Ganja Vibes®️ first concepts were brought to life through design by the great industrial designer C. C. IV. This image is from the morning we poured up the very first Mary Jane Vibrator®️ prototype. C.C. IV had worked not only as a industrial design professor, but also as an industrial designer for NASA many years when I contracted him to help. Now that he’s not, we may officially say….Ganja Vibes®️ Mary Jane Vibrator®️ is in fact, NASA grade design!
It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it. Research & Development
The launch of ‘Ganja Vibes’ brand adult novelty is right around the corner.
I get asked from time to time IF I actually make sex toys. The answer is, “YES, yes I do. Come over for a tupperware party and I’ll show you what is in store after you sign a non disclosure agreement”.
What I have conceived is a totally new concept, a niche in the adult novelty market.
You won’t find pictures of the upcoming designs. Not even after I was granted my patent(s) was I inclined to give these designs away. Which is what happens when you release your art and it’s not ready for sale through your manufacturing resources.
Manufacturing every day items, all the things you see and use without thinking twice….like even a straw for instance, these items go through many stages. Conception, research & development, design, prototyping, testing, redesigning, sourcing, art direction, sourcing certifiable manufacturing resources abroad, language barriers, importing/exporting and the list goes on. This all takes time.
I started Ganja Vibes because I absolutely love Cannabis. I love the lifestyle, I love the people, I love the opportunities. I love the smell, taste and effects of well grown marijuana plants. I love the ultimate results of very little to no negative impact, down side or challenge presented against the morals and ethics associated with being involved with Cannabis as a product produced and offered for sale organically, when the players respect the game. I love all the aspects about Cannabis that the government has not and will not be able to tarnish.
Cannabis had been pigeon holed into counter culture realms because of it’s illegal status. Drug culture has always intertwined with sex culture. So it was surprising that I was never able to find anything fun and sexy to infuse into my wild life unfolding.
I have spent the last couple of years branching out, networking, designing, auditing conventions & events, failing, winning, LEARNING- using every resource that presents itself to dig deeper into what I want. I have had people come, stay and go from my team who have done amazing work, 3 manufacturers in China in pocket to date, networked Ganja Vibes into knowing & interacting with major players in adult novelty & public cannabis platforms nationally and internationally.
All this has kept me busy while biding my time working out the manufacturing side of ‘what is’ Ganja Vibes.
Our latest big move, the transferring of our molds to a badass manufacturer with over 25 years experience in sex toy manufacturing and everything we could ever imagine to find success in the adult novelty market, has our back end coming full circle.
The Cannabis and Adult novelty industry move fast. If you have a great product someone will copy & sell it. One of the biggest challenges faced by companies that create a product in demand is meeting said demand. As much as I would have liked to produce and sell the earlier designs, I was not ready to overcome the obstacles that were presented prior to our latest alliance.
The Mary Jane Vibrator is on it’s way. Designed by myself and one of my best friends, Chip, who was an industrial engineer for NASA at the time we collaborated. Not only is the Mary Jane Vibrator Nasa grade design but it’s made for cannabis enthusiasts BY freaky ass cannabis enthusiasts.
As the line grows, my focus remains on multi-functional play toys that invoke the spirit of curiosity and light the fires of experimentation while lovingly leading you to ecstasy found in places unknown. While you light your bowls, dabs, spliffs or what have you alongside.
These toys are meant for personal use of course, but partner play is really where I was hoping they’d be utilized most. I have designed items that look fun, aren’t overly girly, have multi-applications and above all scream WEED!
Get ready to get high and get off. Play with each other, be wild, be free, be kinky!
Sex is like a lifelong normalcy contest. To find happiness, you should spend every day worrying about the kinds of sex you like, and whether you’ll ever meet someone else who shares those likes. Then you comfort your untouched body by rubbing your hands all over it, wet though they may be with the sweat of anxiety and sadness. Ha! No, don’t do that. That sounds awful, and besides, if you spend all your time worrying, when will you have time to bone? You won’t! You will remain unboned, maybe forever.
So here’s my real-life advice for you, which I want you to remember forever — instead of worrying about what kind of sex you like (or, even worse, what kind of sex other people like, because nothing could ever be less important than something you don’t want to see and no one wants to show you), use this rule of thumb: “The freakier the sex, the better it is for me, according to science.” For example:
#5. BDSM Is Good for Your Psychological Health
Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images
“BDSM” is an acronym that covers every weird, outlandish, disgusting, terrifying, and degenerate sex act that everyone you know is intimately familiar with (yes, everyone). If you’re a freak, then you know exactly what I’m talking about, and if the only thing you like is missionary position while a saxophone plays, then you’re the only person like that, and we’re all a bit scared of you.
abadonian/iStock/Getty Images At least be more interesting than ladybugs.
I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but everyone fucks weird. I seriously can’t stress this enough. The next time you’re in the living room of a friend or family member, look around. The old high school heirlooms have been in asses. That “funny” horse mask has been worn while boning. Why would anyone own more than one scarf if they weren’t using it to tie people up? Every belt is a collar, every tie is a blindfold, every sock has been stuffed into someone’s mouth. A friend of mine once asked me to help him move his dentist chair into his new apartment and no one even asked for or offered any explanation, because we all know what’s up with that, don’t we. OK, I’m lying a bit: I wasn’t sorry to be the one to tell you that at all.
Folks who indulge in BDSM are psychologically healthier than people who don’t. That’s right: Everyone who got irrationally angry at those last few paragraphs are less sane than the people who didn’t, and that’s the least shocking sentence I’ve ever written. People who indulge in the ol’ spanky-spank (or whatever) are more extroverted and open to new experiences (duhhhhhh), but also less neurotic, anxious, and paranoid. They were also more secure in their relationships, though that may have been because their partners were currently chained to their bed and hahaha, what a dumb and obvious joke.
#4. Polyamory Makes for Stronger Relationships
Anthony Ong/Digital Vision/Getty Images
“Polyamory” is a fancy Greek word for “open relationship,” which is a fancy English phrase for “We can fuck whomever we want, but we still love each other.” I am not a polyamorist, mainly because the very idea defies the real, human emotions that form the foundation of every relationship: jealousy, possessiveness, and not wanting your partners to enjoy themselves unless you’re sweating all over them.
Image Source/Digital Vision/Getty Images My girlfriend hates seeing movies with me.
Why It’s Secretly Good for You:
Science says that polyamorous relationships are the best kind, but why would I trust Science? He’s just the guy who hangs out behind the 7-Eleven near my house and sells me experimental bear tranquilizers. He says all kinds of crazy shit. So I did some research and discovered that Science is, perhaps coincidentally, totally right. The reasoning is pretty simple: Because both parties are out there sowing their wild oats, or having wild oats … sown in them (I’m not sure what the female version of the euphemism is), communication becomes even more necessary.
For example: Polyamorous Charlie will say, “Hey, I like to fuck all the time, but sometimes you’re at work or whatever, so how about I fuck other people?” and then Polyamorous Ashley is all, “Hey that’s cool, dawg,” because that’s how they all talk. Bam. Communication. And as we all know, communication is the most important part of a relationship.
According to Science.
#3. Casual Sex Is Awesome (If You Do It for the Right Reasons)
Angel Herrero de Frutos/iStock/Getty Images
According to the nation’s insane old people, all the young kids with their pumped-up kicks are too focused on casual sex and ugly-bumping, and it’s destroying them as people. Look, you sluts, it’s not hard to explain: Every time you have sex, you give part of your soul to that person, so if you have too much sex, you’ll only have a little sliver of your own soul left, and what will you have received in return?
Oh, obviously, you get the soul of everyone you ever stuck it to. Sleeping around works the exact same way as the soul-stealing spell in Skyrim and that is just so rad. Or maybe every sex partner you’ve ever had is a Horcrux, and all those soul shards you’re carrying around are giving you magic powers. Right? No matter how you interpret this information, it makes casual sex better.
SKapl/iStock/Getty Images Play the field hard enough, and you will become an immortal sorcerer-god.
Why It’s Secretly Good for You:
I sorta went off on a tangent there, but I’m back on track now. According to actual science and not my dumbshit conjecture, casual sex actually is good for you — but only if you do it for the right reasons. The crazy, doom-saying old folks are at least partially correct: Casual sex is bad for you if you’re doing it to drown out your own lack of self-worth and feelings of inadequacy. But if you just like rubbing your genitals all over other people’s genitals, then it’s actually great for your self-esteem.
Now that I’ve typed it out, that seems like an obvious distinction. That applies to everything, right?
“I enjoy carrots!”
“Good, because carrots are good for you!”
“I eat eight bags of carrots every night because otherwise I never stop crying.”
“Well, OK, then you might have problems.”
Scott Griessel/iStock/Getty Images “Like the fact that you’re a carrot slut.”
I know what you’re thinking: “Sarge, all this stuff is pretty taboo, but what about the real gross stuff?” I’m glad you asked.
#2. Period Sex Relieves Menstrual Cramps
pavlinec/iStock/Getty Images
Hahaha eeewwwww.
Why It’s Secretly Good for You:
Please don’t skip this entry. I know you want to, because everyone is super grossed out by period blood, but I think it’s really important that we talk about it. While I know your hand is hovering over the scroll button, just itching to blast past this warm, drippy, and vaguely chunky entry on my article about body fluids, I’m going to ask you to please stop. Just for a second, stop.
korionov/iStock/Getty Images Stop.
And read this entry just like you would any other. I promise it’ll be good for you.
Anyway, it turns out that “parting the red sea” or whatever the hell you want to call it can help alleviate the more uncomfortable symptoms of the menstrual cycle because, in the words of my source, “the orgasmic contractions of the uterus offer a soothing internal massage.” Feel free to get those words tattooed on your bicep.
This is gonna be a tough sell, and I’m pretty sure no one in the Cracked office will ever want to meet my gaze in the hallway again, especially if I’m heading toward the bathroom. But I don’t care. I’m not doing this for my co-workers. I’m not even doing this for me. I’m doing this for freedom.
I think this section deserves its own subtitle:
Why Rubbing One Out in Your Office Bathroom Will Save America
by JF Sargent (Age 26)
There’s little dissent between the scientific and 12-year-old-me communities that one should masturbate as much as possible, although there are two arguments for it. My argument has always been that that Victoria’s Secret catalog is taking up otherwise valuable Terry Pratchett bookshelf real estate, so I may as well put it to use, while the scientific community insists that it’s because masturbation protects against prostate cancer in men and does about a thousand awesome things for women. I’m not sure what a tented cervix is, but that’s fine — why would I need to know that? It’s also worth noting that masturbating improves your mood, which is obvious, but important because I want to point out that being happy makes you live longer. In short, lots of masturbation = a long, happy life.
