Erotic Sensations Research Articles

“In Line with” and “Against the Current”: Changes in Ideological and Artistic Focus in Dominik Tatarka’s Works

The Slovak writer Dominic Tatarka has been working for more than forty years, and his writings fully reflect the dramatic shifts both in his personal life and that of the country as a whole. Tatarka has written in many genres. He started with existentialist and surrealist novellas (“The gloom of searching”, 1942; “The lady enchantress”, 1944), moving on to a socio-psychological novel (“The parish republic”, 1948), which reflected the author’s own experience during the war. His novels on the formation of the new man were written according to the canons of socialist realism (“The first and second strikes” (1950), “The day of joy” (1954), “The friendship years” (1954)). The 1956 satirical pamphlet “The demon of agreement” clearly showed the author’s political disillusionment. In the “Endless conversations” (1959) and “Wicker chairs” (1963) novellas, Tatarka returned to the examination of complex spiritual issues, reexamining his personal emotional experience. From mid-1960s onwards the writer mostly wrote non-fiction works, focusing on the issues of national identity and culture. After the events of 1968, Tatarka was excluded from public and intellectual life. His later works, “Bad Weather” (1978), “Notes” (1984), “One against the night” (1984), “Letters to eternity” (1988), “Records with Dominic Tatarka” (2000), “Letters to beloved Lutetia” (2013) were written as essays, employing inner monologue, dialogues with imaginary or real characters, reminiscences, political reflections and erotic sensations.

The Influence of Emotional Closeness on Interindividual Touching

Interpersonal tactile stroking stimulation activates different peripheral nerve fibers, especially C-tactile afferents, which encode pleasant and erotic sensations. Hence, humans typically stroke close interaction partners with velocities that are suited to stimulate C-tactile afferents in the touch receivers’ skin. We aim to replicate this finding and we furthermore hypothesized that humans adjust their stroking velocity depending on the relationship with the interaction partner. We tested 60 participants in total (29 men, 31 women, mean age 23.3 years ± 3.6 years SD). They were asked to stroke their partner, their friend, a female stranger, a male stranger, an artificial arm and a table. Stroking was recorded by a video camera and each participant rated the emotional closeness to and attractiveness of each human interaction partner. In addition, we determined the velocity that each participant preferred to be stroked with in a forced choice paradigm. The participants stroked other humans slower and more in the optimal range for C-tactile fiber activation than non-humans. The stroking velocity was related to ratings of sympathy. The participants did not adjust their stroking velocities towards the stimulation they preferred for themselves. In conclusion, our study reaffirms that interindividual stroking touch is targeted to activate C-tactile fibers in the touch receiver. Furthermore, humans adjust their stroking velocity according to sympathy and interindividual attraction.

Joining gangs: living on the edge?

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to disseminate street gang research by Hesketh (2018) that has identified a major aspect of young disenfranchised people’s attraction to street gangs as edgework risk-taking. The study which sought to identify differences between those who joined street gangs compared to those who abstained on Merseyside. Design/methodology/approach Two samples were taken from locations within the five boroughs of Merseyside, the first comprising of 22 participants (18–25) involved in street gangs as active and ex-members with a second sample consisting of 22 participants (18–25) who had completely abstained from street gang membership. Data were collected through adoption of biographic narrative interpretive method (BNIM) (Wengraf, 2001), with analysis taking the form of Strauss and Corbin’s (1990) version of grounded theory. Findings Of the many findings that surrounded what was identified as the core category/central phenomena of “coping with limited opportunity” it emerged that marginalisation and austerity were contributing to increasing inequality and institutional constraint on young people on Merseyside. As a result, many of the 18–25 year young men felt powerless, lacking identity and aspirational drive. Joining a gang thus became not only a way in which control was seized back from such constraint through criminal risk-taking behaviour, what Lyng (1990) has termed “edgework”, but also a means in which many of the young men interviewed gained an identity of being “bad” from which intrinsically pleasurable seductive and criminally erotic sensations were derived (Katz, 1988). Moreover, a relatively new version of edgework was also identified, even though by way of male testimony. Called “vicarious edgework”, the phenomena sees young women drawn to male gang members (“bad boys”) to derive the excitement of risk indirectly while remaining law abiding. In sum, the paper highlights a concerning socio-psychological and key motivating driver triggered by marginalisation. Research limitations/implications Study samples were all male. Thus, any observations on the vicarious edgework aspect of risk taking requires further research involving both young men and women. Practical implications The paper highlights the need for more understanding of the allure of risk-taking. The paper identifies a new form of female edgework. The paper draws attention to gang membership and non-membership on Merseyside, an area that has been greatly neglected by gangs’ studies in the UK. The paper describes a novel way of data collection using an adoption of BNIM. Social implications In sum, the paper highlights a concerning socio-psychological and key motivating driver triggered by marginalisation. This, the author contends has been largely neglected by risk factor focussed interventions that largely concentrate on the idea of rational choice theory and sociological positivism. Originality/value The paper attempts to disseminate original street gang research by Hesketh (2018) that has identified a major aspect of young disenfranchised people’s attraction to street gangs as edgework risk-taking.

