“The nonverbal behavior of women toward men according to their menstrual cycle has not been previously explored. In this study, the gait of women walking ahead a male confederate was recorded with the help of a spy-camera. … Comparisons were performed according to the women’s ovulation phase measured with an LH salivary test. Near ovulation, it was found that women walked slower and their gait was subjectively rated as sexier.“
“This article looks at the position of the drag king in Hungarian lesbian culture. It focuses on Bandage, Socks and Facial Hair (2006), a documentary about a drag king workshop. The film documents the historical moment when the Hungarian workshop participants encounter the drag king as a lesbian tool for parodying and repoliticizing mainstream masculinity.”
“Traumatic penile amputation is a rare condition requiring urgent surgical consultation with almost immediate surgical intervention. … These injuries are penetrating in nature, usually occur with the organ flaccid and most are self-inflicted by mentally unstable patients. … This report describes penile replantation in a 24-year old mentally challenged patient using 4.5× loupe-magnification to restore a functional, fully erectile penis without tissue loss and a 20-year problem free follow-up.”
“Research has shown men and women of all ages and sexual orientations to use the Internet for sexual purposes. For example, the Internet is used to access pornography, to find sex-related information, to purchase sexual merchandise, and to find partners for romance and sex. … The purpose of this chapter is to provide the reader with an empirical and theoretical overview of the first 15 years of research in the field of Internet sexuality.”
“Reframing sexual differentiation of the brain: … The dominant model of sexual differentiation stated that genetic sex (XX versus XY) causes differentiation of the gonads, which then secrete gonadal hormones that act directly on tissues to induce sex differences in function. This serial model of sexual differentiation was simple, unifying and seductive. Recent evidence, however, indicates that the linear model is incorrect and that sex differences arise in response to diverse sex-specific signals originating from inherent differences in the genome and involve cellular mechanisms that are specific to individual tissues or brain regions.”
“Disrobing Associated with Epileptic Seizures and Forensic Implications: … Two cases involving disrobing associated with seizures …. An additional case reveals the legal consequences endured by one patient who experienced a nocturnal seizure and began wandering in an unclothed state. Collectively, these cases illustrate the medical reality of seizure-related disrobing and the related adverse effects on patients’ quality of life.”
“Sex Differences in Sports Across 50 Societies: … In all 50 societies with documented sports, there were more male sports than female sports; hunting and combat sports were almost exclusively male activities; and the sex difference in sports was greater in patriarchal than in non-patriarchal societies. These results show that a robust sex difference in direct physical competition co-occurs with meaningful variation in its expression.”
“The origins of [circumcision] are lost in antiquity. It was performed since 3000 BC by the Egyptians for hygienic and religious reasons. … Nowadays, circumcision is performed as a routine procedure by the Jews and the Muslims for religious reasons. The world prevalence of men with circumcision is 12.5-33%, especially in USA, Canada, Islamic people and Africa; in Europe the prevalence rate is low (in Great Britain it is 1.5%).”
“Ethical and Legal Implications of Sex Robot: An Islamic Perspective: … This study first review the state of the art in sex robot and its associated ethical and legal issues. Secondly the issue is evaluated from Islamic perspective together with position of Islamic law (Shariah) towards the deployment of robot in sexual activities. The social effect of robot sex to the institution of marriage in particular is examined.”
“Swede shocked by backyard elk ‘threesome’: … While he’s used to seeing elk get tipsy from eating fermented apples, Lundgren said he was wholly unprepared to have a front row seat at an elk sex show taking place in his backyard. “I’d never seen anything like it. Not with elk, at least,” he said. … “An older bull would never try to mount a cow in a wide-open residential backyard at this time of year,” [said Pär Grängstedt, researcher at the Grimsö research station].”
Angela Carter: “Sexual relations between men and women always render explicit the nature of social relations in the society in which they take place and, if described explicitly, will form a critique of those relations, even if that is not and never has been the intention of the pornographer.” (Quoted on p. 40 of Lynn Hunt’s “Introduction” in The Invention of Pornography)
It’s a hard-hitting tract on the evils of masturbation that would do Christine O’Donnell proud. On p.46, while describing the horrific effects of masturbation, Dr. Bostwick says, “The testes have dwindled away, and the penis has become small, and to the touch conveys a cord-like feeling.” He then adds that, “Indeed, nervous twitchings of the eye-lids, head, and limbs, are occasional consequences of long continued masturbation.” The condition of the un-regenerate wanker degenerates until (by p. 47),
He is finally either hurried to a premature grave … or, insanity, taking the hopeless form of dementia, has removed him … to the mad-house. It is safe to say, that of all the cases of incurable insanity, a large majority are caused by involuntary seminal emissions, or by masturbation.
