Category: Women’s Health

For many women, a basic homophile orientation is a major etiological factor in heterosexual orgasmic dysfunction. For those women committed to homosexual expression, lack of orgasmic return from heterosexual opportunity is of no consequence.

But there are a large number of women with significant homosexual experience during their early teenage years that, in time, have withdrawn from active homophile orientation to living socially heterosexual lives.

When they marry, many are committed to orgasmic dysfunction by the prior imprinting of homosexual influence upon their sexual responsivity.

Prior homosexual conditioning acts to create a negatively dominant psychosocial influence. Their biophysical capacity, freely evidenced in homosexual opportunity, continues operant in their electively chosen heterosexual environment, but it may not be of sufficient quality to overcome the negative input from their psychosocial system.

It is difficult to evaluate homosexual influence upon heterosexual function. There can be no question that both means of sexual expression will always be an integral part of every culture. So it has been for recorded time.

The problems of sexual adjustment do not rest with those committed unreservedly to a specific pattern of response. Rather, it is the gray area dweller that creates for him or herself a sexually dysfunctional status.

When moving from one means of sexual expression to the other for the first time, the sexual value system must be reoriented if the desired transfer of sexual identification is to be completed. Such was the problem of Mrs. G who had not been able to adapt her sexual value system to her elected heterosexual world when seen in therapy.

Mr. and Mrs. G

were referred for treatment after seven years of marriage, she was 33, her husband 38 years old. The current marriage was his second, the first ending in divorce.

The presenting complaint was that Mrs. G had never been orgasmic in the marriage. Her childhood and adolescence were spent in-a small Midwestern town as an only child of elderly parents. Her mother was 41 when she was born.

Introverted as a teenager, the girl did well in school but had few friends and was not popular with male classmates. When she was 15 years old she formed a major psychosexual attachment to a high-school teacher, who seduced the girl into a homosexual relationship.

The courtship continued for six months before physical seduction was accomplished. Once fully committed to the homosexual relationship, the girl matured rapidly in personality and took a great deal more care with her dress and person. She vested total psychosexual commitment in her “teacher” throughout her high-school years.

Full responsivity in the sexual component of the relationship developed slowly for the teenager, although she was occasionally orgasmic with manipulation within a few months ‘of her first physical experience.

Initially, hers was primarily a receptive role, but as she matured in the relationship psychologically, mutual manipulation and oral-genital stimulation in natural sequence became part of the unit’s pattern of sexual expression.

During the girl’s last year in high school, mutual sexual tensions were maintained at a high level, and physical release was sought by either or both women at a minimum frequency level of three to four times a week. Both women were multi-orgasmic. Mrs. G has no history of heterosexual dating in high school.

There was physical separation when Mrs. G went to college, but since the separation represented a distance of only fifty miles, she and the teacher spent many weekends together. However, toward the end of Mrs. G’s sophomore year in college, the high-school teacher was apprehended approaching other girls, was discharged, and left the geographical area.

This was a major blow to the girl. She had lost her love and at the same time was made aware that the teacher had sought other outlets. Her grades suffered and she became severely depressed and totally antisocial.

She dropped out of school for a semester, during which time she did very little but write long forgiving letters to her mentor, and even visited her for a ten-day period under the pretext of going to see friends.

It was not until Mrs. G graduated from college that the homosexual relationship was finally terminated. During the four college years, she had only two dates, both involving attendance at school events and of no sexual portent.

After graduation, Mrs. G took secretarial training and began working in a larger city in the Midwest. She still suffered from recurrent bouts of depression and finally sought psychiatric support. Helped by this counseling, she gradually enlarged her social circle, began heterosexual dating, and once more showed an interest in her dress and person.

While in college she had developed masturbatory patterns for tension release. The frequency throughout college and during her early years working as a secretary was several times per week. She usually was multi-orgasmic, as she had been during her continuing homosexual relationship.

At age 25 Mrs. G deliberately took advantage of an available partner to attempt intercourse. This experience was sought purely from curiosity demand.

There were several coital exposures with this eager but relatively inexperienced young man.

She found herself repulsed by the man’s untutored, harsh approaches as opposed to those of her high school teacher. She was not physically responsive and found the seminal fluid objectionable.

Added to this general rejection of heterosexual interest was the fact that shortly after establishing the sexual relationship there was a 10-day delay in the onset of a menstrual period. Her fear of pregnancy only contributed to her rejection of any psychosocial concept of heterosexual functioning.

Shortly thereafter Mrs. G met her husband. He had been divorced six months previously for the stated reason that his wife had wanted to marry another man. There were two children of the marriage, both living with their mother.