Drawing Breath: Breathing into the Rhythm and Form of Art Therapy: Exercises and Workbook for Psychotherapists and Educators

Drawing Breath: Breathing into the Rhythm and Form of Art TherapyExercises and Workbook for Psychotherapists and Educators Linda Siegel (bio) Sitting in dignity, we bring our awareness to the object of our awareness. The breath is that object. —The Buddha Introduction Breath, which pumps healthy oxygen into our bodies more than 20,000 times a day, is common to all living things. Developing a deep understanding of the process of breathing can reveal to us our inherent connectedness with all of life. Breathing, which has long been known to aid in relaxation and pre-exercise during stretching, is a focus in most meditation practices and serves as a vital reference point from which the mind wanders and is drawn back. Breath work can expand the uses of breathing to include rhythms that speak to both our life forces and our creative processes. I offer both theoretical background and experiential exercises in this paper. As a child I suffered from a myriad of respiratory problems and allergies, which frequently landed me in the doctor's office to have my nose drained. Memories of gasping for air became more vivid years later when, as an adult, I took up more serious swimming to increase my lung capacity after quitting a long habit of smoking. In the beginning, I barely made it through one lap, but, as I moved through the water, one stroke at a time, the water held me in a womb-like weightlessness, allowing my body to move, pain-free, through the silence, except for [End Page 251] the sound of my own breath. That I began smoking at all, confounds me now. My curiosity about smoking surely came from the many smokers around me at the time; it seemed sensual and sophisticated then, before knowledge of the dangers of smoking. Looking back, I realize that smoking may have been a way to take in a deep breath, something that eluded me as a child. Over the years, I have expanded my lung capacity and have enjoyed a significant decrease in breathing problems. My experience of how breathing can improve overall health sparked my exploration of what it means to breathe life into a person's existence, both literally and figuratively, something that we do for ourselves and others as therapists and educators. I am particularly interested in how a breathing practice can promote relaxation, provide more space within the body boundaries, and loosen up the artist at the beginning of a creative project. All the examples explored here have been used with psychotherapists, patients, and students in group settings, but may also be used individually and with children. Just Breathe First, let's take a moment to become conscious of the breathing process. If one were to attend to breathing, one would become aware of the simple facts about it, including one's breathing speed, rhythms, and normal irregularities, as well as the urges and counter-urges to shorten, quicken, or extend one's breath. One would find breathing stimulates many kinds of body sensations in diverse body regions. As one breathes more deeply into one's tensions, streams of erotic sensations may be triggered, and one may forget about one's breathing entirely. As Eigen (1993) observes, "feelings of power and energy rise and fall; some become concentrated in specific body zones while others remain unpredictably fluid" (p. 44). Breathing practice can be used as a technique for bringing a person into the present moment, and later, as a starting point for optimizing engagement in the creative process. Breathing is inherently connected to a rhythm which influenced our beginning experiences of the world, including our first experiences [End Page 252] of human creativity. The practice of breathing with art-making can increase expression and promote the experience of connecting mind and body in a more fluid way, and gives us a multi-modal experience of integration. Breathing connects us with our human identity, both our individual identity and the collective identity that we share with others. Many meditation teachers believe that the use of breath offers us all a chance to begin again. A more comprehensive psychological exploration reveals that breathing is inherently connected to one's...

