Sex: How It Works Page #3

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irritated release you ain't

release nothing.

All that tension. I got to

explode. What about you?

MAN:
Yeah. Pretty much the same.

I think it's really

important to have an orgasm..

I want to make him feel

good' 'well for her,

I mean I think sex is all

about the girl so if she, like,

orgasms, then it's like

pressures off - I'm good!

NARRATOR:
But one of the great

mysteries in understanding

how sex works is why do women,

who can conceive without them,

have orgasms at all?

DR LINDA:
Why women orgasm

is a bit of a conundrum,

it's sort of like saying

why do men have nipples.

Some evolutionary psychologists

believe that this is sort of

a throw back to a physiological

process that we have

that we don't really

need as such.

Yet for others it's seen that

there's certainly a function

there that we haven't still

figured out what it is.

NARRATOR:
In New Jersey, a

group of neuroscientists are

attempting to unlock the

mystery of the female orgasm.

KOMISARUK:
There really are

only a couple of laboratories

in the world studying, um,

sexual response to orgasm.

We study brain response

to genital stimulation,

the pathways leading to orgasm,

the orgasm response in women

and then how it resolves.

NARRATOR:
To help the

scientists' research,

this woman is going to

attempt to reach orgasm

in the distinctly unsexy

confines of an MRI scanner...

KOMISARUK:
Start

genital stimulation.

NARRATOR:
At a special

laboratory in New Jersey,

this woman is about to perform

a most intimate act in front of

a gallery of scientists.

The goal?

To try to understand once

and for all why women orgasm.

SCIENTIST:
Hi I'm Nan

Wise, nice to meet you,

and this is Dr

Barry Komisaruk...

KOMISARUK:
I'm fascinated

with the process of orgasm.

Hi Nice to meet you...

Dr. Steven...

MONICA:
Well yeah it's a little

nerve wracking to have an orgasm

in an MRI with so

many people around.

I don't usually have such

an audience when I'm doing

something so private.

KOMISARUK:
This idea of seeing

what parts of the brain get

recruited and aroused and

activated leading up to

a crescendo of one of.. uh.. the

most pleasurable experiences

in humans is a umm, a very

interesting phenomenon to study.

Can we overcome depression, or

addiction or overcome pain

by understanding what parts

of the brain are active

and changing those.

We really need some hard

evidence about the functions

of orgasm.

SCIENTIST:
Ok so before we get

started do you have any concerns

about today?

Any trepidations, worries?

MONICA:
Other than the nine

guys in the room, I'm good!

SCIENTIST:
OK!

KOMISARUK:
What we are gonna

do is the control orgasm first,

and then rest for five minutes

and then the actual orgasm.

MONICA:
You realise what you

guys are calling control orgasm,

we call faking it!

The only time most people

go into an MRI is if

there's something wrong,

you know, they may be,

they are going to see

if have a brain tumour,

they have something going

on with their brain,

and I'm going in one

to have an orgasm.

Yeah, this isn't the sexiest

environment I've ever been in to

have an orgasm, I wore a little

lace underneath to kind of help

me out in there so I would

feel a little sexier in an MRI,

but donating an orgasm for

science, how bad can that be.

KOMISARUK:
It's comfortable?

Not too tight?

MONICA:
It's OK.

KOMISARUK:
It's OK?

SCIENTIST:
OK now I am

going to send you in,

you can open your eyes.

KOMISARUK:
Monica are

you in position to start?

MONICA:
Yes. I am.

KOMISARUK:
Monica, start

genital stimulation.

NARRATOR:
Like 75% of women

Monica usually achieves orgasm

by clitoral stimulation.

The tip of the clitoris has

around 8000 nerve endings,

twice as many as the tip

of the penis and more than

any other part of the body.

KOMISARUK:
There are different

nerves from the genital system

and stimulation of those

different nerves goes

to different parts of the

brain and it produces different

qualities of orgasms.

NARRATOR:
As a woman becomes

sexually aroused her vagina

can expand up to 200%,

while self lubricating.

SCIENTIST:
Is she doing

the external stimulation?

NARRATOR:
Some studies showed

that the average time it takes

a woman to reach orgasm through

masturbation is 4 minutes,

with the climax lasting

around 20 seconds.

Men on the other hand tend to

orgasm in just 2 and a half

minutes, peaking for

approximately 12 seconds.

KOMISARUK:
Well an orgasm is

a, response in the brain that

controls many different

systems in the body.

There are many physiological

accompaniments to orgasm

increase in blood

pressure and heart rate,

increase in pupil diameter...

These are the brain regions that

are activated by the stimulation

that she's applying.

Certainly the genital

sensory cortex is activated.

So we should be seeing...

some activity...

SCIENTIST:
She pressed the

button at forty five thirty four

SCIENTIST 2:
Whooo!

NARRATOR:
Orgasms can also cause

the brain to block pain signals.

A recent study suggests

climaxing can be as effective

as three doses of morphine.

KOMISARUK:
Monica are you OK?

You're done, you did great.

OK!

MONICA:
It was comparable to

what I might have on my own

any other time, not quite

comparable to with company,

I prefer with company!

Female orgasms may also

have another crucial

reproductive role.

KOMISARUK:
There is evidence

that one of the functions

of orgasm is to increase uterine

contractions that can suck sperm

into the uterus.

And that could have an effect

of adding to the likelihood

of pregnancy.

MONICA:
I went to my happy

place and got happy so hopefully

the scan will, you know,

tell the story.

my hope is that a study

like this would actually prove

what I already believe

about orgasm which is that

it is essential to our being.

NARRATOR:
The pleasure we

experience during orgasm is

believed to encourage us to

have as much sex as possible.

And in men orgasms could also

play a key role in driving

ejaculation.

JACKSON:
If you've got a good

sperm count you're making

something like a 1000

sperm per heartbeat.

You can ejaculate hundreds

of millions of sperm per day.

NARRATOR:
When a man ejaculates

he produces on average over

200 million sperm.

Enough to populate

over half of the US.

So, why do men

make so many sperm?

To help find an answer,

these five students are going

to compete in a sperm race.

JACKSON:
What we're going to

do today is have a look at

your individual semen samples

and then do a little race.

Now if we look at sperm and we

look at how they're swimming,

we can see these sperm that are

swimming fast across the field

and their heads moving

a bit from side to side.

But there's also lots of bits

of cell debris and some sperm

that are not swimming at all,

others that are just twitching.

When they arrive in the vagina,

it's horrible acid environment

and most of the sperm are

going to die instantly,

so after an hour white blood

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