They were both lonely people and gravitated to each other. There was warmth and affection between them and several mutual interests, so they married.

Mr. G was sexually well versed, kind, considerate, and gentle with his wife. She felt warmly toward him and enjoyed providing him with sexual release. In doing so she lost her incipient phobia for the seminal fluid.

However, she was unstimulated by his sexual approaches beyond that degree necessary to produce adequate vaginal lubrication. Both partners agreed they did not want children, so contraceptive medication was taken by the wife.

The marriage, though warm and comfortable, for several years was essentially one of convenience. However, as time passed, the two partners grew closer together, learned to communicate, and to exchange vulnerabilities.

Yet there was no improvement in the wife’s sexual responsivity, and this became an increasingly important factor in their lives. Mrs. G had never told her husband of her homosexual experience and was guilt-ridden by the concept that her past sexual orientation might have precluded any possibility of effective response in her now desired heterosexual state. The husband and wife were referred for treatment at her insistence.

During the rapid treatment program, the daily report and ensuing discussions between the co-therapists and marital partners describing the non-orgasmic wife’s reactions and as well as those of her interacting husband, provide an incisive measure of the degree to which the requirements of her functioning sexual value system are being met or negated, or the extent to which she progressively can adapt her requirements.

These discussions provide a simultaneous opportunity for a more finite evaluation of the levels of interactive contribution to sexual function by her biophysical and psychosocial systems.

The treatment of both primary and situational orgasmic dysfunction requires a basic understanding by patients and co-therapists that the peak of sex-tension increment resulting in the orgasmic release cannot be willed or forced.

Orgasmic experience evolves as a direct result of individually valued erotic stimuli accrued by the woman to the level necessary for psychophysiological release. Just as the trigger mechanism which stimulates the regularity of expulsive uterine contractions sending a woman into labor is still unknown, so is the mechanism that triggers orgasmic release from sex-tension increment.

Probably they are inseparably entwined to identify one may be to know the other.

It seems more accurate to consider female orgasmic response as an acceptance of naturally occurring stimuli that have been given erotic significance by an individual sexual value system than to depict it as a learned response.

There are many case histories recorded in this and related studies reporting orgasmic incidence in the developing human female at ages that correspond with ages reported in histories of onset of male masturbation and nocturnal emission.

These clearly described objective accounts are considered accurate because they correlated with subjective recall provided by several hundred women interrogated during previously reported laboratory studies. The initial authoritative direction in therapy includes suggestions to the marital unit for developing a non-demanding, erotically stimulating climate in the privacy of their own quarters.

At no time during the two-week therapy program is either of the marital partners under any form of observation, laboratory, or otherwise. Only the phenomenon of vaginismus is directly demonstrated to the husband of the distressed wife, under conditions routinely employed by appropriate practitioners of clinical medicine.

The co-therapists’ initial directions suggest ways of putting aside tension-provoking behavioral interaction for the duration of the rapid-treatment program and allow the woman to discover and share knowledge of those things which she personally finds to be sexually stimulating.

The further professional contribution must suggest to the marital unit ways and means to create an opportunity for the woman to think and feel sexually with spontaneity. She must be made fully aware that she has permission to express her sexual feelings during this phase of the therapy program without focusing on her partner’s sexual function except by enjoying a personal awareness of the direct stimulus to her sexual tensions that his obvious physical response provides.

Every non-orgasmic woman, whether distressed by primary or situational dysfunction, must develop adaptations within areas of perceptual, behavioral, and philosophic experience.

She must learn or relearn to feel sexual (respond to sexual stimuli) within the context of and related directly to shared sexual activities with her partner as they correlate with the expression of her own sexual identity, mood, preferences, and expectations.

The bridge between her sexual feeling (perception) and sexual thinking (philosophy) essentially is established through comfortable use of verbal and nonverbal (specifically physical) communication of shared experience with her marital partner.

Her philosophic adaptation to the acceptance and appreciation of sexual stimuli is further dependent upon the establishment of “permission” to express herself sexually. Any alteration in the sexual value system must, of course, be consistent with her own personality and social value system if the adaptation is to be internalized.

Keeping in mind the similarities between male and female sexual response, the crucial factors most often missing in the sexual value system of the non-orgasmic woman are the pleasure in, the honoring of, and the privilege to express the need for the sexual experience.

Restoration of sexual feeling to its appropriate psychosocial context (the primary focus of the therapy for the non-orgasmic woman) is the reversal of sexual dissembling. This, in turn, encourages a more supportive role for her sexuality. In the larger context of a sexual relationship, the freedom to express need is part of the “give-to-get” concept of inherent incapacity and facility for effective sexual responsivity.