Dissociable sources of erogeneity in social touch: Imagining and perceiving C-Tactile optimal touch in erogenous zones.

Previous research points to two major hypotheses regarding the mechanisms by which touch can be experienced as erotogenic. The first concerns the body part to which touch is applied (erogenous zones) and the second the modality of touch (sensual touch optimal in activating C Tactile afferents). In this study, we explored for the first time the relation between those two mechanisms in actual and imagined social touch. In a first experiment, we randomly assigned “Giver” and “Receiver” roles within 19 romantic couples (20 females, 18 males, age 32.34 ± 8.71SD years) and asked the “Giver” to apply CT-optimal (3 cm/s) vs. CT-suboptimal (18 cm/s) touch on an erogenous (neck) vs. non-erogenous zone (forehead) of their partner. We then obtained ratings of pleasantness and sexual arousal from both “Receivers” and “Givers”. In a second experiment, 32 healthy females (age 25.16 ± 5.91SD years) were asked to imagine CT-optimal vs. CT-suboptimal stimulation (stroking vs. patting) and velocity (3 cm/s vs. 18 cm/s) on different erogenous vs. non-erogenous zones and rate pleasantness. While both erogenous body part and CT-optimal, sensual touch were found to increase pleasant and erotic sensations, the results showed a lack of an interaction. Furthermore, pleasantness was induced by mere imagination of touch without any tactile stimulation, and touch that was sexually arousing for the receiver was rated as more sexually arousing for the giver as well, pointing to top-down, learned expectations of sensory pleasure and erogeneity. Taken together, these studies provide the first direct evidence that while both the body location to which touch is applied and the mode of touch contribute to pleasant and erotic sensations, these two factors appear to mediate subjective pleasantness and erogeneity by, at least partly, independent mechanisms.

Przyjemność seksualna pracownic agencji towarzyskich – definicje, warunki, konteksty

Sexual pleasure experienced by escort agencies’ female sex workers — definitions, conditions, contexts Subject matter of the article is the analysis of manners, which women providing sex services in escort agencies report they experience during commercial sex. Furthermore, the analysis was em­ployed in case of their definition of sexual pleasure in commercial as well as private sex life. Two reported manners of erotic sensations felt by sex workers during commercial sex can be differentiated. First, the feeling of denial that it is possible to feel pleasure in this context. Orgasm ex­perienced by escort agencies’ employees is presented as a myth developed for the clients’ needs. The second thing, the sex workers can and do feel sexual pleasure during meetings with clients. According to a part of the researched women, the denial that satisfying relations with clients do not take place is the myth. Both perspectives were compared with accounts of those women regarding their sex lives. An empirical basis for the article is posed by data collected within the scope of the qualitative research project carried out in escort agencies in Łódź.

Unmyelinated tactile cutaneous nerves signal erotic sensations.

Intrapersonal touch is a powerful tool for communicating emotions and can among many things evoke feelings of eroticism and sexual arousal. The peripheral neural mechanisms of erotic touch signaling have been less studied. C tactile afferents (unmyelinated low-threshold mechanoreceptors), known to underpin pleasant aspects of touch processing, have been posited to play an important role. In two studies, we investigated the relationship between C tactile activation and the perception of erotic and pleasant touch, using tactile brushing stimulation. In total, 66 healthy subjects (37 women, age range 19-51 years) were examined. In study 1 (n = 20), five different stroking velocities were applied to the forearm and the inner thigh. The participants answered questions about partnership, mood, and touch. In study 2 (n = 46), the same five stroking velocities were applied to the forearm. The participants answered questions about partnership, touch, and sexuality. Both touch eroticism and pleasantness were rated significantly higher for C tactile optimal velocities compared with suboptimal velocities. No difference was found between the ratings of the thigh and the forearm. The velocity-dependent rating curves of pleasantness, intensity, and eroticism differed from each other. Pleasantness was best explained by a quadratic fit, intensity by a linear fit, and eroticism by both. A linear transformation of pleasantness and intensity predicted the observed eroticism ratings reliably. Eroticism ratings were negatively correlated with length of relationship. Touch was rated most erotic when perceived as pleasant and weak. In human hairy skin, perception of pleasantness is correlated with the firing rate of C tactile afferents, and perception of intensity is correlated with the firing rate of Aβ afferents. Accordingly, eroticism may be perceived most readily for touch stimuli that induce high activity in C tactile fibers and low activity in Aβ fibers.

