Sexual arousal and orgasm in subjects who experience forced or non-consensual sexual stimulation – a review

Levin, Roy J.; Berlo, Willy van

doi:10.1016/j.jcfm.2003.10.008

Cited by 111 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Nevertheless, there is enormous variation in the ease with which women can achieve orgasm (e.g., Kaplan, 1974;Kinsey et al, 1953;Levin, 1981;Masters & Johnson, 1966). For instance, woman's orgasm can be triggered by various erotic stimulations of different genital sites that induce many different types of orgasms (such as clitoral, vaginal, or blended; Alzate, 1985;Glenn & Kaplan, 1968;Ladas et al, 1982;Levin, 1981;Levin & van Berlo, 2004;Masters & Johnson, 1966;O'Hare, 1951). Clitoral stimulation is a primary source of sensory input for triggering woman's orgasm; even during coitus alone, indirect or direct clitoral stimulation may occur (e.g., Kaplan, 1974Kaplan, , 1987Kinsey et al, 1953;Masters & Johnson, 1966;Meston et al, 2004).…”

Section: Inter-and Intra-individual Differences Of a Woman's Orgasmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some women may also experience orgasms after erotic stimulations of non-genital sites (Kaplan, 1974(Kaplan, , 1987Kinsey et al, 1953;Ladas et al, 1982;Levin, 1981;Levin & van Berlo, 2004;Masters & Johnson, 1966;Whipple, Ogden, & Komisaruk, 1992). For instance, different types of tactile stimulation, such as stimulation of the breast/nipple can induce a woman's orgasm (e.g., Kaplan, 1987;Masters & Johnson, 1966).…”

Section: Inter-and Intra-individual Differences Of a Woman's Orgasmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although Kaplan's and Masters and Johnson's models remain the currently accepted models of sexual response by acknowledging also a potential role of psychological factors during orgasm ("orgasm is a psychophysiologic experience occurring within, and made meaningful by, a context of psychosocial influence"; Masters & Johnson, 1966; "the thresholds of reflexes are also influenced by other factors such as psychological inhibition, drugs and emotional states"; Kaplan, 1987), these models have been recently called into question for a number of reasons. Notably, many women do not move progressively and sequentially through the phases as described, and some women may not even experience all of the phases-for example, they may move from sexual arousal to orgasm and satisfaction without experiencing sexual desire, or they can experience desire, arousal, and satisfaction but not orgasm (e.g., Basson, 2000Basson, , 2001Levin & van Berlo, 2004;Whipple, 2002). Thus, efforts have been made to further describe orgasm with multidimensional psychological and biological data.…”

Section: Inter-and Intra-individual Differences Of a Woman's Orgasmmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Toward an understanding of the cerebral substrates of woman's orgasm

Bianchi‐Demicheli

Ortigue

2007

Neuropsychologia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The way women experience orgasm is of interest to scientists, clinicians, and laypeople. Whereas the origin and the function of a woman's orgasm remains controversial, the current models of sexual function acknowledge a combined role of central (spinal and cerebral) and peripheral processes during orgasm experience. At the central level, although it is accepted that the spinal cord drives orgasm, the cerebral involvement and cognitive representation of a woman's orgasm has not been extensively investigated. Important gaps in our knowledge remain. Recently, the astonishing advances of neuroimaging techniques applied in parallel with a neuropsychological approach allowed the unravelling of specific functional neuroanatomy of a woman's orgasm. Here, clinical and experimental findings on the cortico-subcortical pathway of a woman's orgasm are reviewed and compared with the neural basis of a man's orgasm. By defining the specific brain areas that sustain the assumed higherorder representation of a woman's orgasm, this review provides a foundation for future studies. The next challenge of functional imaging and neuropsychological studies is to understand the hierarchical interactions between these multiple cortical areas, not only with a correlation analysis but also with high spatio-temporal resolution techniques demonstrating the causal necessity, the temporal time course and the direction of the causality. Further studies using a multi-disciplinary approach are needed to identify the spatio-temporal dynamic of a woman's orgasm, its dysfunctions and possible new treatments.

show abstract

Section: Inter-and Intra-individual Differences Of a Woman's Orgasmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Inter-and Intra-individual Differences Of a Woman's Orgasmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Inter-and Intra-individual Differences Of a Woman's Orgasmmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Toward an understanding of the cerebral substrates of woman's orgasm