Now turn your eyes, squinted with effort and pleasure though they may be, to the workplace. According to this meticulously researched and brilliantly written article, science says that any business’ elderly employees consistently “are more productive, are more loyal, and make more money than their younger counterparts,” and yes, I did just quote myself. The only people more valuable than the old employees are the happy employees, since sad employees will destroy a company’s chances for survival. The implications are obvious: If we don’t allow employees to masturbate in the workplace, we may be putting the future of our entire civilization in jeopardy.
What This Means for You
Siri Stafford/Digital Vision/Getty Images
The overall trend is clear: Freakier sex means better lives. And we need to utilize this information in the place this matters most: the world of politics.
If we want our world leaders to be mentally stable, with a strong bedrock of emotional fortitude and the physical well-being to lead long, healthy lives, then we need to make sure they know how to get freaky in the sack. From now on, I propose that every candidate running for public office should base their campaign platform on how imaginative their sex life is. Scratch that: Instead of “should,” let’s make that “must.” Sexlections are my prediction for the future. Which means your job is clear: You must go buy every item on these lists (and this video) and spend the rest of your life working to become the hyper-sane sorcerer-god fuck machine we need, and lead our people to a new golden age.
For legal reasons, JF Sargent must clarify that he does not masturbate in the bathroom of the Cracked offices any more than you might expect. Follow him on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook.
Nearly all cannabis seedlings, no matter how the seeds are sprouted, will start with just two leaves per set, like the following:
Normal cannabis seedling (2 leaves per set)
Every once in a while, growers will run into a “trileaf” seedling. This is a relatively common mutation, and you’re likely to run into it if you germinate a lot of cannabis seeds. 3-leaf cannabis seedlings should generally be treated like any other seedling.
They will grow about 1/3 more side branches than regular seedlings, so a 3-leaf seedling might be a good candidate for cannabis plant training or a ScrOG setup.
Tri-leaf cannabis seedlings (3 leaves per set)
2.) Two-Toned Leaves
Two-toned leaves usually have split coloring in a relatively straight line. This mutation often affects just one or two leaves on the whole plant, though sometimes you’ll get a whole stem or part of the plant that displays this characteristic.
The two-toned leaves don’t seem to have much effect on anything, but it’s kinda cool looking!
I believe this happens due to a type of “variegation” (wikipedia link) and may be due to “sectorial chimera”. Other plants besides cannabis plants can have this happen, too!
Not to be confused with a nutrient deficiency, this mutation usually affects just one or two leaves on the plant. Nothing to worry about! Sometimes half of the leaf will turn purple….
More commonly, half of the leaf will turn light yellow or even white.
3.) Buds Growing From Center of Leaf
Here’s a normal cannabis leaf. Unfortunately, as beautiful as these leaves are, they normally contain no THC.
Normal Cannabis Leaf (no buds growing from the base)
Cannabis leaves that are growing buds
(these cannabis plants have THC-encrusted buds growing from center of leaves)
This is a mutation I’d love to see on my plants one day 🙂 Though strangely placed, these buds are like any other buds found on the plant. You just get a couple extra buds encrusted with THC & trichomes!
The following leaf-bud has grown a single calyx with a few pistils
Here’s another amazing plant – imagine what you could do with all the trim!
The following nug is almost 1/2 gram – Talk about a bonus!
4.) THC-Filled Trichomes Can Grow Just About Anywhere on a Budding Cannabis Plant
Growers are breeding strains that produce more and more trichomes all over the plant.
Trichomes are small, glandular stalked resin glands that carry the majority of cannabinoids and THC produced by the cannabis plant.
A bud covered in trichomes will have an almost “sparkly” or “glittery” appearance. Cannabis breeders are selecting cannabis plants which produce more of these sparkly trichomes not just on buds, but on leaves and stems close to buds This is done with the purpose of getting more potency with the same amount of time, effort and space.
Crazy trichome closeup, thanks to Koma Trichome (find Koma on Facebook)
5.) Some Buds Make “Fox Tails”
Bud with little foxtailing – common with Indica-based strains (buds are rounded out, sometimes one foxtail visable near top)
Massive foxtailing can be a genetic trait, and certain strains will tend to produce foxtails all over their buds no matter what. This seems to happen most commonly with Haze and Sativa-based strains.
This way that buds can grow is named after “fox tails” because the buds tend to grow in a rounded shape with the fluffy hair-like pistils coming from the end.
Example of healthy foxtailing based on genetics (notice how there are fox tails all over the bud, instead of just at the top)
However, massive foxtailing is often the result of heat or stress. You know that’s likely the case when the foxtailing seems to be happening most in the parts of the plant that are close to a heat or light source.
When a single foxtail keeps growing longer and longer, it is almost always a sign of some sort of major stress to the buds, most often heat.
This massively long foxtail was caused by heat (it’s basically a very long and thin bud, and will likely never fill out)
Here’s another foxtail that was triggered by too much heat
The following bud erupted with foxtails after a heatwave (the plant also suffered from nutrient stress, which can trigger foxtailing on its own)
6.) This Is What Cannabis Roots Look Like
This incredible roots picture was taken by grower Ramon. The plant was first grown in hydro (with the roots grown directly in water), then transferred to soil.
7.) Cannabis Seeds Can Carry “Twins”
Twin tap roots can sometimes emerge from one cannabis seed. This is sort of like your seed having twins, because each new root has the potential to form into a separate plant.
“I had one of those on my first grow. Plant it, and once it sprouts up, you can GENTLY and CAREFULLY seperate the 2 plants and transplant one to a new pot. If you leave them both together, the stronger one will “starve” the weaker one, so to speak. When I split mine apart, they both grew nice and big :D”
~ J_Justice
From the grower, “When I got the seed it looked really deformed.”
“[Twin seeds are] fairly common. I’ve had some seedbatches that had ’round 30% ‘twins’. However, what I haven’t seen yet* is a set of twins that come out one male and one female. It’s odd, because the twins usually differ in various traits, they’re not really clones of each other. If one were to get a M/F pair of twins, an apomictic (wiki apomixis) cross could be made between the two, which would (in theory) produce a strain with stable traits in just one generation. “
~ duggreen
*yet has been 46 years so far….
8.) Vegetating Cannabis Plants Have an Amazing Ability to Heal
“This is a white widow a couple of weeks into flower, quite nice, but look to the bottom of the stem and you see a big ‘knuckle’.”
“This lady was snapped mid veg by accident. She was completely on her side and connected to the main stem by a few fibers and a sliver of ‘skin’. The ‘connected’ tissue was around 1mm, (around the thickness of a credit card).
“She was roughly taped upright with some very haphazard wrapping with electrical tape and forgotten about. Not only is she looking pretty good, (for a small pot and relatively modest light), she’s not at all delayed or less healthy than her sisters. I guess the message is never give up…”
~ DrWeedington
9.) It’s Possible to Bleach Plants With Too-Bright Light
Light Bleaching – most common with high-power LEDs, but can also happen poorly ventilated HPS lights that are kept too close to the tops of the plants. Basically, this is what happens when plants get too much light, kinda like how hair on top of your head can turn lighter if you spend a lot of time in the sun.
Buds which have been bleached tend to be low potency or even have no potency (no available THC or other cannabinoids). Therefore you should avoid light-bleaching your plants at all costs!
Sometimes light-bleached cannabis will get mis-labeled as “albino cannabis” or “white cannabis” but the truth is that the white color is not healthy, so this is not a desirable trait (even if it looks pretty cool).
10.) Flowering Cannabis Plants Can Make “Sap”
Sap – there’s lots of speculation about what it is. No one knows for sure. Many growers who have run into this agree that the type of sap produced is sweet and doesn’t contain much (if any) THC. It is mostly made of sugar and water and so is not smokable. Seems to be related to the plant over-producing sugars, and sap productions is more common when
Using sugar supplements like molasses, Botanicare Sweet, Sugar Daddy, etc.
Big temperature difference between night and day, especially if it gets cold at night
Certain strains or individual plants seem more likely to produce sap
“Strain: Kosher Kush. Flowered her for 70 days and she was covered in trichs. When we harvested her we noticed about a dozen of these sap like globes. They range in color from clear to amber.”
~ DC514
“The plants had already been flushed properly – I let the soil dry completely and fed the plants 2TBSP/gallon of molasses, let them eat and then flushed them out again and waited 2-3 days before harvest. Both plants started producing excretions all over. I’ve seen this before, sap leaking from the stem of plants, however personally I’ve never seen it on the buds themselves. What I believe happened is the pores of the plants either get clogged and therefore “pop” for lack of a better word. Or, the plant liked the molasses better than it’s natural sugars and forced some of those out. Either way I’m going to try this on another plant and see what happens. Is there a benefit to it? Probably not, but I’m going to get the substance tested. I’ve ingested all of the little sap pockets I’ve found and while it tastes like canna, it doesn’t seem physchoactive. Who knows, it could be loaded with CBD or something else.”
~ SeriousSports
Stem Sap (more common) – often appears to seep out of injured parts of the stem, but not always! Sometimes sap seems to ooze out of uninjured parts of the stem.
What’s interesting about this case is that the plant naturally did something that the grower would normally have to do themselves. Cannabis plants normally grow in a triangle tree shape, and growers often must cut or train the plant in order to grow more low and bushy.
Growers sometimes accomplish a low and bushy growth pattern with a plant training technique known as “topping.” Learn more about topping
Here’s two normal young cannabis plants, each with a regular growth tip (set of leaves) at the top:
Normal cannabis plants
So to get rid of this top growth node, a grower would normally cut it off, like this
Now the following plant had a strange mutation…
This plant randomly grew a leaf instead of a growth node, so it naturally topped itself, take a look!
BlackJack – get the effects of a Sativa or Haze with a plant that is actually suited to indoor growth, short and easy to train. BlackJack produces a potent soaring effect that hits hard, fast and is long-lasting – unbelievable number of trichomes on the buds and leaves. Suitable for medicinal purposes.
Beginners – Avoid these strains!