Sexuality and subjectivity: erotic practices and the question of bodily sensations

Although the history of anthropology shows various shifts in the way sexuality has been theorised, studies of the relation between sexuality and bodily sensations have remained limited. In this article I explore the concept of body‐sensorial knowledge to understand the relation between the social significance of sexuality and erotic sensations. I argue that the sensual qualities of sexuality are mediators and shapers of social knowledge that help to understand how causal relations, such as the reconfiguration of culture, gender and sexuality in postcolonial Kenyan society, are registered in people's self‐perceptions.

“I cluppe and I cusse as I wood wore”: Erotic Imagery in Middle English Mystical Writings

The mutual influences of the medieval discourse of courtly love and the literary visions of divine love have long been recognized by readers of medieval lyrical poetry and devotional writings. They are especially visible in the affinities between the language used to construct the picture of the ideal courtly lady and the images of the Virgin Mary. Praises of Mary’s physical beauty, strewn with erotic implications, are an example of a strictly male eroticization of the medieval Marian discourse, rooted in Bernard of Clairvaux’s allegorical reading of the Song of Songs, where Mary is imagined as the Bride of the poem, whose “breasts are like two young roes that are twins” (Cant. of Cant. 4:5). Glimpses of medieval female erotic imagination, also employed to express religious meanings, can be found in the writings of the mystical tradition: in England in the books of visions of Margery Kempe, in the anonymous seers of the fourteenth century, and, to some extent, in Julian of Norwich. Though subdued by patriarchal politics and edited by male amanuenses, the female voice can still be heard in the extant texts as it speaks of mystical experience by reference to bodily, somatic and, sometimes, erotic sensations in a manner different from the sensual implications found in the poetry of Marian adoration. The bliss of mystic elation, the ultimate union with God, is, in at least one mystical text, confidently metaphorized as an ecstatic, physical union with the human figure of Christ hanging on the cross.

Reports of intimate touch: Erogenous zones and somatosensory cortical organization

IntroductionErogenous zones have paradoxical response properties, producing erotic feelings from body surfaces distant from the genitalia. Ramachandran has suggested an intriguing neuroscientific explanation for the distribution of erogenous zones, based on the arrangement of body parts (such as the adjacent positioning of the genitals and the feet) in primary somatosensory cortex (S1). The present study represents the first systematic survey of the magnitude of erotic sensations from various body parts, as well as the first empirical investigation of the S1 theory of erogenous zones, by analysis of whether evaluations of erogenous magnitude from adjacent S1 sites tend to correlate. MethodsA sample of some 800 participants, primarily from the British Isles and Sub-Saharan Africa, completed a survey of 41 body parts, each rated for erogenous intensity. ResultsRatings for the feet were surprisingly low. However, there were remarkable levels of correlation between ratings of intensity, regardless of the age, sexual orientation, nationality, race and, more surprisingly, the sex of our participant sample (R2 values ranging between .90 and .98). Multiple regression and factor analysis investigated whether body parts nearby in S1 were significantly correlated. ConclusionThe S1 hypothesis appears to lack support, because of the low level of foot ratings, the lack of inter-correlation between ratings for nearby S1 sites, and the previous literature suggesting that cortical stimulation of S1 does not appear to be erotogenic. The consistency across demographic variables is open to multiple interpretations. However, it may be that individual experience or cultural differences (a starting point for some accounts of erogenous zone distribution) are not substantial determining variables. Thus, while S1 does not appear to be the likely site that would support Ramachandran's neural body map proposal, we suggest that the origins of erogenous distribution may derive from a map located elsewhere in the brain.

