Similarities and Differences in Our Sexual Responses

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Similarities and Differences in Our Sexual
Responses

• Measurement of Sexual Responses
• Models of Sexual Response
• Mens Sexual Response Cycle
• Womens Sexual Response Cycle
• Controversies About Orgasm
• Penis Size Does it Matter?
• Sexuality and People With Disabilities

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Measurement of Sexual Responses

• Masters and Johnson recorded over 10,000 sexual
  episodes leading to orgasm. This included people
  engaged in masturbation, intercourse, and
  oral-genital sex. Many subjects were observed
  dozens of times in order to determine the
  variability in their responses.

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Models of Sexual Response

• Masters and Johnson described the physiological
  responses that take place in men and women as
  occurring in four phases
• (1) excitement,
• (2) plateau,
• (3) orgasm, and
• (4) resolution. They referred to this response
  pattern as the sexual response cycle.

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• The focus of the older modes was on genital
  responses, whereas the newer models emphasize the
  greater complexity of womens responses.

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Desire

• The addition of a desire phase has been very
  popular with many sex therapists, particularly
  those who feel that the subjective aspects of
  sexual responsiveness are as important as the
  physiological responses.

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• Sexual response cycle- The physiological
  responses that occur during sexual arousal, which
  many therapists and researchers have arbitrarily
  divided into different phases.
• Desire- A state that is experienced as specific
  sensations which move the individual to see out,
  or become receptive to sexual experiences.
• Vasocongestion- The engorgement of tissues with
  blood.

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• Vasocongestion refers to tissues becoming
  engorged with blood, and myotonia refers to a
  buildup of energy in nerves and muscles,
  resulting in involuntary contractions.
• Myontonia- A buildup of energy in nerves and
  muscles resulting in involuntary contractions.

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• Excitement phase- The first phase of the sexual
  response cycle as proposed by Masters and
  Johnson. The first sign is vasocongestion of the
  penis, leading to erection.
• Plateau phase- The second phase of the sexual
  response cycle proposed by Masters and Johnson.
  Physiologically, it represents a high state of
  arousal.

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Excitement (Arousal)

• Vasocongestion of the penis results from nerve
  impulses causing dilation of the arteries that
  carry blood to the penis.
• The more important of the two is located in the
  lowest part of the spinal cord.
• Nerve impulses caused by stimulation of the
  penis travel to this center, which then sends
  nerve impulses back to the penis in a reflex
  action.

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• The nerve impulses release a chemical in the
  penis that causes the smooth muscles in the
  spongy tissue to relax, allowing dilation of the
  arteries.
• A second erection center, located higher in the
  spinal cord, also receives impulses originating
  in the brain, and thus it too contributes to
  psychologically caused erections.

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Plateau

• The plateau phase is a period of high sexual
  arousal that potentially sets the stage for
  orgasm. In some men this phase may be quite
  short in others it may last a long time.

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Orgasm

• Researchers can measure the contractions, but
  they cannot measure the pleasure.
• Ejaculation- The expulsion of semen from the
  body.
• Resolution- It refers to a return to the
  unaroused state.
• Orgasm refers to the subjective pleasurable
  sensations, while ejaculation refers to the
  release of semen from the body.

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Resolution

• In men, this involves a loss of erection, a
  decrease in testicle size, movement of the
  testicles away from the body cavity, and
  disappearance of the sex flush in those who have
  it.
• Loss of erection is due to the return of normal
  blood flow to the penis.

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Womens Sexual Response Cycle

• Masters and Johnson recognized three major
  variations in the female sexual response cycle
• Women could experience an orgasm by resolution,
• two or more orgasms in rather quick succession,
• or reach plateau without achieving orgasm.
• Masters and Johnsons model for women is similar
  to their model for men in its emphasis on
  physiology and genital arousal.

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• More recently, feminist scholars have emphasized
  the role of intimacy needs,
• the relational context of arousal,
• and cognitive interpretation of sexual stimuli in
  womens sexual responsiveness.

