Sexual stimulation begins with sexual arousal and may continue after orgasm. The pattern of our response to sexual stimulate called our sexual response cycle. There are five steps in the с desire, excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution. Some or all the steps are reached each time one has a sexual experience. However, one can stop at any step before orgasm. Completing cycle is not necessary for sexual fulfillment.

In order to make the sexual response cycle easier to understand let’s take a look at two people who have just met. For the purposes of showing the responses that are similar and different between men and women, the couple in this example will be a man and a woman

Desire Phase

The man and woman begin to feel sensations. They are attracted each other. Their interest grows. This is caused by stimuli—such as seeing one another, hearing one another’s voice, smelling one another’s cologne or perfume, or holding one another’s gaze. Neither the woman nor the man knows why or how this attraction happens. At this point, the woman and man begin to want or “desire” sexual intimacy with one another.

The desire phase can go on for a long time—weeks, months, or years. Or the change from desire to the next phase, excitement, may happen very quickly—within a few minutes.

Excitement Phase

Excitement is the phase during which the body responds to desire. The body reacts automatically to the stimuli of desire. It may be very easy for the woman or man to feel these reactions in her or his own body. If they are wearing clothes, however, it may be difficult for each to know that the other is sexually excited. Communication about their sexual excitement may begin. Communication happens through talking and body gestures. It may be that our bodies produce special chemical substances that attract us through our sense of smell. These substances are called pheromones.

Sometimes women and men are embarrassed by their sexual excitement and try to hide it. Sometimes we are attracted to people who are not available to us because of social restrictions. You may be sexually attracted to the spouse of a friend, but your mind tells you that a sexual relationship with that person is not allowed. Sometimes we are very surprised by sexual stimuli. In any case, sexual stimulation is often difficult to talk about. Shy people may wait a long time for a sign of interest from other people before they communicate their sexual excitement.

Excitement prepares our bodies for sexual intercourse or for outercourse, which is sex play without insertion of the penis into the vagina or anus. Excitement can lead to sexual intimacy, but the woman and man can experience excitement in their own bodies and not be sexually or physically intimate with each other.

Once a person enters the excitement phase, she or he can leave it at any time. Desire, excitement, and wanting to be sexually intimate are normal, but it is important to remember that it is never “necessary” to be sexually intimate. Whenever women or men do not want to be sexually intimate, their choices must be respected.

For the purposes of our example, this couple is feeling sexually excited. They have been flirting. They have also talked about their sexual excitement. This woman and man agree to continue their excitement through intimacy, foreplay, and intercourse. The excitement phase for this couple lasts from the time of their discussion through foreplay. During the excitement phase, the following changes happen inside and outside of the woman’s and man’s bodies.

Plateau Phase

Excitement continues to rise through many kinds of stimulation. At the highest point of excitement, a certain state of feelings and body changes is reached. This state is the plateau phase. Stimulation continues during the plateau phase. Stimulation during the plateau phase is usually physical. It may include stroking or rubbing of an erogenous zone—face, breast, clitoris, or penis. This can occur during masturbation, intercourse, or outercourse.

Sexual intercourse usually means that the penis is inserted into a part of the body and moved in and out for sexual stimulation. Sexual intercourse occurs between women and men, men and men, and women and women. Trying different types of intercourse depends greatly on how comfortable you are with your own and your partner’s bodies. It also depends on your personal, religious, and cultural values.

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Girls

Girls have all their sex and reproductive organs when they are born. Girls also have all their sex cells—eggs—already formed by the time they are born. At puberty, these eggs mature, usually one a month.

The pituitary gland in the brain stimulates body changes by triggering hormone production in the ovaries. The ovaries begin producing the hormones estrogen and progesterone. Estrogen and progesterone affect the other cells in a girl’s body. Secondary sex characteristics begin to appear. Some changes girls can expect during puberty:

• They will grow taller.

• The voice will become deeper.

• Underarm hair will appear.

• Pubic hair will grow on the mons pubis and the labia majora.