The following strains are considered “advanced” and while they produce amazing buds, thy tend to be difficult to grow and/or finicky
Durban Poison – Tends to grow tall and shows a variety of unusual phenotypes, can be tough to clone. You don’t know what to expect when growing a Durban Poison seed. This strain originates from Africa and buds produce a unique “up” effect. Buds tend to be incredibly potent though not often “pretty” in the conventional sense with longer sugar leaves. Unusually quick to harvest, especially for a Sativa-leaning strain.
Jack Herer – Famous medicinal strain that is great for anti-anxiety, you cannot get the original Jack Herer strain as a feminized seed so you will need to buy regular (unfeminized) seeds and manually pick out all the male plants. Yields are on the smaller side but the quality of the buds produced are exceptional.
Liberty Haze – Genetics are not completely stable and many growers report different growth types with this strain. Can stretch tall in the initial stages of flowering, though does seem to respond well to supercropping. Unique flowery scent with citrus lime undertones. Unlike what breeder specs state, this strain needs about 10-12 weeks in flowering before she’ll be ready for harvest. When grown right, this strain produces thick dense colas with THC levels above 25%.
In fact , plants monitor their visible environment all the time. Plants see if you come near them; they know when you stand over them. They even know if you’re wearing a blue or a red shirt. They know if you’ve painted your house or if you’ve moved their pots from one side of the living room to the other.
Of course plants don’t “see” in pictures as you or I do. Plants can’t discern between a slightly balding middle-aged man with glasses and a smiling little girl with brown curls.
But they do see light in many ways and colors that we can only imagine. Plants see the same ultraviolet light that gives us sunburns and infrared light that heats us up. Plants can tell when there’s very little light, like from a candle, or when it’s the middle of the day, or when the sun is about to set into the horizon.
Plants know if the light is coming from the left, the right, or from above. They know if another plant has grown over them, blocking their light. And they know how long the lights have been on.
This is an except from What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses by Daniel Chamovitz. I highly recommend this book if you want to learn more about plants and exactly how they perceive the world!
No one knows exactly how cannabis plants determine gender
Environmental sex determination is known to occur with cannabis plants. Many researchers have suggested that sex in Cannabis is determined or at least strongly influenced by environmental factors. Ainsworth reviews that treatment with auxin and ethylene have feminizing effects, and that treatment with cytokinins and gibberellins have masculinizing effects. It has been reported that sex can be reversed in Cannabis using chemical treatment.
Learn more about cannabis sex determination on wikipedia.
A cannabis plant can grow taller than a tree in just one summer
Here’s an cannabis plant that produced 11 pounds 3 ounces worth of bud – grown in a 400 pound smart pot and filled with Vermisoil.
Look at the base of a cannabis plant this size, it looks just like a tree trunk with bark!
Cannabis seeds can germinate almost anywhere warm and wet
Life Finds A Way
“My friend accidentally grew this in her sink. How is this even possible?”
Seedlings have enough energy (“food”) stored in the seed to make their first set of leaves. After that, they need light and nutrients to grow further. Unfortunately, this seedling won’t make it unless transplanted to a more suitable growing environment.
Winner of the 2011 SSTAR Consumer Book Award (Society for Sex Therapy & Research), and the Foundation for the Scientific Study of Sexuality’s Harriet and Ira Reis Theory Award in Sexology for 2011.
“The single most important book about human sexuality since Alfred Kinsey unleashed Sexual Behavior in the Human Male on the American public in 1948.” — Dan Savage
“Funny, witty, and light . . . the book is a scandal in the best sense, one that will have you reading the best parts aloud and reassessing your ideas about humanity’s basic urges well after the book is done.”
— Newsweek
“[Sex at Dawn] helps put the ‘human’ back in ‘human sexuality.’”
— AASECT (American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists)
On an almost daily basis we are inundated with stories about the collapse of the latest celebrity marriage—and infidelity is almost always the cause of the break up. Is it even possible for two people to stay together happily over an extended period of time? Since Darwin’s day, we’ve been told that sexual monogamy comes naturally to our species. But it doesn’t, and never has.
Mainstream science—as well as religious and cultural institutions—has long maintained that men and women evolved in nuclear families where a man’s possessions and protection were exchanged for a woman’s fertility and fidelity. But this narrative is collapsing. Fewer and fewer couples are getting married and divorce rates keep climbing while adultery and flagging libido drag down even seemingly solid marriages.
In SEX AT DAWN, renegade researchers Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá debunk almost everything we “think we know” about sex.
Ryan and Jethá show how our promiscuous past haunts our current struggles regarding monogamy, sexual orientation, and family dynamics. Some of the themes they explore include:
• why long-term fidelity can be so difficult for so many;
• why sexual passion tends to fade even as love deepens;
• why many middle-aged men risk everything for an affair;
• why homosexuality persists in the face of standard evolutionary logic; and
• what the human body reveals about the prehistoric origins of modern sexuality
Ryan and Jethá show that our ancestors lived in egalitarian groups that shared food, child care, and often, sexual partners. Weaving together convergent, often overlooked evidence from anthropology, archeology, primatology, anatomy, and psychosexuality, the authors show how far from human nature sexual monogamy really is. They expose the ancient roots of human sexuality while pointing toward a more optimistic future illuminated by our innate capacities for love, cooperation, and generosity.
In the tradition of the best historical and scientific writing, SEX AT DAWNunapologetically upends unwarranted assumptions and unfounded conclusions while offering a revolutionary understanding of why we live and love as we do. A controversial, idea-driven book that challenges everything you know about sex, marriage, family, and society.
Paperback edition was released on July 5, 2011.
Sex at Dawn is available now in the U.S, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Spain, and Korea. Coming soon in Japanese, Chinese, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Slovenian, Czech, and Albanian. If you know any publishers in Germany, France, Italy, or Portugal, tell them to get with the program already!
Check out Christopher’s blogs at Psychology Today and Huffington Post. To say hello, request an interview or media appearance, please use the contact form on this site.
The stereotype goes that when it comes to sex, men are as simple-minded as dogs. (“Come on, we all know guys are only after one thing!”) Well, as someone with a few years’ experience as a dominatrix and phone sex operator, I’m here to tell you that could not possibly be more wrong. Male desire ranges from the merely kinky to the incredibly bizarre, and men are often so tortured by it that they’re not comfortable talking to anyone about it — not their closest friends, and certainly not their wives.
But they are comfortable talking to me, and here’s what I’ve found over the years …
#5. Certain Fantasies Are Way, Way More Common Than You’d Think
Hill Street Studios/Blend Images/Getty Images
Before becoming a professional phone sex operator and in-person ball crusher, I knew that men thought about sex a lot — but I didn’t realize just how deep and creative their fantasies could be. Inside every pervert beats the heart of a Tolstoy.
Photos.com And sometimes they want to be beat with War and Peace.
Phone sex isn’t cheap, at least good phone sex isn’t, and in-person dom sessions can at the high end cost as much as a used car. So the vast majority of my clientele are upper-middle-class guys in their 40s to 60s — I have a slew of doctors, lawyers, professors, business executives, and even a minister or two, all of whom have elaborate fantasy worlds they seem to use as a kind of relief valve to alleviate some of the stress of their high-power positions. I’m just the Sherpa that guides them through their kink.
For instance, one thing that hit me about this job is the insane amount of men who fantasize about being feminized and humiliated, or forced to cross dress. Men cross-dress for a ton of different reasons, but the most surprising thing is just how incredibly common it is. In my daily life, I find myself looking at guys’ asses to check for panty lines. And I find them, constantly.
Siri Stafford/Digital Vision/Getty Images “Boyshorts, dude. Support and concealment.”
I’d also say about 75 percent of my callers have homosexual-type fantasies, a lot of whom hate that they have them. I had a caller the other day get freaked out that he was getting so turned on by the thought of getting down on his knees and sucking his girlfriend’s (fantasy) cock. He hung up, then called back to apologize. I had to tell him that fantasizing about a dick in your mouth doesn’t necessarily make you gay (“Honey, calm down. Most cultures consider the phallus a symbol of power. You may just getreally turned on about submitting to your girlfriend”).
If that makes it sound like what I do is more a form of therapy than a sexual outlet, well, it’s both. But we’ll come back to that in a moment …
#4. The Fetishes Often Have Shockingly Little to Do With Sex
MSPhotographic/iStock/Getty Images
When you think of phone sex, you probably imagine a woman’s breathy voice saying that she’s lying on her bed, wearing her favorite black lace lingerie, and that you sound so hot she just has to touch herself. After that, you get a soundtrack to your wank session composed of moaning and her telling you what a stud you are.
In real life, not so much. I’ve found most guys would rather watch free porn than spend $1.99 per minute for something so mundane (thanks Internet), so the guys who call me are looking for … something a little different.
ori-ori/iStock/Getty Images “You’re a fuck dragon; your name is Falcor. I start scratching you behind your ear …”
Like the shrinking fetishists. That’s a really common phone fantasy — they like me to describe them shrinking down to about an inch in height, give or take, then picking them up, dropping them in the toilet, and flushing them away. Then there’s the vore guys (as in “carnivore”) — guys who fantasize about being eaten. I have one who likes me to describe how I will truss him up, put him in a big roasting pan (complete with chopped-up carrots, potatoes, celery, and onions), sprinkle him with salt and pepper (he always manages to sneeze for me when we get to that part), baste him in butter (“Ohhh it’s sooo slippery isn’t it, having that butter drip all over your body …”), and pop him in the oven (at 450 degrees).
Jack Puccio/iStock/Getty Images Slow and low at 275 if it’s payday.
Sometimes I get to play a more traditional sex icon, like with the guy who likes me to be dressed as a Playboy bunny … then magically turn him into a carrot, use the carrot as a dildo, and eat him (the grossest part is he wants me to dip him in ranch dressing to eat … I hate ranch). And it’s my job to walk him through it, in extreme detail. “Close your eyes. I want you to feel the tips of your fingers getting longer, your legs merge together, an orange tinge comes to your skin, your hair gets leafy.”
jrwasserman/iStock/Getty Images “Rinse me, but don’t peel … leave it a little dirty …”
Then there are the looners (as in “balloon fetishists,” not “lunatics”). They like to hear balloons being blown up and popped. That’s it — I have taken calls on my cellphone while walking into a store, buying a 100 pack of balloons, sitting in my car blowing them up, then popping them. All of them.
Photos.com In real life I always use a condom.
And then there’s the yak guy. He just wants me to carry on our conversation in the language of the yak people. We talk about the weather, sports, news, music, and movies all in a made-up yak language. It’s hard to find somebody who’ll play along with something like that, without judging, or getting weirded out. That’s why I have a job.