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Desire

• sexual desire as a spontaneous force that itself
  triggers sexual arousal.
• Refractory period- In men, the period of time
  after an orgasm in which their physiological
  responses fall below the plateau level

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Desire (women)

• Is driven by the need for a relationship and
  intimacy.
• These are desire for
• (a) feeling valued by ones partner,
• (b) showing value for ones partner,
• (c) providing nurturance to ones partner
• (d) obtaining relief from stress,
• (e) enhancing feelings of personal power,
• (f) experiencing the power of ones partner,
• (g) experiencing pleasure, and
• (h) procreating.

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Excitement (Arousal)

• Masters and Johnsons description of what occurs
  during the excitement phase. The vaginal walls
  become engorged with blood, and the pressure soon
  causes the walls to secrete drops of fluid on the
  inner surfaces.
• Although lubrication makes vaginal penetration
  easier and prevents irritation during thrusting,
  it does not mean that she is emotionally, or even
  physically, ready to begin sexual intercourse.

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• The walls of the vagina, which are collapsed in
  the unstimulated state, begin to balloon out, and
  the cervix and uterus pull up, thus getting the
  vagina ready to accommodate a penis.
• The clitoris becomes more prominent during the
  excitement phase than at any other time.
• For many women, it is the relational context that
  is importantemotional closeness, bonding,
  commitment,and desire to share physical sexual
  pleasurefor the sake of sharing more than for
  satisfying sexual hunger.

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Plateau

• These tissues become greatly engorged with blood
  and swell, a reaction that Masters and Johnson
  call the orgasmic platform.
• First, the clitoris pulls back against the pubic
  bone and disappears beneath the clitoral hood.
• Second, the breasts, and particularly the areola,
  become engorged with blood and swell, increasing
  in size from 20 to 25 in women who have not
  breast-fed a baby and to a lesser extent in those
  who have.

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• Third, the secretion of fluids from the vaginal
  walls may slow down if the plateau phase is
  prolonged.

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Orgasm

• Like men, women also had rhythmic muscular
  contractions in specific tissues that were
  initially 0.8 seconds apart.
• These tissues included the outer third of the
  vagina, the uterus, and the anal sphincter
  muscles.

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Resolution

• At some point after a single orgasm or multiple
  orgasms, a womans responses will start to fall
  below plateau level and return to normal. The
  blood drains from the breasts and the tissues of
  the outer third of the vagina, the sex flush
  disappears, the uterus comes down, and the vagina
  shortens in width and length. The clitoris
  returns to its normal position within seconds,
  but the glands may be extremely sensitive to
  touch for several minutes.

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Are All Women Capable of Orgasm During Sexual
Intercourse?

• Laumann and colleagues found that 75 of married
  and 62 of single women usually or always had an
  orgasm during sexual intercourse.

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How Many Types of Female Orgasm are There?

• Several studies have found that women
  subjectively distinguish between orgasms caused
  by clitoral stimulation during masturbation and
  orgasms during intercourse.
• The Grafenberg (G) spot was first described by
  the German gynecologist Ernst Grafenberg in the
  1940s.

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• There is one thing that all sex therapists agree
  on todaythat one type should not be viewed as
  infantile, immature, or less important and
  another type as mature, authentic, or more
  important. The liberated orgasm is any orgasm a
  woman likes.

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Sexuality and People With Disabilities

• Regardless of their specific disabilities,
  persons with mental retardation are individuals
  with sexual feelings who develop physically at a
  rate comparable to that of normal young adults
  and respond to many of the same sexual stimuli
  and situations as do persons without mental
  retardation.

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• A more realistic approach is to provide sexuality
  education to both persons with mental
  disabilities and to their service providers.
• People with hearing or vision impairments also
  have sexual desires and needs that should not be
  ignored by family, educators, and health-care
  providers.