• Sweat glands will produce greater amounts of sweat.

• Acne may appear.

• The uterus will enlarge.

• Breasts will develop.

• Hips will widen.

• Menstruation will start.

• Thinking about sex will become more common.

• Mood swings may happen abruptly.

Boys

Boys have all their sex and reproductive organs at birth, but the testicles do not make sperm until puberty.

The brain stimulates body changes by triggering hormone production in the testes. The testes produce very large amounts of the hormone testosterone. Testosterone affects the other cells in a boy’s body. Secondary sex characteristics begin to appear. Some changes boys can expect during puberty:

• They will become taller very quickly.

• Facial hair will begin to grow.

• The voice will become deeper—it may “crack” during the change.

• Underarm hair will appear.

• Pubic hair will begin to grow above the penis and on the scrotum.

• Sweat glands will produce greater amounts of sweat.

• Acne may appear.

• Penis and testicles will become larger.

• Seminal vesicles, the prostate, and the Cowper’s glands will begin the adult function of producing semen.

• Erections will be more common and may happen spontaneously without stimulation.

• Thinking about sex will become more common.

• Wet dreams may occur.

• Mood swings may happen abruptly.

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The penis and scrotum are connected to the internal reproductive organs and structures. The internal organs and structures are responsible for making and moving sperm. Sperm are the reproductive cells in men. It takes two reproductive cells, or gametes, to unite and begin the long, complex process of making a new individual. One cell has to come from the male and one from the female. When a sperm meets a female reproductive cell, the egg, or ovum, they can unite. This is called fertilization.

Testes

The testes are the ball-shaped glands inside the scrotum. Within each testis is a network of thin tubes, 750 feet long. These tubes are tightly coiled. They are called the seminiferous tubules. Sperm are formed inside these tubes. The name for the process of making sperm is spermatogenesis. Men’s bodies make sperm all their lives, from puberty on. New sperm develop every minute. The supply never ends.

In between the seminiferous tubules are cells that produce male sex hormones. Hormones are chemicals that influence the changes in our bodies. Hormones also direct the work of glands and organs. If a hormone is found in greater quantities and has greater importance to the reproductive process in the male body than in the female body, it is categorized as a male sex hormone. Another name for male sex hormone is androgen. Testosterone is the major androgen that stimulates the production of sperm.

Epididymis

On top of each testis is another highly coiled tube. This tube is called the epididymis. When sperm are nearly mature, they move into each epididymis. Here, the sperm mature and gain the ability to swim. Mature sperm are stored in the epididymis until they are forced out of the body at the peak moment of sexual excitement. This is called ejaculation. This process is also called emission. At this point, boys and men usually have an orgasm, which is a very pleasurable feeling that may involve the whole body.

An orgasm is an uncontrollable release of tension that has built up in the body during sexual activity. This can happen during sex play, such as masturbation or intercourse, or during erotic fantasy. Orgasm does not always occur with ejaculation, and ejaculation does not always occur with orgasm.

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Katharine Bement Davis (1860-1945)

Davis completed the first major study on women’s sexuality. In 1929, she published her study “Factors in the Sex Lives of Twenty Two Hundred Women.” She gathered data for more than 10 years about the sex lives of middle-class women. She also worked extensively with prostitutes in prisons. She examined such topics as sexual desire, masturbation, frequency of intercourse, use of birth control, marriage, sources of sexual instruction and information, and same-sex intimate relationships.

Her study challenged the narrow reproductive view of women’s sexuality common at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was our first real glimpse into the sex lives of real women.

Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935)

Hirschfeld was a German sexologist who founded the Institute of Sexual Science in Berlin in 1919. He studied human sexuality in order to provide counseling for sexual problems. He published one of the world’s first sexological journals to encourage open debate about sexual issues. He also believed masturbation and homosexual behavior were normal and healthy He challenged many of the repressive ideas about sexuality of his time. The institute’s and most of Hirschfeld’s research were destroyed by the Nazis in 1935.

