Sexual arousal
Sexual arousal (also known as sexual excitement) describes the physiological and psychological responses in preparation for sexual intercourse or when exposed to sexual stimuli. A number of physiological responses occur in the body and mind as preparation for sexual intercourse, and continue during intercourse. Male arousal will lead to an erection, and in female arousal, the body's response is engorged sexual tissues such as nipples, clitoris, vaginal walls, and vaginal lubrication.
"Turn-on" redirects here. For other uses, see Turn On.Mental stimuli and physical stimuli such as touch, and the internal fluctuation of hormones, can influence sexual arousal. Sexual arousal has several stages and may not lead to any actual sexual activity beyond a mental arousal and the physiological changes that accompany it. Given sufficient sexual stimulation, sexual arousal reaches its climax during an orgasm. It may also be pursued for its own sake, even in the absence of an orgasm.
Physiological and psychological responses[edit]
Physiological responses[edit]
Sexual arousal causes various physical responses, most significantly in the sex organs (genital organs). Sexual arousal for a man is usually indicated by the swelling and erection of the penis when blood fills the corpus cavernosum. This is usually the most prominent and reliable sign of sexual arousal in males. In a woman, sexual arousal leads to increased blood flow to the clitoris and the rest of the vulva, as well as vaginal transudation - the seeping of moisture through the vaginal walls, which serves as lubrication.
Arousal concordance and non-concordance[edit]
Sexual arousal results in a combination of physiological and psychological factors, like genital sexual response and subjective experience of sexual arousal. The degree to which genital and subjective sexual response correspond is termed concordance.
Arousal non-concordance is when there is no link, for example, in morning erection, which happens both with men (nocturnal penile tumescence) and women (nocturnal clitoral tumescence), or in cases of rape where research confirms reports of an arousal non-concordance orgasm or orgasm alike event can take place – presumably as a measure to protect the internal organs of the vagina.[59]
Research has shown a reliable gender difference in concordance of sexual arousal, such that men have a higher level of concordance between genital and subjective sexual responding than women do.[60] Some researchers argue that this gender difference can be attributed to the type of method used to assess genital responding in women. There may be a difference in women's ability to perceive internal versus external genital engorgement subjectively, as measured by vaginal photoplethysmography (VPG) and thermography respectively. Chivers and colleagues[61] found that men's and women's concordance was more similar when thermography was used as a measure of genital sexual arousal than when VPG was used. However, few studies using thermography have been conducted and further research is required to determine whether the gender difference in concordance is a measurement artifact or a true phenomenon.
Evolutionary models[edit]
The effect of sexual response is thought to be a plastic positive reinforcement behavior modifier associated with the Baldwin effect. The display of secondary sex characteristics in humans such as a penis-like enlarged clitoris in females during arousal and gynecomastia in males are thought to have once been objects of mate selection in human evolution because of the persistence of the phenomenon of these features invoking sexual arousal for potential mates in cross-cultural studies.[66] A dramatic example of this is the high rates of secondary sex characteristic dimorphism in some Southeast Asia human populations.[67] Similar evolutionary stimuli may also have resulted in novel structures such as the pseudo-penis of the female spotted hyena.[68]
