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The uterus typically contracts during orgasm and, with advancing age, those contractions may actually become painful. Psychological sexual arousal involves appraisal and evaluation of a stimulus, categorization of a stimulus as sexual, and an affective response. The relationship between sexual desire and arousal in men is complex, with a wide range of factors increasing or decreasing sexual arousal.
The cognitive aspects of sexual arousal in men are not completely known, but it does involve the appraisal and evaluation of the stimulus, categorization of the stimulus as sexual, and an affective response. Specifically, while watching heterosexual erotic videos , men are more influenced by the sex of the actors portrayed in the stimulus, and men may be more likely than women to objectify the actors. This suggests the amygdala plays a critical role in the processing of sexually arousing visual stimuli in men. Research suggests that cognitive factors like sexual motivation, perceived gender role expectations, and sexual attitudes play important roles in women's self-reported levels of sexual arousal.
Psychological sexual arousal also has an effect on physiological mechanisms; Goldey and van Anders [27] showed that sexual cognitions impact hormone levels in women, such that sexual thoughts result in a rapid increase in testosterone in women who were not using hormonal contraception. In terms of brain activation, researchers have suggested that amygdala responses are not solely determined by level of self-reported sexual arousal; Hamann and colleagues [24] found that women self-reported higher sexual arousal than men, but experienced lower levels of amygdala responses.
During the late s and early s, William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson conducted many important studies into human sexuality. In , they published Human Sexual Response , detailing four stages of physiological changes in humans during sexual stimulation: Barry Singer presented a model of the process of sexual arousal in , in which he conceptualized human sexual response to be composed of three independent but generally sequential components. The first stage, aesthetic response, is an emotional reaction to noticing an attractive face or figure.
This emotional reaction produces an increase in attention toward the object of attraction, typically involving head and eye movements toward the attractive object. The second stage, approach response, progresses from the first and involves bodily movements towards the object. The final genital response stage recognizes that with both attention and closer proximity, physical reactions result in genital tumescence. Singer also stated that there is an array of other autonomic responses, but acknowledges that the research literature suggests that the genital response is the most reliable and convenient to measure in males.
The cycle results in an enhanced feeling of intimacy.
Basson emphasizes the idea that a lack of spontaneous desire should not be taken as an indication of female sexual dysfunction ; many women experience sexual arousal and responsive desire simultaneously when they are engaged in sexual activity. Frederick Toates presented a model of sexual motivation, arousal, and behavior in that combines the principles of incentive-motivation theory and hierarchical control of behavior.
The basic incentive-motivation model of sex suggests that incentive cues in the environment invade the nervous system, which results in sexual motivation. Positive sexual experiences enhance motivation, while negative experiences reduce it.
Researchers have identified four stages of sexual response in women and men: arousal, plateau, orgasm and resolution. This article describes what happens in a woman's body when she is sexually aroused. The external genitalia or vulva (including the clitoris, vaginal opening, and. Need some pointers on how to arouse your partner? Here are six tips to step up your game.
Motivation and behaviour are organized hierarchically ; each are controlled by a combination direct external stimuli and indirect internal cognitions factors. Excitation and inhibition of behavior act at various levels of this hierarchical structure. For instance, an external stimulus may directly excite sexual arousal and motivation below a conscious level of awareness, while an internal cognition can elicit the same effects indirectly, through the conscious representation of a sexual image.
In the case of inhibition, sexual behavior can be active or conscious e. Toates emphasizes the importance considering cognitive representations in addition to external stimuli; he suggests that mental representations of incentives are interchangeable with excitatory external stimuli for eliciting sexual arousal and motivation. This model created by John Bancroft and Erick Janssen at the Kinsey Institute explores the individual variability of sexual response.
They postulate that this variability depends on the interaction between an individual's sexual excitation system SES and sexual inhibition system SIS. These inhibition factors were interpreted as SIS1 inhibition due to the threat of performance failure and SIS2 inhibition due to the threat of performance consequences. A factor analysis of this questionnaire revealed only two factors: One lower order factor in the SESII-W labeled Arousal Contingency was particularly relevant; this factor explains the easy disruption of sexual arousal.
Regardless of the difference in these two questionnaires, both surveys' scores show normal distribution verifying the hypothesis that there is a normal individual variation in sexual arousal and inhibition. On average, males score higher on sexual excitation and lower than females on both facets of sexual inhibition. As of yet, the differences in scores between genders have not been explained beyond the theoretical level.
The source of individual variability on the sexual excitation and inhibition systems is not known definitively. Even less is known about how these systems develop in individuals. Age of first masturbation has been used as a measure to assess sexual development. Age of masturbatory onset is much more variable in girls than boys, whose tend to be close to puberty. One twin-study has found evidence for the heritability of both factors of SIS, but research suggests that SES variability is down to environmental factors.
The majority of studies investigating sexual functioning use heterosexual participants exclusively, unfortunately limiting the generalizability of the dual control model. One way to study sexual arousal in women and men is to conduct sexual psychophysiological research in a laboratory setting.
