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Apr. 19th, 2007

08:35 am - "Fixing" lack of desire in females

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Hi!

This article, from last week's SF Chronicle, is about yet another potential aphrodisiac for women. The scientists working on it tested it in rats, and I especially liked this bit of writing from the story:

[it also] fomented sexual excitement in female rats, prompting them to wiggle their ears, hop excitedly, rub noses with males and otherwise display unmistakable hallmarks of rodent arousal.

Whether it works or not, we will still have that little gem to remember.

I wonder if there are good reasons that many women are not particularly sexually interested, much of the time? Could it be pheremonal overload? Population density? Prolonged sleep-deprivation? OTC drugs? Birth-control pills? Too much food availability? Simple aging? Constant worry and stress? "Beauty" products? Sedentary lives? Less-interesting potential (and actual) partners?

Maybe it's a flaw in experimental design. Or maybe it's always been there, and recent experiments are just finding it now because people have simultaneously lost enough of their prudery and gained enough anonymity that they are willing to construct, present and answer such research more honestly now than in previous years.

Ideas?

Cheers! generalist

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From:hennepin
Date:April 19th, 2007 03:43 pm (UTC)
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"rodent arousal"! hehehehe! That alone will keep me going for the rest of the day. I wish I could wiggle my ears as a sign to potential partners!

I think the anonymity aspect of recent studies helps a great deal. I recently posted an article from the NY Times that I found fascinating because it was the first completely honest study regarding the differences between men and women and their sexual responses to given stimuli. It found that women were a lot less prone to lack of response than previously thought.... Which makes me think that a perceived lack of interest in sex could have more to do with the lack of interesting and creative partners.

Personally, I'm looking for an inhibitor drug these days. Until I find someone with greater potential, that is.
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From:plantgirl
Date:April 19th, 2007 06:27 pm (UTC)
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unmistakable hallmarks

Ummm, yeah. Gotta love those unmistakable hallmarks.
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From:shadowsmark
Date:April 19th, 2007 09:32 pm (UTC)
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This is only part of the story about sex. Humans use sex for a lot more than procreation, so any explanation that begins and ends at procreation is incomplete, and doesn't further scientific inquiry. Imagine saying, "Humans use they mouths for eating, and eating is a vital function, so that must be all that mouths are good for"!
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From:jymdyer
Date:April 21st, 2007 10:51 pm (UTC)

Yeah, really.

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=v= Humans are so multivariate, practically nothing comes down to a simple pattern, even if it's biologicalish.
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From:llamaeyes
Date:April 19th, 2007 09:00 pm (UTC)

interest in interest

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I'm ALWAYS interested, and they just did testing and found out my testosterone is too low. It is difficult for me to understand studies like this because they are SO outside my instincts I can't comprehend feeling that way.

I suppose I am broken in a good way, but stil.
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From:jymdyer
Date:April 21st, 2007 10:54 pm (UTC)

Re: interest in interest

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=v= How do they define "too low," anyway? There's also the matter of studies finding higher levels of testosterone correlated with (1) strong sex drive and (2) weak sex drive.

Hormones are just messengers. It's weird to see them discussed as if they are the cause of each and every gender-identified behavior.
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From:andybeals
Date:April 23rd, 2007 10:12 pm (UTC)

there's a standard, silly!

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There's a pre-defined "normal range" for men and women. Too low, and you lose interest in sex. Too high, and women get a moustache. Way too high and you go bald, men and women. This much we know.
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From:xeger
Date:April 19th, 2007 09:45 pm (UTC)
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I wonder if there are good reasons that many women are not particularly sexually interested, much of the time? Could it be pheremonal overload? Population density? Prolonged sleep-deprivation? OTC drugs? Birth-control pills? Too much food availability? Simple aging? Constant worry and stress? "Beauty" products? Sedentary lives? Less-interesting potential (and actual) partners?

Snarkily? I'd have to think that coming home to a clean house with dinner cooked, the laundry and dishes done, and the kids tucked in bed, and routine gestures of appreciation would do wonders for many women.

There's nothing like feeling as though no task that you do is ever complete or appreciated, whether it's at work or at home - and that time for yourself is "stealing" from any number of other tasks that have to be done - to result in a stew of ill feeling and stress that's not at all conducive to arousal.

I guess you could count that as a check in the "Prolonged sleep-deprivation" and "Constant worry and stress" boxes.
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From:shadowsmark
Date:April 24th, 2007 04:17 am (UTC)
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This all goes to show that everyone's interested in talking about sex!
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From:ext_107700
Date:June 28th, 2008 09:51 pm (UTC)

dampened responses?

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My brother-in-law had terrible health problems (parasite-induced?) after he returned from a trip to Central America. After trying all sorts of normal medical remedies (and losing weight like crazy), he finally found relief in eating a macrobiotic diet of non-processed foods. I'm oversimplifying the situation, but after three years on this diet, he got sick and needed to take an antibiotic. His body reacted violently to the antibiotic (throat started to close up), and he learned from research pharmacists that medication sold in the USA is double to triple the strength it is sold in other countries. Supposedly, it is so strong because the American diet includes so many chemicals and preservatives that our medication must be stronger to "make it through" our systems.

Considering that women's bodies are at any given moment a cocktail of ever-changing hormones, might such an ongoing, unnatural infusion of chemicals dampen or their normal responses?
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From:generalist
Date:July 23rd, 2008 07:41 am (UTC)

Re: dampened responses?

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Hi!

I don't know about the medicines being stronger other places than here. Medicines are measured in mg doses, and from what little I noticed in Mexico, the dosages available there were similar to those available here. Of course, here you need a prescription for much of what one gets there without one.

Cheers! generalist

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