Alfred Kinsey (1894-1956)

Kinsey has been the most influential American sex researcher of the twentieth century. His research was unique and groundbreaking. In extensive live interviews, he and his team of researchers took thousands of case histories of the lives of women and men. No one else, before or since, has questioned such a huge sample of people so thoroughly about their sexuality. Although his sample did not precisely reflect the full range of diversity of the American people, he and his team provided us with important data from which we have learned a great deal.

William Masters (1915— ) and Virginia Johnson (1925— )

Masters and Johnson are responsible for our understanding of the human sexual response cycle. They used mini-cameras and other electronic devices to observe what was going on inside and outside the body during the various phases of sexual arousal.

They noticed and measured functions in the bodies of women and men that no one else had been able to observe. They first develop the concept of sex therapy by working with couples to help the overcome sexual problems, including sexual dysfunction.

Michel Foucault (1926-1984)

Foucault was a French philosopher who wrote three volumes on t history of sexuality. He challenged Freud’s view that women and m are sexually repressed by their cultures. He theorized about the n of power in sexual relationships. He suggested that power does r always come from the top down, but from the bottom up as well. He believed that people have sexual power as individuals, despite sex law or cultural norms.

Although his ideas were not always based in scientific or historical fact, Foucault’s work enabled many people who belonged oppressed sexual minorities to view themselves as powerful individuals, capable of resisting dominant sexual norms.

Foucault died of AIDS in 1984.

The rich and changing traditions, history, and beliefs described this chapter have shaped our society with extremely diverse messages and values about sex and sexuality. The differences between the various messages and values may often seem confusing and conflicting. We will look at the ways in which people develop their own sexual identities within this world of sexual diversity.

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Many people had many partners during the “sexual liberation” of the “swinging” 1960s and 1970s. One result was an epidemic of herpes. Many infected women and men felt great shame and guilt, even though herpes is not a serious health condition. The stigma once attached to syphilis and gonorrhea was transferred to people with herpes. For some time, they were seen as sexually promiscuous, perhaps even immoral. In time, hot lines and support groups were formed to help restore a sense of normalcy to the lives of people with herpes.

In the early 1980s, the stigma associated with herpes was overshadowed by the stigma associated with AIDS. First known as gay-related immune disease, AIDS was first identified among gay men and later among intravenous drug users—groups that were already severely stigmatized. People with AIDS were commonly discriminated against or refused medical and social services in the first years of the epidemic.

As the epidemic progressed, other groups became targets for discrimination. Even children fell into the line of fire. Many people thought that children with HIV should not be allowed to go to school. Some parents kept their children at home when students with HIV were allowed in school. Women were viewed as transmitters of the infection, and only pregnant women were included in most studies. It was more than 10 years into the epidemic before the definition of AIDS was changed to include conditions specific to women.

It is now very clear that all IV (intravenous) drug users and sexually active women and men, all over the world, are at risk for AIDS. Despite public education campaigns and media attention, however, ignorance about AIDS still exists, and arguments continue about the morality of the use of condoms by people at risk of HIV. Today, teenagers and women have the fastest-growing rates of HIV infection.

There is now widespread research being done on AIDS. Although there are improved treatments for many conditions associated with HIV disease, there is still no cure. We have to rely on preventive techniques, including sexual health education. Early in the epidemic, the gay community buckled down to educate itself about HIV and safer sex. Its efforts paid off, and the infection rate in the gay community has fallen. Although the IV drug community was more difficult to mobilize than the gay community, needle-exchange programs have been effective in urban areas.

Despite the evident effectiveness of educational campaigns, the majority of high school students in the United States are still deprived of responsible sexuality education that includes information about contraception, sexual orientation, and safer sex. The old stigmas about sexually transmitted infections still haunt us.

The AIDS epidemic, however, is forcing our society to deal more openly with sex and sexuality. Educators, the media, public health officials, medical professionals, parents, young people, and children are all much more likely to speak frankly and directly about sex than our great-great-grandparents did at the beginning of the century.

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