Ever wonder why you are attracted to certain people…or types of people? Perhaps it’s because of how they smell.
To detect pheromones, most vertebrates use the vomeronasal organ (often called the VNO, or Jacobson’s organ). It’s the thing that, when disabled, made female mice attempt to mate with other female mice and also turned male hamsters impotent. Since the early 1990s, scientists have fiercely debated whether or not humans have functional VNOs.
What would it be like to have a working VNO? Think of it as a sixth sense, or a “sex sense,” to complement the traditional five. It could allow men to smell when women are ovulating, and decide whether or not it’s the right time to have sex.
Every person has different markers on the surface of their cells called Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC markers) that indicate immunities or susceptibilities to various diseases. Like fingerprints, your MHC markers are unique. To create the fittest offspring, you need to mate with someone with strengths and weaknesses very different from your own.
That’s why the body advertises its MHC through pheromones in sweat. Research suggests that statistically, humans mate with people with vastly different MHCs more often than not….which probably also explains why you’re not attracted to your cousin. Not even the least bit. Nope. I swear!
Thus is the central question of the film “Shall We Kiss“ (“Un baiser s’il vous plaît”). Sometimes a kiss is just not worth the risk. Many times it is.
This is a 2007 French comedy with english subtitles, so immediately I hate it. But it’s cute, in a french Woody Allen-ish sorta way. It has some of the least sexy sex scenes I’ve ever seen, including Woody Allen’s entire body of work. But I think that’s the point.
The “story within a story within a story” technique was clever but perhaps a bit tedious. There’s probably nobody in it that you’ll recognize. But the classical soundtrack was fantastic (but only if you’re into Schubert and Tchaikovsky).
Really, if you’re only going to see one French film with English subtitles this year, this is probably the one to see. It’s playing at the Enzian this weekend…I’d check the movie website to see if it’s coming anywhere near you. Shall We Kiss Website
Naughty Science day marches onward! Here’s the Diggz condensed version:
1) The G spot is real
In 2008, an Italian research team found anatomical differences between women who could have G-spot orgasms and women who couldn’t
2) The brain switches off
A brain scanning study showed that many areas of women’s brains were deactivated during orgasm, including those involved in emotion.
3) Many women can’t have orgasms
Female sexual dysfunction (FSD) is so common that the very idea that it is a medical disorder has come under attack. If nearly half the female population has a problem, say critics, does that mean it is our society that is dysfunctional?
4) Genes affect orgasm frequency
According to the first genetic study of the female orgasm, up to 45 per cent of the variation in women’s ability to have them could be down to genes.
5) Technology can help
Perhaps the most extreme solution is the so-called “orgasmatron“; an implant inserted into the spinal cord, which stimulates the user when switched on via a remote control. Less drastic ones are available as well.
6) Some mystery remains
It is unclear why women should have orgasms at all, and it is particularly baffling that so many women should be unable to have orgasms during penetrative sex, but able to have them by masturbation.
Men and and women read and rated erotic vignettes in which they either dominated or submitted to an opposite-sex partner.
Here are samples of what the women read:
“…Your breathing quickens as you attempt to draw away, but he grasps your arm like a vice and it sends a shudder through your body. He pins you against the wall and presses his mouth firmly against yours. As your resistance fades, it becomes clear to you that this is only going one way…”
“…His breathing quickens as he attempts to draw away, but you grasp his arm like a vice…”
Among women, everyone rated domination fantasies equally, but the socially dominant women especially enjoyed fantasies of submission. This is science I can really wrap my mind around.
I’ve often thought about writing some good science studies. I have some samples of my work available to select viewers upon request.
Australian women are as keen as men to take part in consensual group sex, and they initiate it almost as often.
Almost 40 percent of respondents report an equal gender split in the group encounter, while a further 30 percent report a majority of men taking part and 30 percent a majority of women.
80 percent reporting nothing but fun, with everyone’s rights being respected.
As if I needed another reason to move to Australia.
Tuesday, July 21
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