Some of these fetishes I understand, some I don’t — I understand how the endorphin rush of pain might turn someone on (it doesn’t do anything for me, personally). Ditto the guys who like the hardcore degradation — physical and emotional pain is felt by the same part of the brain. But the truth is, whether they use the word “paraphilia,” “fetish,” or “interest,” scientists are only just starting to catalog the vast, weird (moist) panoply of desire.
#3. Maintaining the Illusion Is Crucial to Them
Jacob Wackerhausen/iStock/Getty Images
The actual work itself — whether on the phone or in person — is actually the easiest part of this job. Marketing is where things get tough, because it involves maintaining a number of concurrent illusions. My clients can choose from six “characters,” and each of these girls has her own life. Each of my characters has a blog and a twitter, and I update both several times a week. So-and-so isn’t available to talk Monday through Friday until after 5 pm, because she is a high school biology teacher, and so-and-so isn’t available on Friday night because she is a 22-year-old party girl. Then I’ll go to different fetish message boards, Yahoo groups, and chat rooms and participate in those communities with a link back to my blog or profile.
JDate, Christian Mingle I’m on JDate and Christian Mingle.
So while the nice thing about this job is being my own boss, the hard thing about it is also being my own employees. When you’re on social media, you’re acting at the same time as you’re advertising your services and performing market research to figure out which fetish stocks are more erect right now. It’s not an easy job, but it does have some serious perks.
I love football (go Steelers!) and so do a lot of my guys. This has turned into a pretty lucrative business opportunity over the years. I’ll talk with clients ahead of time and tailor a bunch of rules to their kink. Some guys like orgasm control, so every touchdown they’ll have something new to do without, uh, finishing. One toy I use is this device called the “humbler,” which stretches a client’s balls back for easy swatting. I’ve done paid in-person sessions during football games where I’d use that on the client every time there was a fumble or a turnover.
IdreamofJeanie I’ve included this picture of a humbler because it’s the only one that doesn’t actively show balls.
If you’re wondering at what point in that process we actually have sex, well …
#2. Being a Dominatrix Doesn’t Involve Intercourse
alexsokolov/iStock/Getty Images
Many people think that being a dominatrix means being a high-end prostitute. I mean no offense to prostitutes, but that is not my job. I’ve never ever had sex with any of my clients, and I never ever would.
AndreyPopov/iStock/Getty Images Which means I’m just like every other profession that’s completely misrepresented in porn.
That’s not what it’s about, and in fact that would actually ruin our whole dynamic, if they were to see me in a vulnerable, naked state. There’s a reason why you picture black leather or latex catsuits when you think of a dominatrix. Contact between in-person clients and myself would, at most, mean letting them be a human footstool or getting a well-placed slap across their little bitch faces. Once again, for many guys, it’s not about the sex act — it’s something much more complicated. A need they can’t get filled anywhere else.
Now, there are guys who do want to cross that line — some have trouble seeing the difference between me, the real person, and the character they’re paying to stick clothespins on their cock. That’s one reason I’ve actually phased out most of my in-person domming sessions in favor of phone sessions, because hey, I get to work in my PJs. I work for a phone sex company as well as owning my own business working through a platform, so my take-home pay is between 70 cents and $1.19 per minute for my time. For physical sessions, I usually charge between $100 or $200 per hour. It’s good money, and none of it requires showing off any more skin than the average nun.
Aleksandrs Tihonovs/iStock/Getty Images And shit, if that’s what they want, I can do that too.
Think about that — all that time, and all that money, working through men’s sexual fantasies, and there’s never any actual nudity or actual sex. I’m just helping people act on the sexual fantasies in their mind, involving fetishes so specific and peculiar they’d never naturally come across another person who shares them. Which again brings us around to the real reason I stay so busy …
#1. For Many Guys, This Is the Therapy They’re Not Getting Elsewhere
Jacob Ammentorp Lund/iStock/Getty Images
You’d be surprised how much time I spend talking to my clients. Well, obviously, but I mean talking. You know the kind of talking the stereotypical girlfriends of the world always want. Emotional support is a much bigger aspect of the job than you’d expect. Not only do I have to get the guys off, I have to then assure them afterward that they aren’t weird.
Fuse/Fuse/Getty Images Keep in mind sometimes they have just instructed me to tell them the exact opposite.
That’s why I work really hard on trying to understand the fetishes my clients have. For balloon popping, it’s the anticipation; for the shrinking guys, it’s the loss of power; for the yak guy … actually I haven’t figured that one out yet. Psychotherapists are starting to recognize the value sex work can play in therapy, though. Australia’s currently gripped in a debate over whether or not their national disability insurance should cover “sex surrogates” (if you’re interested, there’s a documentary called Scarlet Road you should watch).
I’ve had guys who were coming out to their family who came to me first for support, to get pumped up. I’ve had a guy stop in the middle of a call and start crying, because he missed his ex-wife and needed to talk about it. I’ve given relationship advice — hell I have even checked out guys’ online dating profiles so I could give them pointers from a woman’s perspective.
Jupiterimages/BananaStock/Getty Images “Don’t mention produce or bovine animals until at least the fifth date.”
I actually had one client who was into extreme humiliation — he was black, and racial degradation was his particular turn-on. I got so hard on him during one session that he broke down and started crying. I wound up learning that he’d grown up in a very strict household, where men weren’t allowed to show emotion. Our session was the first time he’d ever broken down and cried about all of the horrible stuff he’d encountered as a kid. Getting that emotional release helped him deal with some demons. He never did another session with me, but he thanked me by email afterward, and now every week for the last few years he’s sent me a $100 check as thanks.
Robert Evans runs Cracked’s Personal Experience department and can be reached here. His friends run a farm and are trying to fight bandits. If you’d like to donate, he’ll love you forever.
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In a good news/bad news twist for men, a side-effect free male birth control pill is being developed in mice, and may soon be ready for a human test run. Photo from Feminspire.
In a good news, bad news situation for men, science is on the verge of perfecting a recent development in reproductive choice. The good news is that there may soon be an effective contraceptive pill that men can take, rather than undergo a vasectomy. The bad news is that men will then have to shoulder more day-to-day responsibility for family planning. There’s also confusing news — for conservatives. The development poses a conundrum: they may have to decide whether to try and block men’s access to healthcare, as they have with women.
The pill disables the delivery system but preserves sperm
Australian researchers have worked out a technique that keeps the body from delivering sperm to semen in mice. They’ve identified two proteins that can be disabled to keep sperm from moving from the testes into the ejaculate. The brain simply doesn’t get the message to turn the sperm loose. Disabling the proteins doesn’t affect libido, performance, or eventual procreation. It simply keeps the exit door closed for the millions of sperm that would normally make a break for freedom at the time of ejaculation. Their little lives are spared, to possibly swim another day.
For women, handing birth control over to men would eliminate the risk of side effects from taking hormone-based birth control pills. These side effects include an increased potential for migraines, strokes, blood clots, and heart attacks. The male version doesn’t depend on manipulating hormones. So far, it’s devoid of significant side effects.
There is a downside but it’s not physical effects
The biggest downside is that the pill would have to be taken every day. Or course, that’s what women already do, but a 2011 poll by England’s Anglia Ruskin University showed that 52% of women surveyed wouldn’t trust their partners to remember to take it daily. Only 17% of male respondents had that same concern. About the same percentage of men expressed the worry that taking the pill would damage their ‘manly image’.
Of course, there’s another downside, depending on point of view. If birth control is literally in the hands of men, the religious right has one less weapon with which to bludgeon women into submission. How can females be controlled if it’s their male partners who are popping the pill? How can insurance deny birth control to women without also denying it to men? Guess the Heritage Foundation will have to work that one out.
Reasonable men are more likely to focus on the advantages. Effectiveness is one. While the female birth control pill is an impressive 98-99% effective, the one being tested with mice has been 100% effective. That might give men something to ponder: zero chance of unexpected parenthood, as long as they remember to take the pill. Since the medication won’t be ready for human consumption for at least 10 years, there’s plenty of time to reflect on its advantages. First and foremost is the fact that it would protect from harm the women that men love. Who wouldn’t like that — other than the GOP, that is?
They say the first year of marriage is the toughest…
A gorgeous newly wed friend of mine reached out to me and without knowing much about her relationship dynamics or the two very personally much anymore now, these were my two cents. Please share yours.
With high volume porn streaming so readily available to the voyeurs of the world, it’s slightly archaic to stick to the mindset of “porn is negative”. We ain’t no bible thumpers round here, but we do keep it classy when it comes to exploring fantasy to the fullest extent or polyamorous arrangements. When choosing your mate it’s imperative to be as real as you come. Otherwise, the long-term won’t be pleasant or enriching. It will be straining and deflating.
One thing that should never be introduced into any sexual relationship is Shame.
Every emotion after inevitably and unfortunately will be adversarial until all is forgiven and forgotten. It’s tough, the strong survive and remember all these emotions come from the place of wanting love and wanting to share your love….so be real with what you’re truly needing and get it before all is lost.
The communication (sorry for the strange font size change; I screenshot and edited to post):
During porn viewing, the brain releases a tidal wave of endorphins and other powerful neurochemicals like dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin. These natural “drugs” produce a tremendous rush or high. All over the world people are using pornography as a drug-of-choice for escape and self-medication.
Candeo will show you the truth about your “brain-chemical” addiction and exactly how to break free.
Most people believe that “just trying harder” and exercising “more willpower” is the answer to overcoming porn addiction. This is the worst advice possible! You’ve got to learn how to “work with your brain” instead of “fighting against it.”
Everything you need to break free is already built into the very structure of your brain–the same type of brain process that got you into this mess, can help get you out.
You Can Literally Change Your Brain
Over time, porn use alters your brain circuitry and traps you in addiction. The good news is, your brain is “neuro-plastic” meaning that it’s literally moldable and changeable. In other words, you’re not stuck with your old addiction circuitry. Once an addict, always an addict is FALSE!
In essence, the article traces aspects of all addictions to the dopamine system in the brain. Here is an excerpt from the article with some of my comments in parenthesis:
“Imagine you are taking a slug of whiskey. a puff of a cigarette. A toke of marijuana. A snort of cocaine. A shot of heroin. Put aside whether these drugs are legal or illegal. Concentrate, for now, on the chemistry. The moment you take that slug, that puff, that toke, that snort, that shot, trillions of potent molecules surge through your bloodstream and into your brain. Once there, they set off a cascade of chemical and electrical events, a kind of neurological chain reaction that ricochets around the skull and rearranges the interior reality of the mind.”