Professional direction must allow for a woman’s justifiable, socially enhancing need for personal commitment because her capacity to respond sexually is influenced by psychosocial demand.

The commitment functions as her “permission” to involve herself sexually, when prior opportunities available to the formation of a sexual value system have not included an honorable concept of her sexuality as a basis upon which to accept and express her sexual identity.

Commitment apparently means many things to as many different women; most frequently encountered are the commitments of marriage or the promise of marriage, the commitment of love (real or anticipated) according to the interpretation of “love” for the particular individual.

Regardless of the form, the commitment takes after it is established the goal to be attained is the enjoyment of sexual expression for its own positive return and its enhancement of those involved.

During daily therapy sessions, interrogation of the sexually dysfunctional woman is designed to elicit material that expresses the emotions and thoughts that accompany the feelings (sexual or otherwise) developed by the sensate-focus exercise.

Also continually explored are the feelings, thoughts, and emotions that are related to the behavior of her marital partner. Her reactions when discussing material of sexual connotation are evaluated carefully to determine those things which may be contributing to ongoing inhibition or distortion being revealed by the regular episodes of psychophysiological interaction with her husband.

When a non-orgasmic female involves herself with her partner in situations providing opportunities for effective sexual function, her ever-present need is to establish and maintain communication.

Communication, both physical and verbal in nature, makes vital contributions, but it loses effectiveness in the rapid-treatment method is allowed to be colored by anger, frustration, or misunderstanding. While verbal communication is encouraged throughout the two-week period, physical communication is introduced in progressive steps following the initial authoritative suggestion to provide a non demanding, warmly encompassing, shared experience for the woman, with optimal opportunity for feeling.

After the early return from sensate-focus opportunity as directed at the roundtable discussion has been judged fully effective by marital partners and co-therapists the marital unit is encouraged to move to the next phase in sensate pleasure genital manipulation.

The co-therapists should issue specific instructions to the marital partners as “permission” is granted to the female to enjoy genital play.

Sexual instructions should include details of positioning, approach, time span, and above all, a listing of ways and means to avoid the usual pitfalls of male failure to stimulate his partner in the manner she prefers rather than as she permits him the privilege to function.

Treat Orgasm

Neither the biophysical nor the psychosocial systems which influence the expression of the human sexual component have a biologically controlled demand to make specifically positive or negative contributions to sexual function.

This fact does not alter the potential of the systems’ interdigitation contribution to the formation of effective patterns of sexual response. When this potential is not realized by the natural development of psychophysiological sexual complements, the result is sexual dysfunction.

The initial psychosocial contributions toward the realization of this potential may come through a positive experience of early imprinting. Imprinting is a process whereby a perceptual signal is matched to an innate releasing mechanism that elicits a behavioral pattern. Established at critical periods in development, imprints thereafter are considered more or less permanent.

Infantile imprinting of sexually undifferentiated sensory receptivity to the warmth and sensation of close body contact is considered a source of formative contribution to an individual’s baseline of erotic inclinations and choices.

This material essentially is unobtainable in specific form during history-taking. It becomes important to the rapid-treatment program only as it is reflected by statements of preference in physical communication or other recall pertinent to ongoing patterns of sexual responsivity.

Treatment Of Orgasmic Dysfunction

Foundation personnel makes use of two primary sources of material. These sources reliably reflect the female’s prevailing sexual attitudes, receptivity, and levels of responsivity. The first source, derived from history, is the identification by the non-orgasmic woman of erotically significant expectations or experiences (positive or negative) currently evoked during a sexual interchange with her marital partner.

The co-therapists must identify those things which the husband does or does not do that may not meet the requirements of his wife’s sexual value system previously shaped by real or imagined experience or expectation.

Past experiences of positive content involving other partners, or unrealizable expectations perceived as ideal, maybe over idealistically compared by her to the current opportunity; or negative experiences or negative expectation-related attitudes may intrude upon receptivity to her partner’s sexual approach.

Thus, a rejection or blocking of sexual input may be the result.

A discussion of memories of perceptual and interpretive reactions associated with the specific sexual activity may add a further dimension to the knowledge of the wife’s currently constituted sexual value system since these memories often have been noted to function as signals for the subconscious introduction of stored experience, either positive or negative in nature.

The second source of reliable, directly applicable material upon which the rapid-treatment therapy relies for direction indeed, it characterizes this particular mode of psychotherapy is developed from the daily discussions that follow each sensate-focus exercise.