Flirting with the young lady: Albéric Cahuet's Au jardin des vierges (In the Garden of Maidens)

In his 1904 novel Au jardin des vierges , Albéric Cahuet takes up where the celebrated and infamous Les demi- vierges (1894) by Marcel Prévost had not ventured to tread. The turn-of-the-century period was obsessed with the seemingly irreversible disappearance of the young lady, ever more emancipated and rebelling against the rules of a patriarchal society which allowed her to become a woman only once married. Cahuet seizes on the contradictory state of desires in modern young ladies and conventional society and imagines the provoking character of a writer who preaches the complete freedom for young unmarried women to experiment with flirting in the most audacious way. In his supposed novel, the heroine transcribes every day her most erotic sensations and desires in “the most suggestive of confessions.” Au jardin des vierges , in a clever turn of fiction, sets the stage for a complex game of seduction between the writer Norville and a delightful maiden who wants to apply his declared transgressive principles. The young lady has become the ultimate femme fatale . Cahuet manages to create a well-written story (mostly in vivid dialogic form) on the basis of the anxiety-ridden moral and social aporias typical of the period. His novel might be the very last testimony to a vanishing human type, ever so present in much of the fiction from the two previous centuries. Shortly after, Proust’s “jeunes filles en fleurs” (1919) will have escaped for good from the constraints that made their predecessors’ lives so dangerous and their charms so tantalizing.

Eros en escena: Erotismo en el teatro del Siglo de Oro (review)

Fernandez Rodriguez, Esther. Eros en escena: Erotismo en el teatro del Siglo de Oro. Newark, DE: Juan de la Cuesta, 2009. 189 pp.Consistent with the approach that views comedias as play scripts (written to be performed rather than read), Esther Fernandez Rodriguez very broadly examines the sensuality of Madrid's public theaters. The author's purpose is to document that the corrales of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain were a vibrant center of eroticism to which various factors contributed, including the steamy atmosphere that existed in and around the playhouses, the sexually evocative undertones of many comedias, the frequently seductive nature of performances on stage, and the licentious lifestyle ascribed to theater people. The public playhouses of Madrid in the age of Lope and Calderon have been widely recognized as sites of popular mass entertainment, charitable businesses supporting the hospitals, and political instruments of lesser or greater degree. The conclusion supported in this study is that they were also the headwaters of provocative erotic sensations (177). The author aims to reclaim for the Spanish stage of the Golden Age a neglected but important part of its nature, thus returning to it an aspect of universality that has been lost (32).Chapter 1 outlines the varying definitions of eroticism and associated terms such as sensuality, seduction, sexuality, sex, love, and pornography (19-20). In the repressive Catholic society of Spain's Golden Age, censorship made difficult or impossible the direct and intentional expression of the sexually redolent. So these basic aspects of human existence were usually presented indirectly, through insinuation (verbal tone, gesture, body language), metaphors, and double meanings (28-30). The author approaches her topic with an awareness of the great differences between what was considered indecent 400 years ago and what is seen as such by the jaded public of our present day (176). The indirect cultural clues used by Golden Age dramatists do not awaken the same erotic sensations as they did in the original audiences (181), a fact that by itself justifies the explanations presented in this volume.Chapter 2 focuses on the sensually charged atmosphere within and immediately outside the public theaters in Madrid, as well as in the surrounding neighborhood. Despite the segregation of women in the cazuela, the interior spaces of the corrales- the various entrances and stairways, dressing rooms, hallways, and back stairs- lent themselves to clandestine social pleasures (41-42). Go-betweens of all types exercised their skills at the theaters- assisting in courtships, seductions, and assignations between lovers - and prostitutes sought clients there (44-45). Citing the many other possibilities for pleasurable indulgences offered in the theater district (e.g., taverns, gaming houses, brothels, the mentidero de los comediantes), the author concludes that the whole area was charged with a tantalizing ambience.Chapter 3 discusses the promotion of sensuality by the performers, who became sexual icons of the age through their acting on stage and their reputed amorous freedom off stage. The author discusses the lives and reputations of various prominent actresses to make plain that their presence in the corrales was a major enticement for audiences and that they, more than their male counterparts, were responsible for the financial success of acting companies, public theaters, and the hospitals that they supported.Chapters 4 and 5 present a representative sampling of specific comedias containing salacious scenes that lend to otherwise nonerotic plays an air of latent sensuality. …

