“A combination of aversive therapy and orgasmic reconditioning failed to produce the expected changes in sexual activities and arousal patterns. (more…)

How (not) to communicate new scientific information: a memoir of the famous brindley lecture

“In 1983, at the Urodynamics Society meeting in Las Vegas, Professor G.S. Brindley first announced to the world his experiments on self-injection with papaverine to induce a penile erection. This was the first time that an effective medical therapy for erectile dysfunction (ED) was described, and was a historic development in the management of ED. The way in which this information was first reported was completely unique and memorable, and provides an interesting context for the development of therapies for ED. I was present at this extraordinary lecture, and the details are worth sharing. Although this lecture was given more than 20 years ago, the details have remained fresh in my mind, for reasons which will become obvious.

The lecture, which had an innocuous title along the lines of ‘Vaso-active therapy for erectile dysfunction’ was scheduled as an evening lecture of the Urodynamics Society in the hotel in which I was staying. I was a senior resident, hungry for knowledge, and at the AUA I went to every lecture that I could. About 15 min before the lecture I took the elevator to go to the lecture hall, and on the next floor a slight, elderly looking and bespectacled man, wearing a blue track suit and carrying a small cigar box, entered the elevator. He appeared quite nervous, and shuffled back and forth. He opened the box in the elevator, which became crowded, and started examining and ruffling through the 35 mm slides of micrographs inside. I was standing next to him, and could vaguely make out the content of the slides, which appeared to be a series of pictures of penile erection. I concluded that this was, indeed, Professor Brindley on his way to the lecture, although his dress seemed inappropriately casual. (more…)

“Because men of higher genetic quality tend to be poorer partners and parents than men of lower genetic quality, women may profit from securing a stable investment from the latter, while obtaining good genes via extrapair mating with the former. Only if conception occurs, however, do the evolutionary benefits of such a strategy overcome its costs. Accordingly, we predicted that (a) partnered women should prefer attached men, because such men are more likely than single men to have pair-bonding qualities, and hence to be good replacement partners, and (b) this inclination should reverse when fertility rises, because attached men are less available for impromptu sex than single men. (more…)

“The hypothesis that sexual attitudes, as measured by the Sexual Opinion Survey, are related to the explicitness with which nude figures are drawn was examined. The presence or absence of various sexual and nonsexual anatomical features, as well as length and width measurements, were assessed in the drawing of nudes by 17 male and 23 female undergraduates. (more…)

Low Pitched Voices Are Perceived as Masculine and Attractive but Do They Predict Semen Quality in Men?

“Women find masculinity in men’s faces, bodies, and voices attractive, and women’s preferences for men’s masculine features are thought to be biological adaptations for finding a high quality mate. Fertility is an important aspect of mate quality. Here we test the phenotype-linked fertility hypothesis, which proposes that male secondary sexual characters are positively related to semen quality, allowing females to obtain direct benefits from mate choice. (more…)

“Our aim in this study is to describe the characteristics of sexual development in twins and estimate the role of heritability and environmental factors as causes of certain sexual disorders. Two hundred and ten adult same-sex twin pairs (92 monozygotic [MZ] female, 41 MZ male, 55 dizygotic [DZ] female and 22 DZ male pairs) were involved in the study. Data were collected in 1982 by self-administered questionnaires that included items on sexual maturation, sexual life, contraception, mutual sexual activity within twin pairs and alcohol use. (more…)

“Prior research has established that people’s own physical attractiveness affects their selection of romantic partners. This article provides further support for this effect and also examines a different, yet related, question: When less attractive people accept less attractive dates, do they persuade themselves that the people they choose to date are more physically attractive than others perceive them to be? (more…)

Sex with Animals (SWA): Behavioral Characteristics and Possible Association with Penile Cancer. A Multicenter Study

“Introduction.  Zoophilia has been known for a long time but, underreported in the medical literature, is likely a risk factor for human urological diseases. Aim.  To investigate the behavioral characteristics of sex with animals (SWA) and its associations with penile cancer (PC) in a case-control study. (more…)

New Insights from One Case of Female Ejaculation.

“Introduction.  Although there are historical records showing its existence for over 2,000 years, the so-called female ejaculation is still a controversial phenomenon. A shared paradigm has been created that includes any fluid expulsion during sexual activities with the name of “female ejaculation.” Aim.  To demonstrate that the “real” female ejaculation and the “squirting or gushing” are two different phenomena. (more…)

Phallic Decoration in Paleolithic Art: Genital Scarification, Piercing and Tattoos

“Purpose: The primitive anthropological meaning of genital ornamentation is not clearly defined and the origin of penile intervention for decorative purposes is lost in time. Corporeal decoration was practiced in the Upper Paleolithic period. We discuss the existing evidence on the practice of phallic piercing, scarring and tattooing in prehistory. Materials and Methods: We studied the archaeological and artistic evidence regarding explicit genital male representations in portable art made in Europe approximately 38,000 to 11,000 years ago with special emphasis on decorations suggesting genital ornamentation. (more…)