As repeatedly stressed, defining the etiology of the presenting sexual inadequacy does not necessarily provide the basis for treatment. A reasonably reliable history is indispensable, but it is used primarily to provide interpretive direction and to amplify the definition of that which is of individual significance. (It even is used from time to time to demonstrate negative patterns of sexual behaviors)

The husband has directed to place himself in a sitting (slightly reclining, if desired) position, with his back against a comfortable placement of pillows at the headboard of the bed. With the husband’s legs adequately separated to allow his wife to sit between them, she should recline with her back against his chest, pillowing her head on his shoulder.

The length of torsos should determine the reclining angle that permits her head to rest comfortably. Her legs are then separated and extended across those of her husband.

This position provides a degree of warm security for the woman (“back-protected” phenomenon) and allows freedom of access for the man to encourage creative exploration of his wife’s entire body in the sensate-focus concept.

The level of physical communication in the manipulative sessions is encouraged further by direction for the female partner to place her hand in a lightly riding position on that of her husband.

By using a slight increase in pressure or gentle directional movement, the “where and how” of her need of the moment may be immediately communicated to her receptive husband. This and other forms of nonverbal communication allow sharing of her particular desires as they occur as manifestations of her sexual value system, and constitute a secure way by which her marital partner can identify and fulfill these desires by meaningful interaction.

This means of direct physical communication also provides the woman with the freedom to request specifics of genital play without the distraction of forced verbal requests or a detailed explanation.

Any spontaneous form of expression of a man’s own sexual tensions is one of the most interactive contributions that he can make to his wife. It is a viable component of sexual “give to get” in any circumstance of physical sharing.

This principle applies equally to the marital unit carrying out the simplest sensate-focus exercise in the therapy program as it does to a marital unit that has never known sexual dysfunction.

The man must not presume his wife’s desire for a particular stimulative approach, nor must he introduce his own choice of stimuli. The husband’s assumption of expertise has no place in the initial learning phase of a marital unit seeking to reverse the life’s nonorgasmic condition.

The trial-and-error hazard this poses is not worth the small possibility of accidental pleasure that might be achieved. In truth, error in some facet of this controlled manipulative form of physical communication has already been established, or the marital-unit members probably would not consider themselves in need of professional support.

Only after both marital partners have established the fact of the wife’s sexual effectiveness with controlled genital play and have developed dependable physical signal systems should trial-and-error stimulative techniques be crone a naturally occurring dimension of pleasure.

It is well to mention that even those partners with an established, effective sexual relationship may find it both appropriate and advisable to check out their physical signal systems by verbal communication from time to time.

An additional value derived from the non-demand position and its accompanying sensate exercises is its contribution to the removal of the potential spectator’s role.

This role can become as much a pitfall for the nonorgasmic woman as it is for the impotent male. Already considered in descriptions of female-oriented patterns of sexual dissimulation, the spectator role is dissipated when the sexual involvement of husband and wife becomes mutually encompassing for both partners.

Educational Direction

For the husband is an integral part of the genital-play episodes. The co-therapists must be certain that the basics of effective pelvic play are clearly enunciated if the male partner is to provide an effective measure of stimulative return for the woman involved.

The husband is instructed both to allow and to encourage his wife to indicate specific preferences in the stimulative approach either by the light touch of her hand on his or by moving slightly toward the desired approach or away from excessive pressure.

Probably the greatest error that any man makes approaching a woman sexually is that of a direct attack upon the clitoral glans unless this is the stated wish of his particular partner. The glans of the clitoris has the same embryonic developmental background as that of the penis but usually is much more sensitive to touch.

As female sex tensions elevate, sensations of irritation, or even pain, may result from direct clitoral manipulation.

Rarely do women, when masturbating, manipulate the clitoral glans directly. Therefore, the male approach to clitoral stimulation would do well to correspond to that employed by women when providing self-release. There is a further, perhaps more subtle, reason for relative care in the intensity of stimulative concentration directed to the clitoris. This post is sponsored by our partners.

This originates from the fact that the clitoris, as a receptor and a transmitter of sexual stimuli, can rapidly react to create an overwhelming degree of sensation. When such a high level of biophysical tension is reached before the psychosocial concomitant has been subjectively appreciated, the woman experiences too much sensation too soon and finds it difficult to accept.

In the interest of a pleasurable, evolving sexual responsivity, the clitoris should not be approached directly. Specifically, manipulation should be conducted in the general mons area, particularly along either side of the clitoral shaft.

It must be remembered that the inner aspects of the thighs and the labia also are erotically identified areas for most women. Pressure and direction of manual stimulation should be controlled initially by the female partner for two educative reasons.

1. full freedom of manipulative control provides her with the opportunity to feel and think sexually without having to adjust to a partner’s assumption of what pleases her.
2. female control of manipulative activity also educates the male partner into the particular woman’s basic preferences in the stimulative approach to the clitoral area.

