Vince
Super Moderator
Sex. We love to talk about it, do it, and then talk about it some more. And then do it some more. However, despite our obsession with getting down, we're not so up on exploring the deed, scientifically. That's probably because even though we love sex a lot, there's still a lot of weird stigma around getting weird in the bedroom. Luckily, some brave/sexy scientists are forging ahead with the research, and our bedrooms are grateful for their hard work.
We already knew that the neurotransmitter dopamine played an important role in orgasms — basically, it gets us really, really excited to have sex. Because, you know, the whole need to breed and keep humans around for a long time.
Plus, we really like pleasure. Like, a lot.
From Dr. Anjan Chatterjee in Salon:
Pleasures are more than simple reflexive reactions to desirable things. We saw this principle with food, and the same applies to sex. The context in which we encounter objects makes a big difference in our subjective experiences. For example, pain can topple into pleasure. Women have higher thresholds for pain when sexually aroused. These thresholds increase on average by 40% with vaginal stimulation and by 100% near and during orgasm. Despite these changes in what counts as pain, the sensation itself is not dulled and is no less arousing. Rather, the same intense sensation is not experienced as pain. In the brain, the insula and anterior cingulate are active during arousal. These same areas are active when people feel pain. Curiously, people's faces take on similar contortions when experiencing intense pain as when experiencing orgasms. Here the sensations producing pain are still experienced, but they are not unpleasant.
Pleasure keeps us alive — "sexual pleasure is adaptive in the most basic of ways. Enjoyment in sex guaranteed that our Pleistocene ancestors begat us." — and it's key to the survival of the species. Basically, sex is desire, an action to satisfy that desire, and the ability to revel in the pleasure of satisfying that desire. So we can make babies and rule the Earth forever. Pretty simple stuff. And so, so fun. http://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/news/a16403/why-sex-feels-good/
We already knew that the neurotransmitter dopamine played an important role in orgasms — basically, it gets us really, really excited to have sex. Because, you know, the whole need to breed and keep humans around for a long time.
Plus, we really like pleasure. Like, a lot.
From Dr. Anjan Chatterjee in Salon:
Pleasures are more than simple reflexive reactions to desirable things. We saw this principle with food, and the same applies to sex. The context in which we encounter objects makes a big difference in our subjective experiences. For example, pain can topple into pleasure. Women have higher thresholds for pain when sexually aroused. These thresholds increase on average by 40% with vaginal stimulation and by 100% near and during orgasm. Despite these changes in what counts as pain, the sensation itself is not dulled and is no less arousing. Rather, the same intense sensation is not experienced as pain. In the brain, the insula and anterior cingulate are active during arousal. These same areas are active when people feel pain. Curiously, people's faces take on similar contortions when experiencing intense pain as when experiencing orgasms. Here the sensations producing pain are still experienced, but they are not unpleasant.
Pleasure keeps us alive — "sexual pleasure is adaptive in the most basic of ways. Enjoyment in sex guaranteed that our Pleistocene ancestors begat us." — and it's key to the survival of the species. Basically, sex is desire, an action to satisfy that desire, and the ability to revel in the pleasure of satisfying that desire. So we can make babies and rule the Earth forever. Pretty simple stuff. And so, so fun. http://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/news/a16403/why-sex-feels-good/
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