“Given the complexity of these events–and the inner workings of the mind in general–it’s not surprising that scientists have struggled mightily to make sense of the mechanisms of addiction. Why do certain substances have the power to make us feel so good (at least at first)? Why do some people fall so easily into the thrall of alcohol, cocaine, nicotine and other addictive substances, while others can, literally, take them or leave them?”
“The answer, many scientists are convinced, may be simpler than anyone has dared imagine. What ties all these mood-altering drugs together, they say, is a remarkable ability to elevate levels of a common substance in the brain called dopamine. In fact, so overwhelming has evidence of the link between dopamine and drugs of abuse become that the distinction (pushed primarily by the tobacco industry and its supporters) between substances that are addictive and those that are merely habit-forming has very nearly been swept away.” (The claim that “I’m not addicted, it’s just a harmless habit,” doesn’t hold water!)
“The Liggett Group, smallest of the U.S.’s Big Five cigarette makers, broke ranks in March and conceded not only that tobacco is addictive but also that the company has known it all along. While RJR Nabisco and the others continue to battle in the courts–insisting that smokers are not hooked, just exercising free choice–their denials ring increasingly hollow in the face of the growing weight of evidence. Over the past year, several scientific groups have made the case that in dopamine-rich areas of the brain, nicotine behaves remarkably like cocaine. (We also know that porn affects the brain in ways similar to cocaine.) And late last week a federal judge ruled for the first time that the Food and Drug Administration has the right to regulate tobacco as a drug and cigarettes as drug-delivery devices.”
“Now, a team of researchers led by psychiatrist Dr. Nora Volkow of the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York has published the strongest evidence to date that the surge of dopamine in addicts’ brains is what triggers a cocaine high. In last week’s edition of the journal Nature they described how powerful brain-imaging technology can be used to track the rise of dopamine and link it to feelings of euphoria.”
“Like serotonin (the brain chemical affected by such antidepressants as Prozac), dopamine is a neurotransmitter–a molecule that ferries messages from one neuron within the brain to another. Serotonin is associated with feelings of sadness and well-being, dopamine with pleasure and elation. Dopamine can be elevated by a hug, a kiss, a word of praise or a winning poker hand–as well as by the potent pleasures that come from drugs.” (Porn highly elevates dopamine levels.)
“The idea that a single chemical could be associated with everything from snorting cocaine and smoking tobacco to getting good grades and enjoying sex (porn viewing mimics the sex act–the brain believes it is literally having sex) has electrified scientists and changed the way they look at a wide range of dependencies, chemical and otherwise. Dopamine, they now believe, is not just a chemical that transmits pleasure signals but may, in fact, be the master molecule of addiction.” (All addictions have a commonality–feelings of pleasure and euphoria triggered by dopamine in the brain.)
“This is not to say dopamine is the only chemical involved or that the deranged thought processes that mark chronic drug abuse are due to dopamine alone. The brain is subtler than that. Drugs modulate the activity of a variety of brain chemicals, each of which intersects with many others. “Drugs are like sledgehammers,” observes Dr. Eric Nestler of the Yale University School of Medicine. “They profoundly alter many pathways.” (In addition to dopamine processes, Porn alters many areas of the brain.)
“For nearly a quarter-century the U.S. has been waging a war on drugs, with little apparent success. As scientists learn more about how dopamine works (and how drugs work on it), the evidence suggests that we may be fighting the wrong battle. Americans tend to think of drug addiction as a failure of character. (You just need more will-power; you’re not trying hard enough.) But this stereotype is beginning to give way to the recognition that drug dependence has a clear biological basis. “Addiction,” declares Brookhaven’s Volkow, “is a disorder of the brain no different from other forms of mental illness.” (We now know that pornography, like other chemical addictions, radically alters the brain and is a mental health issue.)
“That new insight may be the dopamine hypothesis’ most important contribution in the fight against drugs. It completes the loop between the mechanism of addiction and programs for treatment. And it raises hope for more effective therapies. Abstinence, if maintained, not only halts the physical and psychological damage wrought by drugs but in large measure also reverses it.”
This last sentence is the one I really want to call you attention to, because it is exactly what we are seeing with porn addiction recovery–addiction circuitry in the brain can be reversed, and healthy circuitry restored!
To illustrate this fact, here is another Time Magazine article I found. This one is from 2007 and actually proves what the 1997 article claimed in regard to the addict brain returning to normal over time.
Click on the tab “Addiction and Brain Activity.” You will notice a brain scan image showing the activity in a non-addict brain. As you move the slider to the right, a scan image shows the brain of a cocaine addict 10 days after cocaine use stops. Notice how little activity there is in the frontal lobe of the brain–the place where logic, willpower and self-control reside. Now, as you move the slider to the far right, the scan shows the addict brain 100 days after cocaine use has ceased. Look at how much the activity in the front lobes has increased! And that is after just 100 days!
The wonderful news is this brain change is not just a reality with recovering cocaine addicts, but with all addictions–including pornography addiction! The porn addicted brain can be changed and healed!
Having sex could lower your stress and your blood pressure.
That finding comes from a Scottish study of 24 women and 22 men who kept records of their sexual activity. The researchers put them in stressful situations — such as speaking in public and doing math out loud — and checked their blood pressure.
People who had had intercourse responded better to stress than those who engaged in other sexual behaviors or abstained.
Another study found that diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number of your blood pressure) tends to be lower in people who live together and have sex often.
2. Sex Boosts Immunity
For those addicted to sex,
JUST DO IT!!!
You know how to stay healthy!
I know I always feel better when
I am getting my regular dose of great sex!!
Don’t you?
Having sex once or twice a week has been linked with higher levels of an antibody called immunoglobulin A, or IgA, which can protect you from getting colds and other infections.
A Wilkes University study had 112 college students keep records of how often they had sex and also provide saliva samples for the study. Those who had sex once or twice a week had higher levels of IgA, an antibody that could help you avoid a cold or other infection, than other students.
3. Sex Burns Calories
Thirty minutes of sex burns 85 calories or more. It may not sound like much, but it adds up: 42 half-hour sessions will burn 3,570 calories, more than enough to lose a pound. Doubling up, you could drop that pound in 21 hour-long sessions.
“Sex is a great mode of exercise,” Los Angeles sexologist Patti Britton, says. It takes both physical and psychological work, though, to do it well, she says.
4. Sex Improves Heart Health
A 20-year-long British study shows that men who had sex two or more times a week were half as likely to have a fatal heart attack than men who had sex less than once a month.
And although some older folks may worry that sex could cause a stroke, the study found no link between how often men had sex and how likely they were to have a stroke.
5. Better Self-Esteem
University of Texas researchers found that boosting self-esteem was one of 237 reasons people have sex.
That finding makes sense to sex, marriage, and family therapist Gina Ogden. She also says that those who already have self-esteem say they sometimes have sex to feel even better.
“One of the reasons people say they have sex is to feel good about themselves,” she says. “Great sex begins with self-esteem. If the sex is loving, connected, and what you want, it raises it.”
Of course, you don’t have to have lots of sex to feel good about yourself. Your self-esteem is all about you — not someone else. But if you’re already feeling good about yourself, a great sex life may help you feel even better.
6. Deeper Intimacy
Having sex and orgasms boosts levels of the hormone oxytocin, the so-called love hormone, which helps people bond and build trust.
In a study of 59 women, researchers checked their oxytocin levels before and after the women hugged their partners. The women had higher oxytocin levels if they had more of that physical contact with their partner.
Higher oxytocin levels have also been linked with a feeling of generosity. So snuggle up — it might help you feel more generous toward your partner.
7. Sex May Turn Down Pain
Oxytocin also boosts your body’s painkillers, called endorphins. Headache, arthritis pain, or PMS symptoms may improve after sex.
In one study, 48 people inhaled oxytocin vapor and then had their fingers pricked. The oxytocin cut their pain threshold by more than half.
8. More Ejaculations May Make Prostate Cancer Less Likely
Research shows that frequent ejaculations, especially in 20-something men, may lower the risk of getting prostate cancer later in life.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that men who had 21 or more ejaculations a month were less likely to get prostate cancer than those who had four to seven ejaculations per month.
The study doesn’t prove that ejaculations were the only factor that mattered. Many things affect a person’s odds of developing cancer. But when the researchers took that into consideration, the findings still held.
9. Stronger Pelvic Floor Muscles
For women, doing pelvic floor muscle exercises called Kegels may mean more pleasure — and, as a perk, less chance of incontinence later in life.
To do a basic Kegel exercise, tighten the muscles of your pelvic floor as if you’re trying to stop the flow of urine. Count to three, then release.
10. Better Sleep
The oxytocin released during orgasm also promotes sleep, research shows.
Getting enough sleep has also been linked with a host of other health benefits, such as a healthy weight and better blood pressure. That’s something to think about, especially if you’ve been wondering why your guy can be active one minute and snoring the next.
ECS modulates cellular function, the more one knows about the range of cell structure and function the better one can conceive of phytocannabinoid influenced cellular modulation. Up and down regulation of the cell specific physiologic and pathophysiologic function.
A group of neuromodulatory lipids and their receptors that are involved in a variety of physiological processes including appetite, pain-sensation, mood, and memory; it mediates the psychoactive effects of cannabis.
I hope if you are at this level at Cannabis International you are interested in anti-oxidant anti-inflammatory, anti-neoplastic, or other uses ideally in a preventive or therapeutic mode, more accurately in a phrase, developing recognition of cannabis as a ‘dietary essential’. Other than the initial comments, an incredible series of links.
More on point, this medical cannabis page does not emphasize the cannabinoid acids that act at GPR55, affectionately known as the Orphan Receptor. There is no doubt it deserves to be CB3, the Phytocannabinoid Receptor, where the delicate cannabinoid acids act as an antagonist producing their potent anti-inflammatory effects.
20 years of rigorous research, presented in North America and Europe on alternating years. This year in Chicago. The annual ICRS Programme is an excellent overview of the breadth of research on the Endogenous Cannabinoid System, Exogenous ligands including synthetic and phytocannabioids. Go to the particular year and in the side bar is the Programme PDF. Drop on a CD, print & bind and pull up a very comfortable chair.