It must also be borne in mind by the male partner that there is no lubricating material available to the clitoris. As female sex tension increases there will be a sufficient amount of lubrication at the vaginal outlet.

This should be maneuvered manually from the vagina to include the general area of the clitoris. Vaginal lubrication used in this manner will prevent the irritation of the clitoral area that always accompanies any significant degree of manipulation of a dry surface.

A further dimension of sexual excitation is derived from manipulation of the vaginal outlet when lubricating material is acquired for clitoral spread by superficial finger insertion. There is usually little value returned from the deep vaginal insertion of the fingers, particularly early in the stimulative process.

While some women have reported a mental translation of the ensuing intravaginal sensation to that of penile containment, few had any preference for the opportunity.

Make sure the tape measure is straight when you go around.

Breast Frame

The breast frame is the diameter around your chest just below your breasts. Using a tape measure, measure around your ribcage directly under your breasts. With the measurement, numbers add 5 to it. For example, if your frame measured 26 inches, when you add 5 to this you get 31 inches. You should round up to the nearest even number which is 32 inches. And since bras only come in even numbers, this will be your bra size, 32 inches!

Breast Size

The next measurement you need to take with the tape is breast size. Go around the chest over and include the fullest part of your bust (usually at the level of the nipples). This is the diameter of your chest plus your breast.

Breast Cup

To obtain the breast cup size, simply subtract Breast Frame from Breast Size (breast size – breast frame = breast cup).

The Bra Element

Is your bra the right size for you?

Besides support from mature nature, we also need material support for our breasts against the force of gravity. Over 80% of women do not know they are wearing the wrong size bra. Either too tight or too loose, too high or low, wrong cup size or old comfortable bras but doesn’t support breast, and so on. Our bust size changes with age, time, and weight fluctuations. Once in a while, we should also follow up with our measurements. If you are not sure, do not worry. Just visit the lingerie department and ask for sales assistance. Most big malls have friendly salesgirls to offer advice.

Are you wearing the bra correctly?

Tell signs that your bra is not right for you:

1. Your breasts are drooping or looking generally out of shape when you put on the bra.
2. Breasts pushed over the top of the cup.
3. Red marks on your shoulders, breasts, or back caused by your ill-fitted bra or bra straps.
4. The Center of your bra does not touch the breastbone.
5. Any or all of these signs could tell that you are wearing the wrong bra size and that’s not only uncomfortable. Over time, it may distort the shape of your breasts and cause a variety of health problems, from headaches to backaches and even migraines.

Did you put on a bra correctly?

This may seem silly to women who have been putting on bras for years but there is indeed a proper way to do it. We recommend that you try the following steps when putting on your bra:

Slip your hands through the bra straps over your shoulders, lean and bend forward from the waist to allow your breasts to fall into the cups of the bra. Then, fasten the hooks of the bra.

While still in bending position, with one hand holding the side of the bra, insert the other hand in between the breast and the bra cup and push/scoop the excess flesh from the underarm area up and into the breast cup. Repeat on the other side. Stand up and make sure the breasts snug comfortably into the bra cups.

Next, looked into the mirror and see if the nipples are in the center seams of the bra cups if the front under bra band and the back band are at the same level (between the armpit and elbow). Lift your arms up. A well-fitted bra should not move around when you make any movement.

You can experiment with this method with your normal way of putting on a bra. You can really see the difference it makes.

You should also check on:

1. The back of your bra does not ride up, otherwise, the under band may be too big, and you could need a smaller size.
2. Your bra straps are not falling down or digging into your shoulders. If they are, adjust them or use wider straps.
3. Your flesh does not squeeze over the top of your bra. If it does but feels fine everywhere else, the cup size is too small for you.
4. Run your finger under the bra stripe in front. Your bra should be comfortable but not tight, otherwise, you need a larger band size or you must fasten your bra at the next looser hook.
5. No, holes at the center of the bra and breasts. The middle of your bra lies as flat as possible against your breastbone for a comfortable fit.

Cup Size

Small breast, to make the most of a small breast, wears a soft or thin padded bra. This can give you an enhanced neckline, good uplift, and a lovely shape. Half-cup bras are also flattering for smaller busts, padding at the sides and under give a maximum lift to the breast, revealing sexy cleavages. Less endowed women should try to avoid bras that have square-cut, they only flatten your breast.

Big breasts or women with larger busts can get support from a bra with wider shoulder and back straps. Bras with full cups contain the breast better and give the breast a better appearance. Underwired bras provide better support under the bust while smooth, plain bra styles, without too much lace, help to make your bust appear smaller.

