Sex at Dawn

6. Georgiadis et al. (2006). Or, for a review: Mark Henderson,

“Women Fall into a ‘Trance’ During Orgasm,” Times Online, June 20, 2005. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/

life_and_style/health/article535521.ece.

7. Tarin and Gomez-Piquer (2002).

8. Little’s quote is from BBC News article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2677697.stm.

9. Wedekind et al. (1995). A more recent follow-up that confirms these results is Santos et al. (2005).

10. Birth control pills don’t just interfere with women’s ability to sense MHC in men, but appear to affect other feedback systems as well. See Laeng and Falkenberg (2007), for example.

11. For a recent survey of this research, see Alvergne and Lummaa (2009).

12. This isn’t meant as an indictment of the pill. But in light of these changes, we’d strongly recommend that couples spend several months together using alternate forms of birth control before making long-term plans.

13. Lippa (2007). Available online at http://psych.fullerton.edu/rlippa/bbc_sexdrive.htm.

14. See Safron et al. (2007). A good review of related research is here: http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/ 2004/04/63115? currentPage=all.

15. Alexander and Fisher (2003).

Chapter 21: The Pervert’s Lament

1. Dixson (1998), p. 145.

2. Both these interviews appear on NPR’s This American Life, Episode #220. Available via free download at iTunes or at www.thislife.org.

3. According to Reid (1989), it was considered wise and healthful for young Chinese men to share their abundant sexual energies with older women, who would benefit from absorbing the energy released by male orgasm; likewise, it was felt that young women’s orgasms would infuse older men with increased vitality. The same pattern is found in some foraging societies, as well as among some South Pacific island cultures.

4. One example among many: Dabbs et al. (1991, 1995) found, “Offenders high in testosterone committed more violent crimes, were judged more harshly by the parole board, and violated prison rules more often than those low in testosterone.”

5. Gibson (1989).

6. One wonders about the long-term social repercussions of widespread sexual frustration in adolescent males. To what extent, for example, is this frustration a contributing factor to the misogynistic rage many men experience? How does this frustration affect young men’s willingness to fight wars or join street gangs? While we don’t agree with arguments like those advanced by Kanazawa (2007) claiming that Islam sanctions polygyny in order to increase the male sexual frustration that creates a pool of available suicide bombers, it’s hard to dismiss the notion that intense frustration will often be expressed as misdirected rage.

7. Georgia has a serious problem with oral sex. Until 1998, it was illegal—even between a married couple in their own bedroom—and punishable by up to twenty years in prison.

8. For example, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/ story.php?storyId= 102386952&ft=1&f=1001.

9. Fortenberry (2005).

10. All quotes from this section are taken from Prescott (1975).

11. See Elwin (1968) and Schlegel (1995).

12. “Some Thoughts on the Science of Onanism,” a speech delivered to the Stomach Club, a society of American writers and artists.

13. Money (1985).

14. See http://www.cirp.org/library/statistics/USA/.

15. Money (1985), pp. 101-102.

16. These men believed that any spices or strong flavors excited sexual energies, so they recommended bland diets to dampen the libido. Graham crackers and unsweetened breakfast cereal were originally marketed to parents of adolescent boys as foods that would help them evade the evils of masturbation. For a fictionalized—though largely accurate—depiction of these men and their movement, see Boyle (1993).

17. Interestingly, Freud’s nephew, Edward Bernays, is considered one of the founders of public relations and modern advertising. Among his many famous ad campaigns was the first to associate cigarettes with increased autonomy for women. In the 1920s, Bernays staged a legendary publicity stunt still taught in business classes today. He arranged to have fashion models march in New York’s Easter parade, each with a lit cigarette and wearing a banner calling it a “torch of liberty.” For more on this, see Ewen (1976/2001).

18. Farmers know that in order to get a bull to mate with the same cow more than a few times, the bull has to be tricked into thinking it’s a different cow. They do this by rubbing a blanket on another cow to absorb her scent and then throwing it on top of the cow to be mated. If the bull isn’t fooled into it, he’ll simply refuse—no matter how attractive the cow may be.

19. Sprague and Quadagno (1989).