4.5: Sexual Arousal and Response
Understanding the biological responses to arousal studied by famous sex researchers, Kinsey and those at the Kinsey Institute, as well as Master’s and Johnson, provide important information into the ways in which our bodies behave when sexually stimulated. While these observations help us in an overall understanding of human sexuality, left alone they do not answer some of the other questions that help us understand pleasure, and why it is we may all find pleasure very differently. As an interdisciplinary examination of the phenomena of human sexuality, this chapter seeks to connect these bodily responses with socio-cultural understandings. Gendered differences of sexual responses, differences in race, class, or orientation, all may play a part into why we find things pleasurable.
While the following section is mainly descriptive regarding the physiological changes the body undergoes when aroused, it is not meant to override the role good communication, consent, and desire play into how you are feeling about what you want and don’t want.
Blood flow to the genitals is response to sex-related stimuli ( learning ), which is not the same thing as liking or wanting , much less consent. The best way to tell if someone is aroused is not to notice what their genitals are doing, but to listen to their words (Nagoski, 2015,pp 236-237) .
As Nagoski stated above, listening to what is being communicated is the best way to know what is arousing. Culture has constrained sexual enjoyment, especially for people who have vulvas and it is important to communicate openly about what you want to have happen in any sexual encounter both with yourself and with those who you engage with sexually. It is also important to point out that much of this research on arousal and response centers around Penis in Vagina (PIV) sex, with climax being the measurable outcome. While PIV sex to orgasm is one way to experience sexuality, it is important to note that sexual fulfillment and practices reach far beyond this one sex act. Despite this fact, much of our foundational data on sexual response and arousal has been based on PIV sex in pursuit of orgasm.