Different bra for different age

Breast sizes are growing in recent years as more women are having proper diet and breast supplements are the culprits. Bra-wearers are getting younger and larger too.

A child as young as 9 years old starts puberty. Significantly is her breast growth. Bra experts normally recommend cotton or thinly padded bra for young bra wearers as their breast development changes quickly and a soft bra allows breast tissues to stretch. For a mature female, a good comfortable bra to keep breasts in shape and support should be worn. Examples a sports bra, underwired bras, or padded bras.

Is it good to be braless?

Almost three-quarters of the day, a woman had her bra on. The good time for the breast’s skin to breathe and the breasts to rest is during bedtime. It is also a time for the breasts tissues to be fully relaxed. By going braless allows unrestricted blood circulation as well.

The entire sexual development of women in present-day society, from childhood to motherhood, is better educated and informed. But sex education for young children remains a dilemma for parents. We know the appearance of menstrual is a sign of puberty but, at the same time, it is also the beginning of sexual contact. All parents being protective towards their child, the word sex or subjects related to sex have been deliberately kept in ignorance, the small girl is hardly informed of the primary facts of sex.

At this stage, the child naturally and unconsciously perform masturbation or infantile masturbation which is part of a biologically natural character during this transition phase, they are curious about their new development. Occasionally, erotic dreams and daydreams lead to girls’ orgastic sensations.

Thus, safely say that masturbation constitutes an almost inevitable transition phase in the sexual development of the young girl or even boy in the present day. The practice is relatively harmless so long as it remains confined to this transition phase and it is a temporary character, and as long as it is not considered later on preferable to normal sexual intercourse.

It becomes harmful if involves permanent neurotic complications, is induced by warnings, scares, and threats of punishment, or disease resulting from masturbation. Once, the late Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, pioneer of sexology reported the experience of a young girl who, despite threats and warnings, could not but continue to obey the irresistible impulse:

“… I did it when I was at home, and lying in bed. I do not remember whether I thought anything of it when I did it. I only know that it was quite dark and quiet. I was doubled up under the bed-clothes. When it was over I often cried to myself. I went to bed frightened and could not go to sleep without praying. My spiritual condition went from bad to worse, and I kept on promising myself never to do it again until I finally comforted myself and went to sleep. I never kept my promise. It happened again, I do not know how long after, and I think not more frequently than once a month. A year ago, I gave it up as my mother caught me at it and gave me a lecture. So out of love for my mother, I gave it up until a little while before menstruation.”

Then I felt such a tickling and itching that I did it again with great passion. The next morning I found that I was bleeding and had pains in the knees and the thighs and could not get up. I told my mother that I had done it again and that I was bleeding, for I thought this was a consequence of it and cried bitterly. Mother comforted me and gave me a second talk. I was then thirteen years old.”

The child inevitably reacts to this with a mixture of curiosity and horror. The curiosity springs from the natural impulse, the horror grows out of the automatic reflection that these forbidden and “indecent” practices were and are carried on by her own parents and that in fact, she owes her very existence to this baseness of which the parents also speak with stern distaste.

Sexual Curiosity

In the earlier years of sexual studies, some scientists without exception acknowledge that nearly 100 percent of all men and women masturbated during this transition phase. This view is supported by statistical investigation we are quoting below statistics on the frequency of masturbation, as compiled by various senior sexologists (see Encyclopedia of Sexual Knowledge):

• Dr. Marcuse (Munich) 93.9%
• Dr. Deutsch (Budapest) 96.7%
• Prof. Duck 90.8 %
• Dr. Rohleder (Enquiry among students) 90.1%
• Dr. Dukes (Enquiry among English students) 90-95%
• Dr. Searley (Enquiry among American students) 85.3%
• Dr. Hirschfeld (Berlin) 96%
• Dr. Desider Hahn (Enquiry among workmen) 96%
• Dr. Brockman (America) (Enquiry among theological students) 99.3 %
• Dr. Young (America): 100%

It is also no exaggeration to say that the first arrived period also inevitably constitutes a minor emotional hurt to the little girl who is kept in unnatural ignorance. A feeling of being unclean, self-disgust, is nearly always connected up with the bad conscience which sees bleeding as punishment for actual masturbation, and “dirty thoughts.” Even at present, the young girl has sufficient knowledge to know that such a direct causal connection does not exist, there is still some vague conviction that bodily uncleanness is caused by spiritual impurity that is generally maintained in the subconscious. The widespread frequency of this attitude and its effects contribute a great deal to sexual misery, especially in conservative or religious cultures. The subject of sex is often to abstain in strict traditional families.