T09-O-30 Unconsumed marriages and sexuality

Introduction and objectives The present study investigated the aspects of the relationship and sexuality of couples in unconsummated marriages. Materials and methods 32 couples between the ages of 28 and 40 were (average age 34) were recruited, having been married for at least seven years and having known each other or been engaged beforehand for one to two years. Each partner was administered the following: MMS-3G, CTS, SSS, CPQ, QER. Afterwards there was and individual check-up interview and one as a couple. Results The couples were homogenous never having had sexual experiences other than with the partner. The trend is to exclude open verbal conflicts for fear of being abandoned or of assertion (more often than not physical) by the other partner. They exclude passionate erotic impulses and sensations as they are associated with violent acts. Sexual teachings and the creative aspects of sexual games is entrusted to one partner. Disagreement on times and ways of spending time together is also due to the timing and ways intimacy is desired, sought and experienced. Mainly romantic and affectionate in the couple and erotically transgressive in autoeroticism. Conclusions The sexological counselling to bring to life unconsummated marriages foresees a psycho-educational space were each partner is free to ask for information and redefine prejudices an fears on sexuality. 11 couples out of 32 have had a child.

Teaching and Learning Guide for: Transgender and Transsexual Studies: Sociology's Influence and Future Steps

Teaching and Learning Guide for: Transgender and Transsexual Studies: Sociology's Influence and Future Steps

Występowanie narządu lemieszowo-nosowego u ludzi dorosłych

The influence of chemical substances (feromones) on human emotional and physical condition has fascinated psychologists, sexuologists and laryngologists since centurie. Literature conveys inconsistent information on vomeronasal organ (VNO) occurrence in humans. This organ is often called Jacobson's, and 2 symmetrical openings leading into it, located on both sides of septum, are called Ruyasch's ducts. The aim of the study was to analyze vomeronasal organ occurrence in humans in relation to age and sex. The study was conducted in a group of 634 patients, aged 18-80 years. All patients underwent routine ENT examination including rhinoscopy, nasal cavity examination with usage of 2.5x magnification lens (surgical glasses) and surgical microscope with 10x magnification. All persons had nasal cavities examined endoscopically. Every time presence of vomeronasal organ openings, along with localization, size and symmetry of these was noted. Subjects, who presented Jacobson's organ, were asked to fill a questionnaire concerning influence of smells on erotic sensations. Vomeronasal organ was fund in 312 persons, that is 49.21%. In 83.65% of cases vomeronasal organ opening size was smaller than 0.2 mm, what restricted its visibility to usage of magnifying lens, microscope, or endoscope. In 16.34% of cases only vomeronasal organ ducts openings were well visible in routine rhinoscopy without magnification. Vomeronasal organ was found more often in men than women. VNO was significantly more rare in patients with nasal septal deviation. In these cases, vomeronasal organ was usually found unilaterally, in all the cases on the concave side of deviated nasal septum.

Partial epilepsy with “ecstatic” seizures

Reports focusing on auras of ecstasy or pleasure have been limited largely to single case descriptions. We examined 11 consecutive patients with such ictal symptoms. Eight had sensory hallucinations, four had erotic sensations, five described “a religious/spiritual experience,” and several had symptoms that were felt to have no counterpart in human experience. Ictal EEG recordings were performed in four patients; two had seizure onset in the right temporal lobe and two in the left. In seven the onset could not be definitely localized. The diagnosis of epilepsy was often delayed. Eight patients wished to experience seizures; self-induction was possible in five and four showed treatment noncompliance. In patients with insufficient drug intake, in whom good compliance should be expected, it is relevant to consider seizures with pleasant symptomatology. According to the literature, experiential and ecstatic seizures seem to have had a substantial impact on our cultural and religious history.

Sexual images of the self: the psychology of erotic sensations and illusions

Contents: The Impact of Early Implanted Sexual Fictions. The Female Body in Sexual Awareness and Action. The Sexual Space of the Male. Erotic Fascination with the Same Sex. The Concept of Convertible Penises, Vaginas, and Other Genital Accessories. The Psychological Anatomy of Reproduction. An Overview of Strategies and Illusions Mediating Sexual Tuning.