Bianchi‐Demicheli

Ortigue

2007

Neuropsychologia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Only recently has the complexity of female orgasm become a focus for neuroscience Komisaruk et al, 2004;Levin and van Berlo, 2004;Binik, 2001, 2005;McKenna, 1999;Meston et al, 2004;Ortigue and Bianchi-Demicheli, 2006;Rowland, 2006). To date, only one published fMRI study has reported preliminary evidence for a specific neural network of women's orgasm while participants were submitted to passive cervical self-stimulations during scanner sessions (Komisaruk et al, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Correlation between insula activation and self-reported quality of orgasm in women

2007

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Current multidimensional models of women's sexual function acknowledge the implicit impact of psychosocial factors on women's sexual function. Interaction between human sexual function and intensity of love has been also assumed, even if love is not an absolute condition. Yet, whereas great insights have been made in understanding the central mechanisms of the peripheral manifestations of women's sexual response, including orgasm, the cerebral correlates sustaining the interaction between women's sexual satisfaction and the unconscious role of the partner in this interpersonal experience remain unknown.Using functional imaging, we assessed brain activity elicited when 29 healthy female volunteers were unconsciously exposed to the subliminal presentation of their significant partner's name (a task known to elicit a partner-related neural network) and correlated it with individual scores obtained from different sexual dimensions: selfreported partnered orgasm quality (ease, satisfaction, frequency), love intensity and emotional closeness with that partner.Behavioral results identified a correlation between love and selfreported partnered orgasm quality. The more women were in love/ emotionally close to their partner, the more they tended to report being satisfied with the quality of their partnered orgasm. However, no relationship was found between intensity of love and partnered orgasm frequency.Neuroimaging data expanded these behavioral results by demonstrating the involvement of a specific left-lateralized insula focus of neural activity correlating with orgasm scores, irrespective of dimension (frequency, ease, satisfaction). In contrast, intensity of being in love was correlated with a network involving the angular gyrus.These findings strongly suggest that intimate and sexual relationships are sustained by partly different mechanisms, even if they share some emotional-related mechanisms. The critical correlation between self-reports of orgasm quality and activation of the left anterior insula, a part of the partner-related neural network known to play a pivotal role in somatic processes, suggests the importance of somatic information in the integration of sexual experience. On the other hand, the correlation between activation of the angular gyrus and love intensity reinforces the assumption that the representation of love calls for higher order cognitive levels, such as those related to the generation of abstract concepts. By highlighting the specific role of the anterior insula in the way women integrate components of physical satisfaction in the context of an intimate relationship with a partner, the current findings take a step in the understanding of a woman's sexual pleasure.

show abstract

“…Indeed, there are reports of women's genital responses and orgasms during sexual assault (Levin & van Berlo, 2004); furthermore, studies have shown that women experience genital responses to sexual threat stimuli (Both, Everaerd, & Laan, 2003;Both & Laan, 2007;Laan, Everaerd, & Evers, 1995;Suschinsky et al, 2009). Study 1 was focused only on exploring heterosexual women's gender-nonspecificity in viewing time patterns.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender-Specificity in Viewing Time Among Heterosexual Women

Rahman

Zheng

2016

Arch Sex Behav

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Measures of sexual interest tend to be more gender-specific in heterosexual men than in heterosexual women. Cognitive measures, such as viewing time to attractive stimuli, may also show similar patterns of gender-specificity or non-specificity among men and women, and thus serve as useful adjuncts to more direct measures of sexual interest. The objectives of the present research were to determine the extent of gender-specificity in women's viewing times for female pictures (varying in their perceived physical attractiveness) and explore the influence of social comparison of physical appearance on these patterns of responses. In Study 1, we recorded only women's viewing times for pictures of both genders, measured self-reported menstrual cycle phase, and manipulated the waist-to-hip ratio of the women in the female pictures. In Study 2, we recorded women's and men's viewing times, self-reported sexual attraction to pictures of males and females, and physical appearance social comparison.Study 1 found that heterosexual women's viewing time towards female pictures was not associated with manipulation of the perceived attractiveness of those pictures. Study 2 found that heterosexual men were more gender-specific than heterosexual women in their viewing time patterns. We also found that reported sexual attraction and physical appearance social comparison were associated with heterosexual women's viewing times for female pictures, while heterosexual men's viewing times were associated with sexual attraction only. Our results are discussed in relation to the utility of viewing time as an indicator of visual attention towards attractive or sexually appealing visual stimuli.

show abstract

Sexual arousal and orgasm in subjects who experience forced or non-consensual sexual stimulation – a review

Cited by 111 publications

References 29 publications

Toward an understanding of the cerebral substrates of woman's orgasm

Toward an understanding of the cerebral substrates of woman's orgasm

Correlation between insula activation and self-reported quality of orgasm in women

Gender-Specificity in Viewing Time Among Heterosexual Women

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About