When a young girl questioned her mother about the origin of babies, she was told ‘You don’t need to know. Those are dirty things with which you must not stain the purity of your little soul,’ etc. Anna had no idea that she herself, her mother, and her little brothers owed their existence to those ‘dirty things’ the nature of which remained a mystery for her.

Always closely chaperoned by her governess she never even had an opportunity to discuss the subject with her friends. One day, in the course of a gymnastic lesson, she noticed that climbing up a pole gave her ‘a pleasant sensation’; then she found that she could induce the same sensation by pressing her legs tightly together. She would have mentioned it to her mother, but she vaguely suspected that her discovery was not unconnected with the ‘dirty things.’

One day little Anna woke up and saw bloodstains on her sheets and nightgown. She immediately concluded that she had defiled herself with those dirty things, and fallen ill. God had punished her, and her mother would learn Anna was an abject being. She decided to die, and going to the kitchen, turned on the gas. She was rescued at the last moment after she had already become unconscious.”

“The terror of the uninitiated girl at the sight of this inexplicable hemorrhage is such that she frequently regards it as a punishment for having masturbated and harbored impure thoughts. She often sees no other solution than suicide. Dr. Stekel cites the case of little Anna.

Persistent, recurrent problems with sexual response, desire, orgasm, or pain — that distress you or strain your relationship with your partner — are known medically as sexual dysfunction.

In the past, the socio-cultural requisite that the female dissembles her sexual feelings did not lessen general interest in female sexuality.

The nature of female sexual response has been interpreted innumerable times, with each interpretation proposing a different concept or variation on a concept.

Interestingly, more than 95 percent of these interpretive efforts have been initiated by men, either from the defensive point of view of personal masculine bias or from a well-intentioned and often significant scientific position, but, because of cultural bias, without the opportunity to obtain unprejudiced material.

Even the small numbers of women combining research expertise with their own firsthand awareness of female sexual behavior have been disadvantaged by cultural limitations on the scientific investigation of human sexual response.

Conceptually these women also have shared cultural bias with their male professional peers.

Even though definitive research findings have emerged in the field of sexual behavior, the handicap of cultural bias has so constrained progress that there has been little professional concurrence in a final definition of female sexual function.

There are three apparent reasons for this stalemate in the definition of female psychosexual expression:

1. Until recently there was a failure to develop a directly related body of biophysical information.
2. There has been little interest in the duplication of physiological investigative procedures to validate research findings.
3. There has been little or no effort to incorporate established laboratory findings into the clinical treatment of female sexual dysfunction.

A psychophysiological interpretation of female sexual response must be established and accepted, for it is impossible to consider sexual dysfunction with objectivity unless there is a base for comparison afforded by an acceptable concept of a woman’s sexually functional state.

In an effort to establish such a baseline interpretation, the female sexual response will be contemplated as an entity separate from the male sexual response is not, as might be presumed, because of any vast difference in their natural systems of expression.

Beyond the influence of fortunate variations in reproductive anatomy and their individual patterns of physiological function the sexes are basically similar, not different but because of sex-linked differences that are largely psychosocially induced.

A separate discussion of female sexuality is necessary primarily because the role assigned to the functional component of a woman’s sexual identity rarely has been accorded the socially enforced value afforded male sexuality.

While the parallel between sexes as to physiological function has gained general acceptance, the concept that the male and female also can share almost identical psychosocial requirements for effective sexual functioning brings expected to protest.

Only when a male requests treatment for symptoms of sexual dysfunction, and possible contributing factors are professionally scrutinized in the clinical interest of symptom reversal, are the psychosocial influences noted to be undeniably similar to those factors which affect female responsivity.

Then such factors as selectivity, regard, affection, identity, and pride (to name a few of the heterogeneous variables) are revealed as part of the missing positive or present negative influence or circumstances surrounding the sexual dysfunction.

It is obvious that man has had society’s blessing to build his sexual value system in an appropriate, naturally occurring context and woman has not.

Until unexpected and usually little understood situations influence the onset of male sexual dysfunction, his sexual value system remains essentially subliminal and its influence more presumed than real.

During her formative years, the female dissembles much of her developing functional sexuality in response to societal requirements for a “good girl” facade.

Instead of being taught or allowed to value her sexual feelings in anticipation of an appropriate and meaningful opportunity for expression, thereby developing a realistic sexual value system, she must attempt to repress or remove them from their natural context of environmental stimulation under the implication that they are bad, dirty, etc.

She is allowed to retain the symbolic romanticism which usually accompanies these sexual feelings, but the concomitant sensory development with the symbolism that endows the sexual value system with meaning is arrested or labeled for the wrong reasons, objectionable.

The reality of female sexual function today, aside from its vital role in reproduction, still carries an implication of shame, although such a dishonorable role has been rather difficult to sustain with objectivity.

