Research History of Sex

1. BY -:Goel & Company Ludhiana

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Early knowledge gained from watching animals
400 B.C. Aristotle, “History of Animals, Parts of Animals,
and Generation of Animals,”
 foundation of western sexology
 developed classification system: reproduction by sexual,
asexual, and spontaneous generation
During this period, believed male contributed the seed,
the woman brought to fruition.
Plato - wandering uterus causes hysteria in women

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1600: Vesalius
 discounted wandering uterus theory
 female anatomy still misunderstood
1653 William Harvey: discovered importance of female egg
to reproduction by studying animals
1678 Anton van Leeuwenhoek
 used early microscope to identify sperm as “seed”
 compared healthy/unhealthy men
 sperm survived longer in warm environment
 coined term: “spermatozoa”
 reasserted idea of male supremacy in reproduction
1873 Eduard van Beneden: fertilization the result of two
half sets of chromosomes joining to form full set

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354-430 St. Augustine - ideal Christian life one of celibacy
1668-1738 Dutch, Hermann Boehaave, “Institutiones
Medicae” “rash expenditure of semen brought on a lassitude, a
feebleness, a weakening of motion, fits, wasting,
dryness, fevers, aching of the cerebral membranes,
obscuring of the senses, and above all the eyes, a decay
of the spinal chord, a fatuity, and other like evils.”
all non-procreative sex “dangerous” - fornication better
than masturbation
Doctors expected to give medical advice about sexuality
 infertility not understood
 sexual activity potentially dangerous
Protestants & Puritans: sex within marriage a source of
pleasure

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One physician published case history:
 “the husband had the fatal habit of applying
the tongue and lips to his wife’s genitals to
provoke in her venereal orgasm.”
 believed woman’s life may be in danger
 husband may develop cancer of the tongue

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Women must be careful not to enjoy sex
 women expected to be maternal, not sexual
 diseased women had “excessive animal passion”
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Elizabeth Osgood Goodrich Willard
 coined term “sexology”
 “humankind must stop the waste of energy through the sexual organs,
if we would have health and strength of body. Just as sure as that the
excessive abuse of the sexual organs destroy their power and use,
producing inflammation, disease, and corruption, just so sure it it that
a less amount of abuse in the same relative proportion, injures the
parental function of the organs and impairs the health and strength of
the whole system. Abnormal action is abuse.”
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Preventative measures:
 perforated foreskin of the penis
 applied ointments that severely increased sensitivity
 applied hot irons to the inner thighs

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1825 Karl Ulrichs:
 argued that homosexual men had “female element” -> homosexual
activity acceptable
 argued homosexuality was congenital
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1840-1902 Krafft-Ebing:
 viewed sexual behavior as pathological
 “Psychopathia Sexualis” - coined terms for homosexuality, fetishism,
sadism, masochism
 Sadism - named after Marquis de Sade
 Masochism - named after Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
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1857-1911 Alfred Binet:
 emphasized early childhood experience
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1854-1900 Oscar Wilde: prosecution for homosexuality brought
widespread public attention
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1821-1890 Richard Burton: translated the Kama Sutra

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Early sexuality researcher
Homosexual & transvestite
Argued that most people born bisexual
Conducted sex surveys
1903: Reported 2.2 % homosexual
Proposed that “secretions” responsible for sexual feelings
(endocrinology)
1921: helped organize the International Conference of
Sexual Reform Based on Sexual Science - importance of
“secretions” discussed

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Sex reformer
1896-1928 Studies in the Psychology of Sex - individual and
cultural relativism w/ sex
Believed deviations from normal were harmless
Believed sexual experimentation part of adolescence
Believed homosexuality was genetic, bisexuality the norm
Non-scientific methods - used second hand accounts - used
historical and cross-cultural data
Argued for greater contraceptive information, marriage
reform, rights for women and minorities

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Sex researcher and reformer
Studied physiology and medicine
Early theories:
anxiety the result of masturbation
 nocturnal emissions dangerous
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Later theories/beliefs:
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every neurosis had a specific sexual cause
dreams are disguised fulfillment of unconscious sexual desires
children have sexual feelings
developed the theory of the Oedipus complex
all people bisexual
perverse sexual drives common

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Many early sex researchers were women
Early research inspired by concerns about prostitution,
pornography, sexually transmitted diseases, alcoholism,
women’s rights, and the role of “virtuous” women.
Clelia Mosher (1863-1940) - professor at Stanford 1910
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surveyed married women (48 subjects)
ignorance about sex upon marriage the norm
35 reported sexual desire
34 reported experiencing orgasms
absence of orgasm “bad, even disastrous, nerve wracking”
findings published in 1974

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Robert Latou Dickinson (1861-1950)
 significant contribution to female sexuality
 first wide scale data base: compiled data on 5,000 cases
 broad range of data - physical drawings, self-report
 longitudinal data
 Findings:
 married women masturbated more than single women
 frequency of intercourse: 2-3 /week in married
sample, 11% once a year or less
 first to examine female sexual response
 examined women as they masturbated to orgasm
 demonstrated that female orgasm also involved
physiological changes

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Katharine Bement Davis (1860-1935)
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on board of the Bureau of Social Hygiene
Warden at a reformatory for women, primarily prostitutes
advocated assessment of prostitutes prior to sentencing
1912: laboratory formed to study prostitutes
later involved in the study of sexuality in women in general
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subjects drawn from women’s colleges
findings:
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71% reported sex before marriage
9.3% reported having at least 1 abortion
Bureau of Social Hygiene provided funding - explosion in
sexuality research

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1948 Published the Kinsey Report on sexual practices in the
U.S.
based on extensive interviews
 concerned with validity of findings - used checks for
consistency
 concerned with bias by interviewer - used multiple raters
 1.5 hours to 17 hours (with a pedophile)
 used likert scale regarding homosexuality/heterosexuality
Findings:
 37% of males had one homosexual experience
 4% subjects identified as exclusively homosexual
Criticisms
 subjects not randomly selected - subjects primarily
Midwesterners
 subjects volunteers

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One of the first to study the sexual act in the laboratory 1950’s
Initially used prostitutes
Sexual Response Cycle
measured heart rate, respiratory functions, muscle tension,
breast response etc.
 observed changes in female sex organs:
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vaginal lubrication - “sweating” on vaginal walls - 10-30 seconds
after sexual stimulation
extension of vaginal barrel
lifting of uterus
darkening of vaginal walls
orgasmic contractions
Four phase description: (1) excitement (2) plateau (3) orgasm
(4) resolution

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1860 rubber condoms sold - prevent v.d., contraceptive
1870 rubber diaphragm available to women
IUD
 first recorded use by Arab camel drivers - put stones in
camel’s uterus
 widespread use in 1920 - wire IUD developed by Ernst
Grafenberg
Hormonal contraceptives - 1936 - experiment on rats
demonstrated that daily progesterone injections inhibited
estrous cycle.
The Pill
 1960 - FDA approved “Enovid”
 contained progestin and estrogen