Chapters 4-5 Quizzer

1. It is no secret that sometimes farmers engage in sexual acts with their animals. Given the scenario of a male farmer and a female pig having intercourse, what would the sow experience differently with a man than she would with a male pig? What part of her experience would be similar?

The farmer and male pig have their own ways of engaging in sex. It takes longer for a pig to ejaculate (5 to 15 minutes) than it does for a man (1 to 5 minutes), and the pig’s ejaculate is about 70 times larger in volume than a man’s. A pig’s penis is curled (like its tail) while a man’s penis has only a slight curve. The biggest similarity between the two is their unusual habit of fondling breasts.

2. Do you believe that a female orgasm helps boost fertility rates? Why or why not?

I believe that there are some benefits orgasm has on fertility. Physician Joseph Beck conducted a study where he stimulated a highly sensitive female to the point of orgasm and watched the cervix at that very moment. Beck explains that the cervix made “five or six successive gasps.” The smooth muscle contractions and complexity of the female organ need further research. Humans were made to reproduce efficiently, and if orgasm does not help the chances of reproduction, why would it still be an occurrence within the body?

3. How has the human male’s anatomy evolved to deal with competition from other males?

The penis is designed to scoop out other men’s ejaculate from a woman’s vagina. In a study conducted by the State University of New York at Albany, it was found that 91 percent of competitor semen was scooped out of the vagina when a penis was inserted. A man’s ejaculate also contains spermicide, which is designed to kill other men’s sperm. Men are capable of waging chemical warfare in order to reproduce.

4. Do you think it would be easier to research sex in Leonardo Da Vinci’s time period or in the present? Why?

I think it would be easier to be a sex researcher in the present day. Sex research has always been an underground occurrence, but there is a larger underground society today. With sex toy shops and an increase in sexual education common today, sex research is not as far-fetched as it used to be. Also, studies in sex have come a long way since Da Vinci. Instead of cadavers, researchers now have willing volunteers to observe.