There are at least two parts to sexual arousal. The mental part, where we likes what we sees. And the physical part, which happens more or less on its own.
An old-ish article from Seed Magazine tells us that men and women both report little to no arousal when watching monkeys have sex. But when the physiological data are taken, the women (and not the men) actually are affected. Their bodies are going through certain stages of arousal.
[In a finding that will surprise no one, heterosexual women are also more likely than men to be aroused by homosexual human sex. In fact, they were equally aroused by women with women, men with men, and men with women.]
I’ve got all kinds of evolutionary theories about this monkey thing (example: maybe females, being more likely to be raped, have to prepare their bodies when they see any sex going on, even when their minds aren’t into it).
I’d also like to know whether monkeys and other primates are turned on by watching humans.
But today, I’d just like to quote the Cornell psychiatrist who apparently was asked for her thoughts even though she had nothing at all to do with the study.
She has two great quotes, both showing her ignorance of the study and general blindness to the whole point of studies:
“I don’t know why this has surprised everybody that women get aroused watching humans and animals. Animals, because of the way they function in an uninhibited manner…can be very arousing to look at when they copulate.”
Two things:
1. She’s decided that it’s arousing, so therefore it’s arousing. But most people wouldn’t expect to be aroused by it, which is why it’s interesting. Also, I wonder how many times I’ll write some form of “arouse” in this post.
2. She’s decided WHY it’s arousing! It’s because they’re uninhibited. So if the monkeys turned the lights off and went under the covers, it would no longer be arousing.
Then, she’s informed that men actually AREN’T aroused by monkey sex. She’s surprised by that, but since she just said that of course monkey sex is hot, she has to figure out why it’s not hot for some other people generally, and men specifically. So she makes up a ridiculous double-standard:
“I would wonder if the men weren’t concerned about being labeled as homosexual or perverse by being interested in these things, and therefore their erections were inhibited.”
Of course! Men are all worried about being labelled gay (which makes ZERO sense) or perverse, but women are cool with it, so their bodies respond, even though they don’t report being aroused. Give me a break.
Is her attitude a product of the idea that men and women are exactly the same, so any differences have to be wished away by invoking culture? Probably.
This is so much less interesting than my post about distributed storage models.
Yeah, you should have saved that post for Sweeps Week.
But readers who need a breather after the first few hundred pages of your post can always come here.