DO SEXUAL SIDE EFFECTS OF MOST ANTIDEPRESSANTS JEOPARDIZE ROMANTIC LOVE AND MARRIAGE?, PRESENTED BY HELEN E. FISHER, PHD
Do the sexual side effects of most antidepressants jeopardize romantic love and marriage? Dr. Thompson and I would like to say yes, most likely under some circumstances, but not always. Please don’t leave this room thinking that we are opposed to the use of serotonin-enhancing medications. People are different; situations are different. The drugs have been proven to be effective under many circumstances. I’m an anthropologist, not a psychiatrist. What we’re trying to do is to bring an interdisciplinary perspective to the table to heighten awareness and add to the dialogue so that we can all learn how to effectively heal our patients better.
Since the release of Prozac (fluoxetine) in 1989, many similar serotonin-enhancing antidepressants have emerged. In fact, the use of these has increased dramatically. In 2002, in the United States alone, 213 million prescriptions for antidepressants were written and indeed most of them were for serotonin-enhancing medications. It’s well established that these drugs can cause sexual dysfunction, diminished sexual desire, delayed sexual arousal, and muted or absent orgasm. In fact, some reports say that as many as 73% of patients on some of these medications can suffer from 1 or more of these side effects.
We theorized that these sexual side effects can potentially — not all the time, but potentially — have some serious consequences due to the effects that they can have on several evolved, adaptive, unconscious neural mechanisms. These include the ability to attract a mate, to choose a mate, to fall in love, to stay in love, and to sustain a marriage.
In short, it’s all connected and when you knock out the sex system, you can jeopardize many other Darwinian mechanisms that evolved millions of years ago to direct courtship, mating, reproduction, and parenting.
Distinct Brain Networks
In 1998, I proposed that Homo sapiens — indeed, all of the mammalian and avian species — evolved 3 distinctly different but related brain systems for courtship, mate selecting, reproduction, and parenting. The 3 brain systems I proposed are lust, attraction, and attachment.
Lust is the libido, the sex drive; it’s basically the craving for sexual gratification. W.H. Auden once called it an “intolerable neural itch”; Pablo Neruda called it an “eternal thirst” and an “infinite ache.” It’s simply the craving for sexual gratification; it often has no object. You can feel it when you’re sitting in the subway, reading a book, or driving alone in your car; you can feel it really at any time.
The second brain system is attraction or romantic love, also known as being in love, passionate love, obsessive love, or infatuation. This is the one that I’ve studied myself. My colleagues and I, and several others have now put 40 people who are madly in love into a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scanner, and we’ve begun to see some of the brain circuitry of romantic love. I’m going to talk a little bit about that.From an anthropological point of view, this is regarded as a universal human phenomenon. In a study of over 150 societies, evidence of it was found in every single one; there was no evidence to the contrary. Everywhere in the world where you look for evidence of romantic love, you find it. Love magic, love poems, love songs, myths, legends, suicide, homicide, and reports from people themselves testify to it. Indeed, the hard data go back almost 4000 years to Sumerian poetry.There are several main traits of romantic love. I’ve canvassed the psychological literature of the last 25 years, and have, in fact, done a study of my own in Japan and in the United States. Of course we all know it, but here’s what happens when you fall in love. The first thing that happens is that a person takes on what we call “special meaning.” Indeed, George Bernard Shaw once said, “Love consists of overestimating the differences between one woman and another.” Indeed! Then you focus your attention on this person. Most people who are in love can list what they don’t like about their sweetheart, but then they sweep that aside and just focus on what they do like. As Chaucer said, “Love is blind.”
Also involved is intensely heightened energy, elation when things are going well, terrible mood swings when things are going poorly, and an intense motivation to win this preferred individual. There also is something that I call the frustration attraction: when there are real barriers to the relationship, like the person dumps you or they don’t call or send you an e-mail or something, you just love them harder. In fact, in Roman times, people knew that phenomenon of frustration attraction.
The most powerful characteristic of romantic love, however, is obsessive thinking. When we put these 40 people into the fMRI machine, the very first question that I asked my subjects was: what percentage of the day and night do you actually think about your partner? The response was 95%: I can’t stop thinking about her or him, etc. So you have obsessive thinking, along with a deep dependency on this relationship, and more than any one other characteristic, a craving for emotional union with this individual.
The third of these 3 brain systems that evolved from mating and reproduction is male/female attachment, associated with feelings of calm and contentment and a real sense of emotional union with this long-term partner. In people, as well as in other animals, you have nest building, or home building. Mate guarding is a term we use in anthropology — I think in psychiatry you would call it jealousy. Finally, you have cooperative parenting, the main point of attachment.
Primary Neurochemicals of Each System
Each of these systems is associated with different primary neurochemicals. Lust is well known to be associated with the androgens in human beings and certainly also with the estrogens in other species.
From our study of the brain, we have some nice evidence that elevated activity of dopamine is involved in that intense sense of passion and arousal of romantic love. I also maintain in my book, Why We Love, that we’re going to find out sometime that norepinephrine is also involved, largely because heightened activity of norepinephrine is also associated with focused attention, elevated energy, motivation to win a reward, elation, and 2 characteristics of romantic love — obsessional following and object imprinting.I also maintain, although we don’t have all the evidence for it, that low activity levels of serotonin are going to be involved, largely because the obsessiveness — the obsessive thinking of romantic love — is so striking. Indeed, low levels of serotonin are associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder. So that’s part of the fingerprint of attraction or romantic love.
Other scientists have done some very elegant work associating basic feelings of attachment with elevated activity of oxytocin and vasopressin.
Distinct Neural Systems
I believe that each one of these 3 systems is a distinct neural system. In the last 3 years, 4 MRI studies of lust were conducted. Men and women were hooked up to a machine and shown erotic pictures followed by pictures of scenery, etc. In 3 out of those 4 MRI studies, researchers showed that the hypothalamus is involved, which you would expect, and 3 out of 4 have shown that the amygdala is involved. Two of the most convincing ones, I think, indicate that the insula cortex is involved, along with many other regions.
Regarding attraction, or romantic love, what we found in our data is that the right ventral tegmental area is involved, along with the right caudate nucleus (dorsal). In fact, we showed a lot of deactivations, as one does prior to the brain turning off, while others turned on. We also found deactivation in the amygdala.
On the left, the ventral tegmental area is shown becoming active when a person attached to the MRI machine looks at a picture of his or her sweetheart. This happens to be the anteromedial portion of the caudate. Several aspects of the dorsal caudate became active, which — because the ventral tegmental area is involved, as well as dopamine and the caudate — led us to believe that romantic love is not an emotion; it’s basically a motivation system. I believe it’s a basic mating drive that evolved millions of years ago. Indeed, I think that this drive is more powerful than the sex drive. You don’t kill yourself when you don’t get sex. People kill themselves when they don’t get the lover that they are looking for, or they kill somebody else.
Attachment, the third brain system, is not well mapped out yet; certainly the hypothalamic-pituitary axis would be involved because there’s so much oxytocin and vasopressin in parts of the hypothalamus. The substantia nigra has a high density of oxytocin and vasopressin receptors, so that’s likely to be involved. In a new study of mother/infant attachment — not male/female attachment, but mother/infant attachment — researchers found activity in the medial insular, the anterior cingulate, and the lateral orbitofrontal cortex. So as a matter of fact, many parts of the frontal cortex are going to be involved in all 3 of these systems because we think as we feel.
The point is that each system is distinct; they have different feelings, they have different behavior patterns, and I think they each have a different role in human reproduction. I think the sex drive evolved to get us out there looking for really basically anything at all, anything that was remotely appropriate. Romantic love enabled us to focus our mating energy on just 1 mate at a time, thereby conserving mating time and energy. Attachment evolved to enable us to tolerate this individual, really, at least long enough to raise our children as a team.
But I believe they are all primary mating drives; I think they vary from one species to another. A rat seems to show attraction for a very brief period of time; human beings can be in love for months or years. These systems certainly vary from one individual to another. Some people have a much higher sex drive than others. Some people fall in love all the time; others do not. Indeed they vary over the life course.
Interaction of These Systems
The point here is that these 3 brain systems interact and there are many ways in which they interact, but I’m going to stick to just the positive relationship between the sex drive and attraction. You know the feeling, if you’ve fallen in love — and everybody I would guess has been in love probably more than once. Suddenly the person that you’re in love with becomes intensely sexually attractive to you. Three weeks ago, you didn’t notice anything. He or she was a nice person; you liked this person very much. Suddenly, the way he or she moves or smiles at you is intensely sexually attractive. I think that this is at least in part because an elevated activity of dopamine and norepinephrine can stimulate testosterone, the hormone of desire. In short, the biology of romantic love can stimulate lust.Can the reverse be true? Can you be copulating with somebody who’s just a friend and then suddenly fall in love with him or her? Not always. Most adults in the Western world have copulated with just a friend and have never fallen in love with him or her. I’ve got 4 middle-aged friends who either inject testosterone or use testosterone patches; they don’t fall in love 36 hours after they’ve used them. But I do actually have 3 cases of friends who have told me that they have suddenly fallen madly in love with somebody that they were just copulating with as a friend. I don’t understand the physiology of this, but I can report that, indeed, an elevated activity of testosterone does stimulate dopamine and norepinephrine. As a matter of fact, it not only stimulates dopamine and norepinephrine, but it suppresses the activity of serotonin, in short creating the ratio of monoamines associated with romantic love. This is one of the reasons that I say to my students: now don’t copulate withpeople you don’t want to fall in love with because it may just happen to you!
The bottom line is that serotonin-enhancing antidepressants that negatively affect this sex drive can quite logically also negatively affect the brain circuits for romantic love.
Serotonin-enhancing antidepressants cannot only potentially inhibit dopamine and norepinephrine, they can also blunt the emotions. This is why people take them; I’m certainly for that. If you’re suffering terribly, it’s the time to try to blunt the emotions. Nevertheless, they are going to have an effect on the elation of romantic love. Serotonin-enhancing antidepressants also suppress obsessive thinking, which is a very central component of romantic love. There are many examples of how these things are affected by each other. In 1 case collected by Thompson, a 20-year-old single white woman had an eating disorder. She was suffering from recurrent depression, she had attention deficit disorder, and she was taking high doses of serotonin-enhancing medication. When she was asked about the side effects of this, she said, “No, no, I don’t have any.” Then she said reluctantly to the doctor, “But I find myself wanting more space; there just isn’t that much attraction.” Romantic love is acentral aspect of human reproductive planning. It enables the human animal to focus courtship energy on avidly pursuing a particular partner and beginning the breeding process. When you inhibit this brain system, you can potentially — not always — inhibit the patient’s psychologic well being and I think his or her genetic future.