Later, Dr. Bostwick recounts some cases from his own practice. Though much of the book focuses on men, Dr. Bostwick includes some cases involving female patients. Thus, on pp. 208-210, he quotes a young widow, Mrs. R., who — though she lived in the northeast — I like to imagine as speaking in a southern accent:
Before my marriage my imagination was wrought up to the highest points by connubial enjoyments. The venereal appetite was first excited by novels, love stories, theatrical representations, gay parties, etc. … So strong were my passions, that it was with the greatest difficulty that I could conduct myself in a decorous and lady-like manner in the presence of the other sex …. I acknowledge, with shame, that I practised self-abuse both before and after marriage …. If I cannot be relieved of this agonizing condition, I am certain that the struggle between my moral sense and lascivious longings must soon send me to the grave.
'Death of Onan' by Franc Lanjšček
Drastic measures are called for, since, as we have learnt from Dr. Bostwick, the young lady’s fears are all too likely to be borne out if she cannot still the dreaded hand of Onanistic passion (sorry). As a remedy for the poor dear, Dr. Bostwick, among other things, instructed Mrs. R to apply “six leeches to the os uteri, and … to throw up the vagina a decoction of poppy-heads and hops, four or five times a day.” He later “cauterized the urethra, and used the nitrate of silver, in the solid state and in solution, to the excoriated surface of the vagina and vulva” (p. 210). Happily, Dr. Bostwick reports, Mrs. R made a full recovery and re-married [because, you see, a passionate woman who masturbates is so unwell as to be unfit for marriage].
Another case (pp. 211-212) invovles Miss D, a woman “of a tall, spare, and uncomely appearance, and of filthy habits.” On examination, Dr. Bostwick discovers that,
On the inside of the right labium, there was a large growth of warty vegetations …. The urethra pouted out, and was indurated and inflamed; the clitoris was very much elongated, but it was in a dry and hardened condition.
Fear not — she, too, makes a full recovery under the doctor’s guidance.
Homer Bostwick’s other cases include a man with immense testicles who wants to be castrated and a convicted rapist who castrates himself.
Lest it be thought that Bostwick’s attitudes were an inevitable product of his age, note that little more than thirty years later, Mark Twain would pen (but not deliver) his glorious defence of masturbation, ‘Some Thoughts on the Science of Onanism‘ (which was posthumously published).
Skipping ahead several decades brings us to the inspring work of Ernst Gräfenberg (after whom the G-spot is named). Someone has devoted a whole site (with a blog) to him and his spot. The 1950 paper in which Gräfenberg posited the G-spot is on-line. It’s called ‘The Role of Urethra in Female Orgasm‘ and was originally published in the International Journal of Sexology (which was discontinued in 1955).
The G-spot is intimately bound up with female ejaculation, the controversy around which could be the basis for an opera. A tragic one, though, since the G-spot’s low profile makes it so difficult to locate.
I have a thing for research that involves orgasms in a lab. Here are two previously cited cases. Here’s another, and now there’s this new one reported by Pharyngula:
In Slate, William Saletan vented his disgust at the dangerous and grotesque display of gluttony that is competitive eating, likening it to pornography (esp. in the article’s title — ‘Deep Throat: the Depravity of Major League Eating’). At Jezebel, Katy Kelleher dismissed his concerns. “Enjoying huge amounts of food or copious amounts of sex,” she says, “does not make one self-destructive, gluttonous, or depraved.” She’s right about sex but wrong about eating competitions. Since sex (safe sex) in large quantities doesn’t carry such a big health risk, there’s nothing wrong with it. In fact, it might even have the added value of boosting brain growth. Kelleher sets aside the health risks resulting from overeating by comparing them to the risks that stem from other sports. She suggests that we should just let people assume these risks if they choose to. But what about the other extreme for eating, namely, anorexia? Would she allow people to cultivate this condition, too, as long as they were aware of the resulting health risks?
“Sexual cannibalism is common in the Australian golden orb-web spider (Nephila plumipes), in which the tip of the conductor typically breaks during copulation. … The likelihood of the conductor breaking depends upon the copulatory history of the female insemination duct: males were more likely to break their conductor if they inseminated a ‘virgin’ rather than ‘mated’ insemination duct.” (pdf)
“The nonverbal behavior of women toward men according to their menstrual cycle has not been previously explored. In this study, the gait of women walking ahead a male confederate was recorded with the help of a spy-camera. … Comparisons were performed according to the women’s ovulation phase measured with an LH salivary test. Near ovulation, it was found that women walked slower and their gait was subjectively rated as sexier.“
Susannah Breslin