The Spirit of Hellenism as a Guide to Life

The date is 1880: the scene an undergraduate's rooms in Oxford. The undergraduate, Edward Pargiter, is preparing for his final exams. His performance, he hopes, will earn him a fellowship so that he will then be able to stay at Oxford devoting himself to Greek for the rest of his life. Over many months he has been training for the exam but now, with only a fortnight to go, he has been advised to relax; so he is merely skimming through a plain text of the Antigone, commentaries being unnecessary as he knows the play word by word with the parallel passages, grammatical and textual cruces, metrical analysis, and so on. As he reads he sips a glass of port. Together the port and the mental image of the two girls, Ismene and Antigone, arguing in front of the palace, stimulate erotic sensations which he wills himself to repress, and he does so by concentrating his mind on the first choral passage in which Theban elders sing of the attempt to storm Thebes in hypercharged language containing nothing in the least provocative of sexual images. Nevertheless, thoughts come to him unbidden of his cousin Kitty, with whom he has danced once or twice at college balls and with whom he has fallen in love, regarding her as embodying all that is beautiful, worshipful and desirable in life although he does not in any serious sense know her at all. He abandons the Antigone to write her a poem, but the poem is not a success. His mind, over the last few years, has been so filled with Greek that he can manage nothing better than a pastiche of Theocritus. At least he has been taught enough discrimination to recognise this, and so he tears it into small pieces to escape the prying eyes of his bedmaker.

Compulsive thalamic self-stimulation: A case with metabolic, electrophysiologic and behavioral correlates

A 48-year-old woman with a stimulating electrode implanted in the right thalamic nucleus ventralis posterolateralis developed compulsive self-stimulation associated with erotic sensations and changes in autonomic and neurologic function. Stimulation effects were evaluated by neuropsychologic testing, endocrine studies, positron emission tomographic measurements of regional cerebral metabolic rate for glucose, EEG and evoked potentials. During stimulation, vital signs and pupillary diameter increased and a left hemiparesis and left hemisensory loss developed. Verbal functions deteriorated and visuospatial processing improved. Plasma growth hormone concentrations decreased, and adrenocorticotrophic hormone and cortisol levels rose. With stimulation, glucose metabolism increased in both thalami and both hemispheres, reversing baseline right-sided hypometabolism and right-left asymmetries. EEG and both somatosensory and brain-stem auditory evoked potentials remained unchanged during stimulation, while visual evoked potentials revealed evidence of anterior visual pathway dysfunction in the left eye. This case establishes the potential for addiction to deep brain stimulation and demonstrates that widespread behavioral and physiological changes, with concomitant alteration in the regional cerebral metabolic rate for glucose, may accompany unilateral thalamic stimulation.

The sympathetic‐inhibiting effects of the drug Ismelin on human male eroticism, with a note on Mellaril∗∗

Research in the analysis of human eroticism involves ethical limitations which can be partially avoided by the utilization of natural and accidental changes in human sexual structure and function. This paper utilizes the opportunity of studying the sexual effects of drugs, particularly the drug, Ismelin (guanethidine sulphate), used for the treatment of high blood pressure. Human male eroticism has four distinct components: erection, glandular secretion, ejaculation, and detumescence. Although they are ordinarily synchronized and coordinated, each component is separate; erection, glandular secretion, and ejaculation can occur independently of one another (Money and Hirsch, 1965). Orgasm is preceded by the secretion of seminal fluids and sperms into the upper urethra; the ejaculatory process then expels the fluid out the penis. Ejaculation is achieved by spasmodic muscular contractions of the musculature of the perineum and penis. Semans and Langworthy (1938) have shown that, in the male cat, the secretion of seminal fluid into the upper urethra is an event separate and distinct from the ejaculation of this fluid out of the penis. In a detailed neurologic study of male paraplegics, Kuhn (1950) concluded that the same distinction between secretion and ejaculation is applicable to man. Ejaculatory contractions are accompanied by intensified erotic sensations, and these sensations, together with the muscular response, comprise the orgasm. The cognitional content and subjective feelings, associated with orgasm can occur without the ejaculation of fluid. This is the phenomenon referred to as a dry-run orgasm. In the dryrun orgasm, the glandular secretion fails, whereas the muscular contractions of ejaculation do not. The result is an orgasm-complete