“At the moment of orgasm, women do not have any emotional feelings,” says Gert Holstege of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

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Orgasms: a real ‘turn-off’ for women
17:54 20 June 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Michael Le Page, Copenhagen

For women, it seems, sex is a big turn-off, reveals a brain scanning study. It shows that many areas of the brain switch off during the female orgasm - including those involved with emotion.

His team recruited 13 healthy heterosexual women and their partners. The women were asked to lie with their heads in a PET scanner while the team compared their brain activity in four states: simply resting, faking an orgasm, having their clitoris stimulated by their partner’s fingers, and clitoral stimulation to the point of orgasm.

The results of the study are striking. As the women were stimulated, activity rose in one sensory part of the brain, called the primary somatosensory cortex, but fell in the amygdala and hippocampus, areas involved in alertness and anxiety. During orgasm, activity fell in many more areas of the brain, including the prefrontal cortex, compared with the resting state, Holstege told a meeting of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Development in Copenhagen on Monday.

In one sense the findings appear to confirm what is already known, that women cannot enjoy sex unless they are relaxed and free from worries and distractions. "Fear and anxiety levels have to go down for orgasm. Everyone knows this but we can see it happening in the brain," he explains.

Extraordinary behaviour
From an evolutionary point of view, it could be that the brain switches off the emotions during sex because at such times the chance to produce offspring becomes more important than the survival risk to the individual. Holstege points to the extraordinary behaviour seen in some animals during the breeding season, such as March hares, when the urge to mate seems to override the usual fear of predators.

But Holstege cannot explain why there is such extreme deactivation in so many areas of the brain during orgasm. Only one small part of the brain, in the cerebellum, was more active during female orgasm. The cerebellum is normally associated with coordinating movement, though there is also some evidence that it helps regulate emotions. “We don’t know what activation of the cerebellum corresponds to,” Holstege admits.

His study also revealed clear differences when women were faking an orgasm. Part of the brain involved controlling conscious movement lit up, and there was none of the extreme deactivation.

Next the team hope to look at what happens to the brain in the minutes after orgasm, as well as in patients with sexual problems. The team has already done a similar study involving 11 men, which revealed far less deactivation during orgasm than in women. However, Holstege says the results are probably unreliable and need to be repeated. The problem is that PET scanners measure activity over two minutes - and in men it is all over in a few seconds.

― jody l'anti-vierge (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 04:16 (twenty years ago)

"Not tonight, dear, I'm feeling emotions."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 04:19 (twenty years ago)

In one sense the findings appear to confirm what is already known, that women cannot enjoy sex unless they are relaxed and free from worries and distractions

Maybe being having your clitoris stimulated by your partner's fingers while you lie with your head in a scanner knowing you are being monitored for an experiment isn't all that relaxing. What a stupid study.

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 04:29 (twenty years ago)

Orgasms: a real ‘turn-off’ for 13 Dutch women who agreed to have sex in laboratory under a PET scanner.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 04:34 (twenty years ago)

I hope they removed the pets from the scanner first. All those hamsters, goldfish etc - no wonder it was distracting.

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 04:43 (twenty years ago)

13 Dutch women who agreed to have sex in laboratory under a PET scanner

This sounds so much like a spam subject line. Except every other word would be misspelled.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 04:46 (twenty years ago)

"Women do not have any emotional feelings" would really be sufficient.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 04:57 (twenty years ago)

damnit, my faux html tag of "" turned invisible.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 04:58 (twenty years ago)

oh, for fucks sake...[utter jackass][/utter jackass] around that whole first post, plz.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 04:58 (twenty years ago)

"WHY DO I CRY EVERY TIME I COME!!!"
KAT HANNA TO THREAD!

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 05:02 (twenty years ago)

Except every other word would be misspelled.

Hey, at least I accidentally left out the "a" before "laboratory." I'm not sure that laboratory is spelled properly either.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 05:07 (twenty years ago)

“At the moment of orgasm, women do not have any emotional feelings,”

this seems like a total headline-grabbing misrepresentation of what seem to be really tentative findings.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 05:19 (twenty years ago)

Wouldn't it be easier to ASK the women if they felt emotion while coming? All they are saying is that can't measure emotion with a PET scan, really.

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 05:20 (twenty years ago)

Does anyone else think it's funny that a university that sounds suspiciously like the "University of Groaning" is doing this study?

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 05:29 (twenty years ago)

no not really
xpost

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 05:30 (twenty years ago)

defend your theory, knave!

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 05:32 (twenty years ago)

the plot for a grainy, no budget sf porn movie if i ever saw one.

― Ellsworth M. Toohey (Grodd), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 05:36 (twenty years ago)

it would be easier to ask the women but it would be a less valid and reliable method. this doesn't mean their methodology is or is not flawed. they aren't saying "we can't measure emotion with a PET scan", they're saying the areas that are associated with emotion don't appear to be active during orgasm among women in this study.