Evolutionary Inhibitions
Serotonin-enhancing antidepressants can inhibit other evolutionarily adaptive mechanisms for mate selection.
One of them is orgasm; it inhibits orgasm and clitoral stimulation, but let’s focus on orgasm. With orgasm, one of the main things that happens is that levels of oxytocin and vasopressin go up enormously in the brain. These are feel-good chemicals. They’re associated with social bonding, pair formation, and pair maintenance. So when men and women take serotonin-enhancing medications and fail to achieve orgasm, they can fail to stimulate not only themselves, but their partners as well. This neural mechanism, associated with partner attachment, becomes a failed trigger.From a Darwinian perspective, orgasm also is a primary mechanism by which women unconsciously assess a mating partner. For a long time, anthropologists have thought that this is a bad design; women just don’t have an orgasm every time. More recently, we came to realize that. We call it the ‘fickle female orgasm’ and we regard it now as a very serious adaptive mechanism that enables women to distinguish between those partners who are willing to spend time and energy on them — those we call Mr. Right — and those who are impatient or lack empathy and who might not be a good husband and father — Mr. Wrong. When women take serotonin-enhancing antidepressants that inhibit the orgasmic response, among some of these women you’re jeopardizing the ability to assess the commitment level of a partner. Women also use orgasm to assess existing partnerships; women tend to orgasm more regularly with a long-term partner. With the onset of anorgasmia, this can destabilize a match.A good example of this is once again a case study collected by Thompson, involving a 35-year-old married woman. She had recurrent depression and anxiety disorder. She was taking a serotonin-enhancing medication, which diminished her libido, and she had absent orgasm. She once apparently said, “I think I no longer love my husband.” Then she switched to an antidepressant that had no side effects; her normal sex drive and normal orgasmic response returned and indeed she decided not to divorce her husband. She was thinking of divorcing him and now they have a small child. In this way, drugs can affect your biologic future. These systems are very old. Orgasm and clitoral stimulation are very primitive ways in which women measure men. Like drugs that blur your vision, serotonin-enhancing medications can potentially blur a woman’s ability to evaluate mating partners, to fall in love, and to sustain an enduring partnership.
These medications also inhibit penile erection in some men. We regard the penis as an internal courtship device; actually we call it an entertainment system, in my business. It is designed to attract and keep women. With no penile erection, a man has less of a chance of doing that. The penis also is regarded as a fitness indicator — an anthropology term — because the penis advertises medical health, psychologic health, and physical fitness. When men take serotonin-enhancing medications that produce impotence, the medications can cripple these vital courtship-signaling functions. Penile erection also has antidepressant qualities; this work comes from a friend of mine and his colleagues from 2002.
The researchers looked at the contents of seminal fluid and, as it turns out, it contains dopamine and norepinephrine, associated with romantic love; oxytocin and vasopressin, associated with attachment; testosterone and estrogen, associated with lust; and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), associated with regular cycling. Without orgasm, men are deprived of these courtship mechanisms. In fact, the same researchers also did a study of seminal fluid and found out that it actually does have regular antidepressant qualities. Those women who were directly exposed to it were less depressed than those who used condoms. I’m not recommending it; I’m simply reporting the data. But when men fail to ejaculate due to antidepressant drugs, they jeopardize their ability to adjust a woman’s mood as well as to send important courtship signals. All male animals have evolved a host of courtship devices in order to capture females. Indeed, some of those most importantones can be jeopardized by taking antidepressant drugs.
Psychologic Inhibitions
Serotonin-enhancing antidepressants can also inhibit psychologic mechanisms for mate choice.
Motivation, discrimination — deciding which person walking through a room is just more attractive to talk to — and one’s self-esteem all are important aspects of one’s psychologic well being. The most interesting, I think, are the first 2. In the case of motivation, in one study, a 25-year-old man had had some long-term intimate successful relationships with women. He recounted having a panic disorder and taking serotonin-enhancing medications, and reported that he “just stopped dating.”
In another very interesting study, Fisher reported that she was interested in knowing whether serotonin-enhancing medications could actually make a change in unconscious psychologic mechanisms that we use to look at a room of people and decide who is or is not attractive to us. She asked 20 women who were on serotonin-enhancing medications and 20 women who were on no medications to sit in front of a computer and rate the faces of men. Those women who were on the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) rated the male faces as more unattractive and also looked at and appraised the faces for a shorter period of time. I don’t know if it’s her term or not, but she called it ‘courtship blunting.’ There seemed to be any number of examples of this. In one case, a 54-year-old man in the healthcare business reported, after using serotonin-enhancing antidepressants, “It’s like the lens I use to look at the world has been changed.” A 45-year-old married woman said, “It’s like being handicapped; like being blind.”
This reads, “Brad, talk to me — animal to animal.” We are animals. As one psychiatrist once wrote: one of the relics of early man is modern man. The brain is built in many ways to aid reproduction and I think we might find many ways in which serotonin-enhancing antidepressants and perhaps many other drugs subtly affect the way men and women discriminate between mates, choose mates, feel romantic love, and feel marital attachment.
Adaptive Mechanism of Depression and Conclusion
I want to conclude with one more very subtle effect. It’s the effect that serotonin-enhancing medications can have on depression. If a patient were going to commit suicide, I’d be the first person to say, “For God’s sake, take some medication.” I want to repeat again: we are not in the business of saying who should use or who should not use these medications. We’re only trying to add to the dialogue some interdisciplinary understanding.
Evolutionists have now come to begin to think that depression actually has some adaptive features. When you think about it, it’s very expensive metabolically and socially to be extremely depressed. Various scientists have offered explanations of why this brain system could suddenly have evolved. Of all of them, the one I want to mention — because it impressed me most — was that of an anthropologist, 2 biologists, and a psychiatrist. These researchers noted that depression is very socially and metabolically costly. They reasoned that the costs of depression are probably its benefits, that depression in itself is a clear, honest signal that something is really wrong. In fact, it’s an extortionary mechanism by which one sends out the signals of real need to get social support. It also gives insight, as one of my psychologist friends says: it’s a failure of denial when you’re totally depressed. Indeed, mildly depressed people often make clearer assessments of themselves and others.To paraphrase Aeschylus, with this pain comes wisdom.I believe that masking depression can, at times, and under some circumstances, have serious social and genetic consequences. The classic example is that of the woman who says, “I’ve been on this medication for several years and I feel much better, but I’m still married to the same abusive alcoholic man.” The SSRIs may chemically confine patients to bad relationships as well as hinder the ability to attract and fall in love with a better mate.
I’m going to say it again: we are not recommending that patients who are seriously psychologically ill refrain from taking serotonin-enhancing antidepressants. Indeed, we’re learning more and more about them. Sometimes people say they can contribute to suicide and clearly they can also save lives.
What we’re trying to say is that these medications affect the threshold of other biologic mechanisms and at times can jeopardize unconscious evolutionary mechanisms for mate selection, for romantic love, and for attachment.
This creates the potential for jeopardizing a patient’s personal, social, and genetic future.
I am sure that many of my fellow geeks who are reading this may have at some time in their life wondered what you will regret about you life when you are lay on their death. A friend of mine who has worked as a nurse and actually been with countless people as they lay dying said that for the majority of people the regrets were the same.
Here in this article she has wrote about the top 5 regrets that people have on their death bed. All of these are real, genuine and in her own words.
For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives. People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality.
I learnt never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.
When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
This was the most common regret of all. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.
It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.
2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.
This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.
By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never
became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a
result.
We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.
It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical
details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end.
That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again. When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.
Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness
Sexuality is a complex characteristic that involves the physical, psychological, interpersonal, and behavioral aspects of a person. Recognizing that “normal” sexual functioning covers a wide range is important. Ultimately, sexuality is defined by each patient and his/her partner according to sex, age, personal attitudes, and religious and cultural values.
Many types of cancer and cancer therapies can cause sexual dysfunction. Research shows that approximately 50% of women who have been treated for breast and gynecologic cancers experience long-term sexual dysfunction. Nearly 70% of men who have been treated for prostate cancer experience long-term sexual dysfunction.
An individual’s sexual response can be affected in many ways. The causes of sexual dysfunction are often both physical and psychological. The most common sexual problems for people who have cancer are loss of desire for sexual activity in both men and women, problems achieving and maintaining an erection in men, and pain with intercourse in women. Men may also experience inability to ejaculate, ejaculation going backward into the bladder, or the inability to reach orgasm. Women may experience a change in genital sensations due to pain, loss of sensation and numbness, or decreased ability to reach orgasm. Most often, both men and women are still able to reach orgasm, however, it may be delayed due to medications and/or anxiety.
Unlike many other physical side effects of cancer treatment, sexual problems may not resolve within the first year or two of disease-free survival and can interfere with the return to a normal life. Patients recovering from cancer should discuss their concerns about sexual problems with a health care professional.
Factors Affecting Sexual Function in People With Cancer
Both physical and psychological factors contribute to the development of sexual dysfunction. Physical factors include loss of function due to the effects of cancer therapies, fatigue, and pain. Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy may have a direct physical impact on sexual function. Other factors that may contribute to sexual dysfunction include pain medications, depression, feelings of guilt from misbeliefs about the origin of the cancer, changes in body image after surgery, and stresses due to personal relationships. Getting older is often associated with a decrease in sexual desire and performance, however, sex may be important to the older person’s quality of life and the loss of sexual function can be distressing.
Surgery-Related Factors
Surgery can directly affect sexual function. Factors that help predict a patient’s sexual function after surgery include age, sexual and bladder function before surgery, tumor location and size, and how much tissue was removed during surgery. Surgeries that affect sexual function include breast cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, and other pelvic tumors.
Breast Cancer
Sexual function after breast cancer surgery has been the subject of much research. Surgery to save or reconstruct the breast appears to have little effect on sexual function compared with surgery to remove the whole breast. Women who have surgery to save the breast are more likely to continue to enjoy breast caressing, but there is no difference in areas such as how often women have sex, the ease of reaching orgasm, or overall sexual satisfaction.
Colorectal Cancer
Sexual and bladder dysfunctions are common complications of surgery for rectal cancer. The main cause of problems with erection, ejaculation, and orgasm is injury to nerves in the pelvic cavity. Nerves can be damaged when their blood supply is disrupted or when the nerves are cut.