This field of research looks at physical sexual responses in addition to mental and emotional experiences of sexual arousal. Various hypotheses and theories have been propounded in order to establish the biological bases for sexual arousal in humans. Ivan Tarkhanov showed, in experiments on cutting and artificial emptying of the seminal vesicles , that the latter played the crucial role in the generation of sexual excitement in frogs.
Proceeding from these experimental results, Tarkhanov put forward a hypothesis that filling and evacuation of the seminal vesicles were the main biological cause which led to sexual arousal and its disappearance in mammals and humans. No generalisation has yet appeared, however. Unambiguous experimental evidence for the existence of the Tarkhanov regularity in human sexual behaviour has never been obtained. If the level of this tension reaches threshold, sexual arousal occurs as the expression of necessity to let off steam. Kelly Clarkson University describes this model as follows:.
For centuries, the assumption was made that the longing for sexual interaction was innate, and an inner drive model was used to explain it. It has been suggested that this model was much like a metaphor for a steam boiler. This view also assumed that there was some adverse physical consequence of not releasing the pressure. The "psychohydraulic model of sexuality" has been formulated most definitely in psychoanalysis:. The instinct causes tensions within the central nervous system which spread out over the whole being; it is urgent and irresistible in nature and constantly repeats itself.
An erection, for example, is pleasurable and painful at the same time. With an increase of sexual excitation, the tension increases and becomes wholly unpleasurable. This condition becomes so unbearable that the individual is forced to seek release from these tensions and liberation from the painful feelings. The pain of tension which accompanies the increase in the intensity of the instinctual drives changes, with the discharge, into the pleasure of relaxation.
After a certain time, the same process begins anew. Such an approach assumes sexual arousal to be a spontaneous desire that appears periodically like sensations of hunger and thirst. Drawing a parallel between these sensations and sexual excitation is widely accepted now: In this sense sex is a necessity of life, just as air, food, and warmth. Sensations of hunger and thirst occur due to certain states of physiological insufficiency.
The feeling of hunger results from the lack of glucose, fats and amino acids in blood. The feeling of thirst occurs in response to reduction of the water content of tissues. None of similar states of physiological deficiency responsible for the periodical appearance of sexual arousal has been revealed in human sexuality. The most obvious response involved with sexual behaviour in males is penile erection.
The use of the volume or circumference change during penile erection as a convenient measure of sexual arousal was first developed by Kurt Freund. This is commonly measured using a strain gauge, a simple mercury strain gauge encompassed in a ring of rubber. The ring surrounds the penis , but does not constrict or cause discomfort.
Studies have found temperature change specific to the genitals during sexual arousal, which supports the validity of this measure. Sexual arousal in women is characterized by vasocongestion of the genital tissues, including internal and external areas e. There are a variety of methods used to assess genital sexual arousal in women. Vaginal photoplethysmography VPG can measure changes in vaginal blood volume or phasic changes in vasocongestion associated with each heartbeat.
Clitoral photoplethysmography functions in a similar way to VPG, but measures changes in clitoral blood volume, rather than vaginal vasocongestion. Thermography provides a direct measure of genital sexual arousal by measuring changes in temperature associated with increased blood flow to the external genital tissues.
Similarly, labial thermistor clips measure changes in temperature associated with genital engorgement; this method directly measures changes in temperature of the labia. More recently, laser doppler imaging LDI has been used as a direct measure of genital sexual arousal in women.
LDI functions by measuring superficial changes in blood flow in the vulvar tissues. Category-specificity refers to a person showing sexual arousal to the categories of people they prefer to have sex with. Allow her to vent her frustrations, be empathetic and then move into giving her a back rub. When her mind is relaxed and free of stress her body will follow. Let her be your teacher and the tour guide of her body.
Have a conversation with her before entering into any sexual activity to give her the opportunity to tell you what does it for her. Not only does this place her pleasure first, but it also makes her feel comfortable in knowing that you care about her satisfaction as much as you care about yours. And that is the ultimate turn on. The sexual parts of a woman's body are obvious breasts, butt, vulva, lips but there are other erogenous zones that are non-assuming yet effective in stimulating arousal when they are stimulated.
Take the time to explore a woman's body before sex by offering a sensual rubdown beginning at the feet and then working your way up to the backs of the thighs and eventually the abdomen. Avoid the most obvious zones to create a level of anticipation for what is to come next. Create ambiance with candles and soft music and make sure the room is warm. You don't have to be a professional masseuse to do this. Use light strokes first and increase the pressure as you go along, but always check in with your partner to make sure she is comfortable. The characters, however, are so richly drawn as to makeup in part for the weak conclusion to the plot.
George himself likes to dance and there are some great scenes of him dancing in his basement and then drying himself under a sunlamp. His relationship with his ex-wife, Flo, is tumultuous. They love each other but seem to only be able to stand one another for a few days before they break into another fight and stop speaking for weeks at a time. George's friend Joe is "a middle-aged Romeo" whom George turns to for help.
