Power and Orgasms, two links

First off, two excellent links:

Amp at Alas, A Blog has a terrific post up on sexual attraction and power; he's got 111 comments (as of this morning), many of them very thoughtful indeed.

I wish I had had access to this post from Lauren on the female orgasm to use in the very friendly debate I -- and others -- had with Camassia over sexuality and reproductivity.  Lauren's post was inspired by a new book by Dr. Elisabeth Lloyd  of Indiana Bloomington: The Case of the Female Orgasm: Bias in the Science of Evolution.  Lloyd's book (reviewed in today's New York Times) suggests that we've been wrong to believe that the female orgasm has an evolutionary or reproductive function.  (She apparently demolishes all the old theories, such as the one that suggests that orgasmic contractions help propel sperm towards the egg.) The Times review:

(Dr. Lloyd believes) female orgasms are simply artifacts - a byproduct of the parallel development of male and female embryos in the first eight or nine weeks of life.

In that early period, the nerve and tissue pathways are laid down for various reflexes, including the orgasm, Dr. Lloyd said. As development progresses, male hormones saturate the embryo, and sexuality is defined.

In boys, the penis develops, along with the potential to have orgasms and ejaculate, while "females get the nerve pathways for orgasm by initially having the same body plan."

Nipples in men are similarly vestigial, Dr. Lloyd pointed out.

While nipples in woman serve a purpose, male nipples appear to be simply left over from the initial stage of embryonic development.

The female orgasm, she said, "is for fun."

I'll have to read the whole thing, but as someone who is always uncomfortable with using "arguments from design" in discussions about sexual ethics, Dr. Lloyd's book sounds promising. 

But now that she's got me thinking about it, those who reject evolution and embrace design have some 'splainin to do about the male nipple.  And frankly, I could do without my nipples.  I had them pierced for many years, and though the piercings came out more than five years ago, my nipples are still scarred.  I enjoyed shocking people with them, but can't say they gave me much delight, especially as a marathoner. I can't tell you how often I've had bloody nipples on long runs.  Thank God for these.

Comments

[Kat]

I may pass along your nipple piercing experience to a friend of mine who is thinking about doing it. Personally, the thought make me nauseous.

[Stentor]

I don't think male nipples present any major challenge to reasonable design arguments. They're *developmental* vestiges, not evolutionary vestiges. It's quite plausible that the easiest way to code for nipples in females had, as a side effect due to where it's placed in the DNA, creating nipples in males.

(Note that I say all of this as someone who completely rejects ID)

[Hugo]

Good point, Stentor; that's a distinction (developmental versus evolutionary) that I ignored in my ignorance.

[Mr. Bad]

I also agree with Stentor - nipples in males to me seem akin to the appendix in the GI tract or the coccyx - developmental vestiges.

BTW, FYI, similarly to the way that women having vestigial penises (i.e., the clitoris, with all the attendant cavernous erectile tissue), men have a vestigial uteris, I believe called the prostatic colliculus (if I remember my developmental and gross anatomy properly). It's a little dimple in the urethra located in the section that passes through the prostate gland.

But Hugo, how does one have a nipple piercing reversed? Is it cauterized? That sounds more troublesome than just leaving the piercing alone and foregoing placing rings or other objects through it.

[Hugo]

No, you don't reverse a piercing. I just took them out. They were a modest "gauge", but they still left tiny holes that have scarred.

[Amanda]

Get a piercing reversed? It's not a sex change. Granted, you always have a small scar where it was but no big. Unless of course you get it pierced again--I had a nose pierced through scar tissue and BLOOD EVERYWHERE.