The arbitrary, social assignment of the role of sin to female sexuality has not contributed to a desirably consistent level of marital harmony. Nor has society always found it easy to eliminate recognition of female sexuality while still supporting and maintaining the male’s role of tacit permission to be sexual with honor, or even praise.

Especially is this true of a society that continues to celebrate events before and after the fact of sexual expression (marriage, birth, etc.), and mourns the female menopause because it is presumed to signify the demise of sexual interest.

PID (Pelvic Inflammatory Disease) is a generic name for any infection of the uterus, tubes, and ovaries. These are normally germ-free. Their position keeps them safe from infection, with added protection from the cervix, and its mildly antiseptic mucus.

The sexual disease is very dangerous once it reaches the cervix because this often starts with a cervical infection that travels to the uterus lining, then to the uterus muscle, then the tubes (salpingitis), the ovaries (oophoritis), and out into the pelvic cavity (peritonitis).

Consider the extent of damage that can occur. These normally germ-free areas, organs, and tissues are now inflamed, swollen with pus and disease. Symptoms include fever, chills, lower abdomen pain, irregular bleeding, spotting, pus-filled discharge from the vagina, and pain during or after intercourse.

The more severe the infection, the worse the pain and other symptoms. About 100,000 women each year become infertile as a result of PID.

Visit the clinic or physician promptly. Therapy is urgently required to reduce the extent of the damage. Hospitalization is necessary for the first PID attack so that antibiotics can be given intravenously (IV).

If the infection is widespread, PID may not respond to antibiotics. Surgery is then required to drain an abscess or pus-filled cavity or to remove infected tissue. One attack of PID gives no immunity against further attacks.

Other causes include miscarriage and abortion. Surgery is required to remove fetal or placental tissue still in the uterus. The infection is associated with intrauterine devices, and the IUD should be removed.

Birthing and endometrial biopsy also open the cervix and increase the risk of PID. Some women are more vulnerable to PID after a period. In others, the risk seems higher after intercourse. It is thought that germs on sperm proteins might be carried through the uterus and out to the pelvic cavity via the tubes, but this is not proven.

The cervix is the last defense against PID. Use barrier methods such as condoms and diaphragms where there is any risk. A significant number of PID cases are due to gonorrhea; keep in mind a partner can be asymptomatic. Chlamydia, which breeds on the cervix and causes PID, can also be asymptomatic. Protect the cervix.

Molluscum Contagiosum: There are two kinds of warts, simple and genital. Both can infect the genitals; it is crucial to recognize the difference. Simple warts are the kind that appears in the hands of children. They are small, dimpled papules, which look like spots with a drop of pearly fluid inside and are highly contagious. They can be transmitted to the genitals by self or partner from warts on the hands and elsewhere. The virus enters the skin through invisible lesions that occur during sexual activity. Warts appear some 30 days after contact. Attacks of simple warts on the genitals are rare, being most likely in the teens and 20 to 30 age group.

If the penis is infected with genital warts, some men try self-therapy. This is not advisable for women. Simple warts can be painful if rubbed, otherwise, a woman is unaware of them. They are not life-threatening, nor do untold damage, but they are highly contagious. Visit the physician or clinic. Therapy varies.

Human Papilloma Virus: HPV is specific to the genital area. It is transmitted by direct sexual contact. Warts appear 3 weeks to 3 months after contact, but the incubation time can be up to 8 months, even more. Warts can be single; usually, they grow in clusters like grapes. With their raised, bumpy tops, they look like miniature cauliflowers. They grow on the labia lips or anus, inside the vagina, or on the cervix. In many cases, they are asymptomatic, and the woman is unaware that she is infected.

The warts are painless, but easily irritated by rubbing, and sometimes they itch. If there has been anal contact, they can grow inside the rectum and around the anus. More rarely with oral contact, they infect the linings of the mouth. If warts breed in colonies on the cervix, the disease may not be detected until a Pap smear is done. Women with HPV have a five times higher risk of cancer of the cervix.

Larger warts, especially on the cervix, maybe vaporized by laser therapy, but it is difficult to know if they have all been destroyed. The healing process takes 6 weeks. Repeat therapy is necessary if they flare up again; avoid losing patience as laser therapy usually works. Other therapies include burning warts off by electric cautery or freezing them with dry ice. The physician then snips them off. External warts can be painted with the drug podophyllin. It takes 3 or 4 weekly treatments for warts to dry up and drop off.

HPV infection is also called condyloma. The prescription drug Condylox has just been made available for home treatment, which means that patients no longer need to have a physician apply the therapy. At least 56 different types of the virus have been identified.