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 05:50 (twenty years ago)

WHOA Nellie! EMOTION is *subjective*. The best way to find out is ton ask someone. Brain function is not so completely understood that we know the complexities of what neural pathways fire to produce emotions beyond the obvious fight or flight, which is really a more stress reaction that they are measuring. I don't think they've made a case that they know how to capture positive or complex emotion through a PET scan, which shows only global changes in electrical activities over certain regions.

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 05:55 (twenty years ago)

i'm guessing "emotional feelings" had a clearly-defined operational definition. you're arguing that it is not a good one, and i'm not going to argue against that, but surely you can see that asking the participants if they're feeling any emotions is just as if not more problematic.

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:05 (twenty years ago)

No I don't see self-report as problematic.

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:05 (twenty years ago)

Holstege cannot explain why there is such extreme deactivation in so many areas of the brain during orgasm

It's that momentary passing out wot does it, innit.

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:08 (twenty years ago)

Maybe that's when the emotion flows, passively.

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:09 (twenty years ago)

Self-report is probably unreliable because too many people are prone to exaggerate/embellish things when it somes to sex.

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:09 (twenty years ago)

I doubt they embellish emotion. It's not like asking boys how big their dick is.

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:10 (twenty years ago)

then you think psychology reached its peak during William James' time?
xpost that and because people are unreliable.

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:10 (twenty years ago)

OK New thread: How many people have had female partners who cry at orgasm? (Is this not emotion?)

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:11 (twenty years ago)

Holstege cannot explain why there is such extreme deactivation in so many areas of the brain during orgasm

small death as they say maybe?

― nathalie's post modern sleaze fest (stevie nixed), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:11 (twenty years ago)

I cry if I don't have an orgasm.

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:12 (twenty years ago)

Hahhaha! You are male so you don't count. (Ouch!@)

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:13 (twenty years ago)

I'm male? Since when?

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:14 (twenty years ago)

Really? Always thought you were. I'm female also. Let's bond.

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:15 (twenty years ago)

Only if I can have an orgasm.

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:15 (twenty years ago)

Hahaha!

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:15 (twenty years ago)

man, i nearly did a year abroad in that uni

― fcuss3n, Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:17 (twenty years ago)

Anyway, back to the discussion in hand. How can they assert that sex is a turn off for women simply because there is decreased brain activity during orgasm?

Maybe the petit mort is natures way of getting the woman to lie still for a moment to give the swimming spermies a head start on their journey, rather than have her jumping up and wanting to do energetic things such as spring cleaning the bedroom straight after sex.

Being quiet doesn't mean you haven't enjoyed it. I speak as one who knows.

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:19 (twenty years ago)

i think the use of "turn off" was a play on words, of sorts.

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:21 (twenty years ago)

It's because our orgasms are profound, multiple, and mysterious that they try to subject them to badly operationalized variables. Pshaw!

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:21 (twenty years ago)

A play on words, eh? Is that why they cleverly put it in inverted commas? Man, those press release writers are hilarious.

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:23 (twenty years ago)

The article didn't claim orgasm was a "turn-off" for women, it just said certain brain functions turn off then. I think you can still enjoy it.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:29 (twenty years ago)

From what I gather, they were trying to say "emotional feelings" /= all feelings. Could've been better worded though.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 06:31 (twenty years ago)

and i think by "orgasm" they mean the actual 2-second synapse thing and not, you know, the candlelight dinner beforehand.

― g e o f f (gcannon), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 08:43 (twenty years ago)

i don't know why this should be restricted to women either. i can't think of a particular emotion i had during those 2 seconds either.

― g e o f f (gcannon), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 08:44 (twenty years ago)

I think males get this weird feeling of abandon and disillusionment after an orgasm. I remember reading an scientific explanation for this somewhere, but can't remember what it was.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 08:47 (twenty years ago)

The problem is that PET scanners measure activity over two minutes - and in men it is all over in a few seconds.

haha

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 10:53 (twenty years ago)

i have definitely found that in the few seconds following, a preponderance of women i have, er, discussed this with, have been almost hilariously un-"erotic" i.e. pushing you away and laughing

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 15:00 (twenty years ago)

Aww.

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 15:02 (twenty years ago)

The first thing I thought when I saw this was, "Poor Dr. Holstege!"

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 15:07 (twenty years ago)

the plot for a grainy, no budget sf porn movie if i ever saw one.

Totally: Gov't scientists develop special underpants that put a woman into a constant state of orgasm, rendering her completely devoid of emotion and, thus, making her the perfect assassin. Starring Bridget Fonda.

― giboyeux (skowly), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 15:08 (twenty years ago)

CJ, I am refraining from re-posting something here...

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 15:10 (twenty years ago)

The version of this same story which I have today seen in the British tabloid press is that "women are more likely to orgasm if they don't think about anything". Thus it is preferable to be an empty-headed bint, apparently.

(please continue to refrain, Mr White! I have had quite enough embarrassment for one day without that re-surfacing)

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 15:12 (twenty years ago)

No worries, darling, but it did come to mind.

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 15:19 (twenty years ago)

i bet there would be plenty of emotional feelings if you slipped a finger in her ass at the moment.

― Lupton Pitman (Chris V), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 15:32 (twenty years ago)

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