Prostate Cancer
Newer nerve-sparing techniques for radical prostatectomy are being debated as a more successful approach for preserving erectile function than radiation therapy for prostate cancer. Long-term follow-up is needed to compare the effects of surgery with the effects of radiation therapy. Recovery of erectile function usually occurs within a year after having a radical prostatectomy. The effects of radiation therapy on erectile function are very slow and gradual occurring for two or three years after treatment. The cause of loss of erectile function differs between surgery and radiation therapy. Radical prostatectomy damages nerves that make blood vessels open wider to allow more blood into the penis. Eventually the tissue does not get enough oxygen, cells die, and scar tissue forms that interferes with erectile function. Radiation therapy appears to damage the arteries that bring blood to the penis.
Other Pelvic Tumors
Men who have surgery to remove the bladder, colon, and/or rectum may improve recovery of erectile function if nerve-sparing surgical techniques are used. The sexual side effects of radiation therapy for pelvic tumors are similar to those after prostate cancer treatment. Women who have surgery to remove the uterus, ovaries, bladder, or other organs in the abdomen or pelvis may experience pain and loss of sexual function depending on the amount of tissue/organ removed. With counseling and other medical treatments, these patients may regain normal sensation in the vagina and genital areas and be able to have pain-free intercourse and reach orgasm.
Chemotherapy-Related Factors
Chemotherapy is associated with a loss of desire and decreased frequency of intercourse for both men and women. The common side effects of chemotherapy such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, mucositis, weight loss or gain, and loss of hair can affect an individual’s sexual self-image and make him or her feel unattractive.
For women, chemotherapy may cause vaginal dryness, pain with intercourse, and decreased ability to reach orgasm. In older women, chemotherapy may increase the risk of ovarian cancer. Chemotherapy may also cause a sudden loss of estrogen production from the ovaries. The loss of estrogen can cause shrinking, thinning, and loss of elasticity of the vagina, vaginal dryness, hot flashes, urinary tract infections, mood swings, fatigue, and irritability. Young women who have breast cancer and have had surgeries such as removal of one or both ovaries, may experience symptoms related to loss of estrogen. These women experience high rates of sexual problems since there is a concern that estrogen replacement therapy, which may decrease these symptoms, could cause the breast cancer to return. For women with other types of cancer, however, estrogen replacement therapy can usually resolve many sexual problems. Also, women who have graft-versus-host disease (a reaction of donated bone marrow or peripheral stem cells against a person’s tissue) following bone marrow transplantation may develop scar tissue and narrowing of the vagina that can interfere with intercourse.
For men, sexual problems such as loss of desire and erectile dysfunction are more common after a bone marrow transplant because of graft-versus-host disease or nerve damage. Occasionally chemotherapy may interfere with testosterone production in the testicles. Testosterone replacement may be necessary to regain sexual function.
Radiation Therapy-Related Factors
Like chemotherapy, radiation therapy can cause side effects such as fatigue, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, and other symptoms that can decrease feelings of sexuality. In women, radiation therapy to the pelvis can cause changes in the lining of the vagina. These changes eventually cause a narrowing of the vagina and formation of scar tissue that results in pain with intercourse, infertility and other long term sexual problems. Women should discuss concerns about these side effects with their doctor and ask about the use of a vaginal dilator.
For men, radiation therapy can cause problems with getting and keeping an erection. The exact cause of sexual problems after radiation therapy is unknown. Possible causes are nerve injury, a blockage of blood supply to the penis, or decreased levels of testosterone. Sexual changes occur very slowly over a period of six months to one year after radiation therapy. Men who had problems with erectile dysfunction before getting cancer have a greater risk of developing sexual problems after cancer diagnosis and treatment. Other risk factors that can contribute to a greater risk of sexual problems in men are cigarette smoking, history of heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
Hormone Therapy-Related Factors
Hormone therapy for prostate cancer can decrease normal hormone levels and cause a decrease in sexual desire, erectile dysfunction, and problems reaching orgasm. Younger men do not always experience the same degree of sexual dysfunction. Some treatment centers are experimenting with delayed or intermittent hormone therapy to prevent sexual problems. It is not yet known if these modified treatments affect the long-term survival of younger men.
The effects of tamoxifen on the sexuality and mood of women who have breast cancer are not clearly understood.
Psychological Factors
Patients recovering from cancer often have anxiety or guilt that previous sexual activities may have caused their cancer. Some patients believe that sexual activity may cause the cancer to return or pass the cancer to their partner. Discussing their feelings and concerns with a health care professional is important for patients. Misbeliefs can be corrected and patients can be reassured that cancer is not passed on through sexual contact.
Loss of sexual desire and a decrease in sexual pleasure are common symptoms of depression. Depression is more common in patients with cancer than in the general healthy population. It is important that patients discuss their feelings with their doctor. Getting treatment for depression may be helpful in relieving sexual problems.
Cancer treatments may cause physical changes that affect how an individual sees his or her physical appearance. This view can make a man or woman feel sexually unattractive. It is important that patients discuss these feelings and concerns with a health care professional. Patients can learn how to deal effectively with these problems.
The stress of being diagnosed with cancer and undergoing treatment for cancer can make existing problems in relationships even worse. The sexual relationship can also be affected. Patients who do not have a committed relationship may stop dating because they fear being rejected by a potential new partner who learns about their history of cancer. One of the most important factors in adjusting after cancer treatment is the patient’s feeling about his or her sexuality before being diagnosed with cancer. If patients had positive feelings about sexuality, they may be more likely to resume sexual activity after treatment for cancer.
Assessment of Sexual Function in People with Cancer
Sexual function is an important factor that adds to quality of life. Patients should discuss their problems and concerns about sexual function with their doctor. Some doctors may not have the appropriate training to discuss sexual problems. Patients should ask for other information resources or for a referral to a health care professional who is comfortable with discussing sexuality issues.
General Factors Affecting Sexual Functioning
When a possible sexual problem is identified, the health care professional will do a detailed interview either with the patient alone or with the patient and his or her partner. The patient may be asked any of the following questions about his or her current and past sexual functioning:
How often do you feel a spontaneous desire to have sex?
Do you enjoy sex?
Do you become sexually aroused (for men, are you able to get and keep an erection, or for women, does your vagina expand and become lubricated)?
Are you able to reach orgasm during sex? What types of stimulation can trigger an orgasm (for example, self-touch, use of a vibrator, shower massage, partner caressing, oral stimulation, or intercourse)?
Do you have any pain during sex? Where do you feel the pain? What does the pain feel like? What kinds of sexual activity trigger the pain? Does this cause pain every time? How long does the pain last?
When did your sexual problems begin? Was it around the same time that you were diagnosed with cancer or received treatment for cancer?
Are you taking any medications? Did you start taking any new medications or did the doctor change the dose of any medications around the time that these sexual problems began?
What was your sexual functioning like before you were diagnosed with cancer? Did you have any sexual problems before you were diagnosed with cancer?
Psychosocial Aspects of Sexuality
Patients may also be asked about the significance of sexuality and relationships whether or not they have a partner. Patients who have a partner may be asked about the length and stability of the relationship before being diagnosed with cancer. They may also be asked about their partner’s response to the diagnosis of cancer and if they have any concerns about how their partner may be affected by their treatment. It is important that patients and their partners discuss their sexual problems and concerns and fears about their relationship with a health care professional with whom they feel comfortable.
Medical Aspects of Sexuality
Patients may be asked about current and past medical history since many medical illnesses can affect sexual function. Lifestyle risk factors such as smoking and high alcohol intake can also affect sexual function as well as prescribed and over-the-counter medications. Patients may be asked to fill out questionnaires to help identify sexual problems and may undergo a variety of physical examinations, blood tests, ultrasound studies, measurement of nighttime erections, and hormone tests.
Treatment of Sexual Problems in People with Cancer
Many patients are fearful or anxious about their first sexual experience after cancer treatment. Fear and anxiety can cause patients to avoid intimacy, touch, and sexual activity. The partner may also feel fearful or anxious about initiating any activity that might be thought of as pressuring to be intimate or that might cause physical discomfort. Patients and their partners should discuss concerns with their doctor or other qualified health professional. Honest communication of feelings, concerns, and preferences is important.
In general, a wide variety of treatment modalities are available for patients with sexual dysfunction after cancer. Patients can learn to adapt to changes in sexual function through reading books, pamphlets, and Internet resources or listening to and watching videos and CD-ROMs. Health professionals who specialize in sexual dysfunction can provide patients with these resources as well as information on national organizations that may provide support. Some patients may need medical intervention such as hormone replacement, medications, or surgery. Patients who have more serious problems may need sexual counseling on an individual basis, with his or her partner, or in a group. Further testing and research is needed to compare the effectiveness of various treatment programs that combine medical and psychological approaches for people who have had cancer.
Fertility Issues
Radiation therapy and chemotherapy treatments may cause temporary or permanent infertility. These side effects are related to a number of factors including the patient’s sex, age at time of treatment, the specific type and dose of radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy, the use of single therapy or many therapies, and length of time since treatment.
Chemotherapy
For patients receiving chemotherapy, age is an important factor and recovery improves the longer the patient is off chemotherapy. Chemotherapy drugs that have been shown to affect fertility include: busulfan, melphalan, cyclophosphamide, cisplatin, chlorambucil, mustine, carmustine, lomustine, cytarabine, and procarbazine.
Radiation
For men and women receiving radiation therapy to the abdomen or pelvis, the amount of radiation directly to the testes or ovaries is an important factor. Fertility may be preserved by the use of modern radiation therapy techniques and the use of lead shields to protect the testes. Women may undergo surgery to protect the ovaries by moving them out of the field of radiation.
Procreative Alternatives
Patients who are concerned about the effects of cancer treatment on their ability to have children should discuss this with their doctor before treatment. The doctor can recommend a counselor or fertility specialist who can discuss available options and help patients and their partners through the decision-making process.
The human body is complex and beautiful. It gives you pleasure and pain, and it is both strong and fragile. While we all come into this world wearing nothing, nudity is one of the strongest taboos that have ever existed in our society. We cover and protect our own bodies, but do we really cherish them?
Nude yoga is a form of yoga practice that accentuates the perfection of the human body. It teaches to understand, appreciate, and cherish your physique. It’s the simplest and most natural way to start a healthier and happier life by learning the techniques of gentle workout and meditation.
Nude yoga isn’t mainstream and it really isn’t for everyone, but it can turn you into an artist who rediscovers and rebuilds his body beautiful.
It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it. Research & Development
Sex Toys for Cannabis Enthusiasts 