary results. For women, orgasm is said to be of two kinds, Clitoral and Pelvic or often times both. The stimulation of both the areas concerned which incidentally comprises most of the vagina, leads to the climax. With so much going for it, it is a wonder that women cannot have it. So where lays the trouble? No expert can give a satisfactory answer. The Bremen sisters are trying hard to bridge the gap between min and the body as it pertains to sex. But as mentioned earlier the medical community itself is against them. They need more facilities and luckily UCLA is helping them with the facilities needed to conduct systematic physiological and psychological research. Their initial studies “suggests that the pharmaco-sexual revolution that helped some men overcome their sexual dysfunction many prove less effective for women.” Viagra increased the flow of blood to the genitalia to heighten sexual pleasure but it failed to arouse them. Although some experienced sexuality, the new drug could not solve problems that are psychological or emotional in origin. Again, it seems the problem of the proverbial mind and body. The Viagra study was made a point of criticism when it was described as an effort to “medicalize” female sexuality by the pharmaceutical companies. But these companies have included psychologists to test the subject’s feelings about sex. So in a way they are said to be trying to close the gap between mind and body. So there is a ray hope of for women from dedicated scientists like the Bremen sisters. On another level some enjoy masturbation as it gives them orgasms every time. Some are not averse to orgasms, but they think that sex is more than orgasm. These days the definition itself of sex is changing. The traditional idea of vaginal sex is giving way to variations. Now there is the anal and oral sex. But can the person who is indulging in such novel sexual variations can call what he does ‘sex?’ The persons engaged in such activities can be said to have sex. But do they undergo orgasms? It is hard to say. It is true that those who take part in such activities think themselves of having sex.But those who really achieve orgasm are the ones whose sexual organs ejaculate into the anal or oral cavity, as the case may be. Orgasms are said to be of benefit to men and women in more than one way. Women are benefited by relief from pain, enhanced mood, increased intimacy with the partner, easier rest due to the antidepressant effect of semen and very little stress. While men are said to benefit by having a long life, less susceptible to cancer, healthy hearts, fine health and even younger looks. So if both sexes can be made to achieve orgasm in ways that are psychologically and physiologically satisfying, they can lead a fuller, richer life. But there is a long way to achieve this goal as we saw. The quotes are from: www.myonlinelogin.com/ec/courses/22687/CRS-COLS-2605998/documents. Read More