Joe's son Walt is one of two characters who has just returned from Europe, each with a different take on the post-war world. Walt was a shy, quiet kid before the war. However, the army apparently taught him a lot about life as he determines that college is not the place for him. He's got rackets and schemes dreamed up; he's ready to make money.
Eddie, George's brother-in-law, also just returned from Europe, but his take on a post-war world are much different than the scheming Walt. Eddie is traumatized by his experience liberating Auschwitz and determines that what he saw there should never happen to another human being. He responds by embracing socialism. But we live in the midst of needless misery and want, and that's wrong The story itself, too, kept me interested, but the ending left me sorely disappointed.
Maybe all pulp fiction is like that: I'll have to read more to find out. In any case, Lacy's work is perfect iPhone reading available through Books from Munsey's on the Stanza app. Many of his early novels revolved around post-World War II life, including soldiers returning from war, soldiers with loot pilfered from Europe, continental attitudes toward American GIs. This book is no exception and is firmly rooted in post WWII life.
Well-drawn characters, sharp prose, gritty urban settings, and solid pacing are the aspects I liked in this title. After a certain time, the same process begins anew. Further changes to the internal organs also occur including to the internal shape of the vagina and to the position of the uterus within the pelvis. Sexual arousal for a man is usually indicated by the swelling and erection of the penis when blood fills the corpus cavernosum. A number of physiological responses occur in the body and mind as preparation for sexual intercourse and continue during it. They tend to attribute it to benign external events--it was something they ate, or they're not getting enough sleep--not as characteristics of themselves. The second stage, approach response, progresses from the first and involves bodily movements towards the object.
The title and the cover are lewd and lascivious. The story is a unique one, particularly for a first novel. It is not quite a crime novel. George has a couple of hobbies, including ballroom "The Woman Aroused" was Ed Lacy's first published novel. George has a couple of hobbies, including ballroom dancing, playing the ponies, and an on-again, off-again relationship with his ex-wife Flo, who he had divorced six years earlier, but they still carried on and then broke up, over and over again.
The friend dies suddenly, falling off a ladder at home. George, who isn't necessarily a great guy, plots to keep the money since no one knows about it, but decides to visit Lee to see who she was and whether she had any inkling. If you stop to think about what George does in this book, you realize he is a heel, but Lacy's writing allows the reader to see the world through George's point-of-view and to think of him as not quite the heel that he is.
George, in his wildest dreams, couldn't have imagined Lee, a six-foot tall blonde Amazon sex machine, who drops her clothes at the drop of a hat and, pretty soon, George has his friend's money and his friend's widow and, while feeling slightly guilty, can't let go of anything. But, Lee is a most unusual person, though filled with sex appeal like a giant Wonder Woman type of creature, who lives in a filthy, roach-infested apartment, she is nothing like Lee could have imagined and she turns his life upside down in the strangest ways.
This is a unique story that is hard to categorize and hard to describe without giving it away. Lacy really took a chance with publishing this as his first novel. Don't read this with any pre-conceived notions about what it is about or how it will end. May 13, Andy rated it it was amazing Shelves: The best Ed Lacy I've read so far, an astonishing noir about a man entrusted with a small fortune by his Army buddy, who mysteriously dies. The man visits his buddy's widow, a knockout German amazon of a woman who's a complete imbecile.
She not only has the brains of a blow-up doll but gets handled like one, needing to be fed, bathed, dressed and even made-up by this hapless guy. What makes this noir stand out is the way it treats this woman like some otherworldly creature as opposed to the stan The best Ed Lacy I've read so far, an astonishing noir about a man entrusted with a small fortune by his Army buddy, who mysteriously dies. What makes this noir stand out is the way it treats this woman like some otherworldly creature as opposed to the standard harpy with a heart of trash. The Woman Aroused also has a strange passage about the Holocaust that will stay in your mind for years to come.
Aug 28, Ron Zack rated it it was amazing Shelves: The author does an excellent job pairing the pulp allure with the horrors of Nazi Germany — a very unlikely combo.
These are themes that color much of the literature of the fifties, but rarely so directly presented. I always like the cast characters described at the beginning, though some of these are deliberately misleading. In typical Lacy style, there are great lines: She looked like a heavyweight champion with breasts. Interesting story of how, as a boy, his middle-aged French ballet teacher sold him on dance. Mar 29, Kenneth rated it liked it. I picked it up randomly along with a bunch of other pulp titles. Looking it up later realized it was a first novel from the author and published it under a pseudonym and had many other titles.
I enjoyed the writing style and the period language and themes. I wondered how one would update the language, neighborhoods and crime if a publisher wanted to updated for current times. The ending just seemed a bit rushed to me. There are a lot of titles available for e-readers from the author. Sep 08, Ehirgelt rated it really liked it.