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GEE 2 - Gender & Society Authors: Atty. Eric Paul D. Peralta Et. Al

This document discusses how the five human senses - sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch - contribute to human sexuality and sexual response. It explains that while humans are often thought of as rational beings, emotions and feelings played a larger role in behavior according to the affective primacy hypothesis. The senses of sight, smell, touch, and hearing are then explored in more detail in the context of sexuality, noting for example that humans are predominantly visual and touch is an important aspect of intimacy.

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Rexson Taguba
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6K views

GEE 2 - Gender & Society Authors: Atty. Eric Paul D. Peralta Et. Al

This document discusses how the five human senses - sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch - contribute to human sexuality and sexual response. It explains that while humans are often thought of as rational beings, emotions and feelings played a larger role in behavior according to the affective primacy hypothesis. The senses of sight, smell, touch, and hearing are then explored in more detail in the context of sexuality, noting for example that humans are predominantly visual and touch is an important aspect of intimacy.

Uploaded by

Rexson Taguba
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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GEE 2 – Gender & Society

Authors: Atty. Eric Paul D. Peralta et. al.

LESSON 10 – Sex and Senses

Lesson Objectives:

When you finish reading this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Discuss the human senses in the context of sexual response; and


2. Show appreciation of how the sensorium contributes to our experience of human sexuality.

Introduction

When we were children, we were taught there are five bodily organs, which corresponds to our primary
senses, which we use to explore and experience the world around us.

Eyes – sense of sight (visual)

Nose – sense of smell (olfaction)

Ears – sense of hearing

Tongue – sense of taste (gustation)

Skin, Muscles, and Joints – sense of touch/feeling

These five senses comprise our sensorium – the totality of our sensory experiences and perception. While we
receive information from our environment through the senses, our brain has the ability to organize and interpret
these numerous stimuli into meaningful ideas that are useful for our choices (behavior).

HUMAN AFFECT AND THE SENSES

Interestingly, while human beings are hailed as rational beings who are constantly making choices and are
behaving through a set of rational choices made from higher order thinking (e.g., evaluating, judging), it is
hypothesized that our affect (emotions and feelings)actually play a major role in our behaviors.

Figure. The Human Limbic System

Affective Primacy Hypothesis (Zajonc


1980) postulates that in many cases, cognitive
processing (i.e., higher order thinking) plays a
lesser role compared to our emotional
responses in eliciting behavior. By virtue of
this hypothesis, by default, our emotions take
precedent primarily because these are only
processed and modulated by the limbic
system – the emotional part of our brain
which is more primitive compared to the ones
responsible for higher order thinking.

As part of our mechanisms for evolution,


humans like us have three primary emotional responses: fight, flight, or freeze.

1. A fight response is when we face adverse or dangerous stimuli squarely.


2. A flight response is when we move away from the adverse or dangerous stimuli.
3. A freeze response, on the other hand, is when you are startled and are unable to make a choice, thus, are
unable to move.

SENSES and SEXUALITY


REXSON D. TAGUBA, LPT
Guro sa Filipino
GEE 2 – Gender & Society
Authors: Atty. Eric Paul D. Peralta et. al.

Having provided an overview on how affect, the sensorium, and the brain’s limbic system coordinate, we are
now ready to discuss how the various senses play in the human sexual response.

Virtual Experience

Humans are predominantly visual. Our societies highly rely on visual culture to co-create meaning and
convey information.

In the context of human sexuality, some studies have explored gender differences in visual stimuli and sexual
arousal.

Olfactory Experience

Olfaction in non-human animals, which are believed to be microsmatic organism, or organisms having
greater sense of smell, have been an interest among psychologists since the 1950s. Conversely, humans and
apes are generally believed to be microsmatic (lesser levels of olfaction) compared to their non-ape
counterparts. However, recent studies in the field of human sexuality show that while we humans have limited
olfaction, sense of smell may play an important part in our sexual response.

For instance, in a study by Muscarella, Arantes, and Koncsol (2011) explored on the preferred scent among
heterosexual and homosexual males and females.

The study found that heterosexual females who participated in their study tend to like wearing floral-sweet but
want musky-spicy scent to be worn by their parents.

Heterosexual males and homosexual females in their study preferred musky-spicy scent and liked their
partners to wear floral-sweet scent. On the other hand, homosexual males who joined the study wanted musky-
spicy for themselves and their partner.

Scientists have tried to explain how human olfaction influence sexuality. They identified through possibilities:

1. Through what is referred to as signature odor (the unique way that each individuals smells) which is
associated with the Major Histocompatability Complex, a set of proteins signaling our immune system
the presence of foreign substances.
2. Through what is referred to as pheromones, substances putatively excreted by our glands which signals
mood and affects social behaviors.

Humans’ interest in pheromones, on the other hand, has been present since the early 1930s when an
entomologist Bethe (1932) suggested that there are hormones emitted outwards the body. These are called
ectohormones.

Tactile Experiences

Touch is observed to be an element of intimacy. Our body is covered in skin, often referred to as the largest
bodily organ. Our skin totally accounts for 16 to 20% of our body weight. It is a sensitive organ as every square
inch of it houses more than a thousand nerve endings.

As a sensation, touch has some elements.

Tactile element pertains to the experience relative to the object being felt: Is it rough? Is it smooth? Is the
surface hard or soft?

Thermal element: Is it warm or cold?

Finally, there is vibrational element: Is the pressure of the touch strong or weak? Is the sensation moving and
pulsating or steady and stationary?
REXSON D. TAGUBA, LPT
Guro sa Filipino
GEE 2 – Gender & Society
Authors: Atty. Eric Paul D. Peralta et. al.

Different parts of the human body also have different threshold of tactile experience.

PRIMARY EROGENOUS ZONES – areas such as the mouth, anus, genitals, and nipples.

- As they are very sensitive to touch.

SECONDARY EROGENOUS ZONES – the back, cheek, neck, and buttocks.

- As they also sensitive to touch, but only supportive of the primary


zones in eliciting response.

Human touch is essential in social bonds. Often, we only give people we trust the right to have tactile contact
with us. It is always a consensual act to touch and be touched. When we touch, our body produces a hormone
called oxytocin.

OXYTOCIN – it is referred to as the love hormone because it is believed to influence tribal behaviors and
maternal bonding.

– is observed to be produced in vast amounts during nipple stimulation, such as for instance when
a mother suckles her newly-born.

In intimate relationships, touch is suggested to be one of the love languages. A person whose love language is
touch tend to give and receive tactile stimulation to and from others through holding, hugging, and other forms
of physical connections.

Auditory Experience

Social interactions are not only visual, but are also auditory processes. Our human language often have a
verbal counterpart to the written language. In fact, historically, much of our culture are passed on through oral
traditions, even before the writing system was developed.

REXSON D. TAGUBA, LPT


Guro sa Filipino

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