College 1 - introduction ‘sexology’
Objectives/learning goals
understand and explain:
● theoretical models of human sexuality
● sexual development process
● different sexual dysfunctions
● treatment(s) indicated for sex
Taxonomy → way of describing species
if two individuals can get offspring → same species
can’t get → different species
antrophormism → je kent menselijke eigenschappen toe aan dieren
What is sex?
sex → the sex act
{ sexual intercourse?}
sex exists by virtue of social agreement: there is room for interpretation: there are no true (or
only few) boundaries
sex → biological? sex: or male [46, XY +], or female [46, XX +] or intersex [eg, 46, XXY]
[taxonomy?]
intersex → i in LGBTQIA
Gender → the roles of cis- and trans-, or any gender that are constructed in a society
Sexuality → sexual feelings, thoughts, attractions, and behaviors towards other [ourselves,
objects, …]
Sexual behavior → behavior that produces arousal and increases the change of an orgasm
Sexual identity → how one defines themselves with regard to sexual / romantic interests
(e.g. straight, gay, lesbian, bi, a, pan)
Sexual orientation → what one actually does and like (and not what one says)
Sexual health → the ability to sexually adapt and self-manage in the face of life’s physical,
psychological and social challenges
sexual rights → basic inalienable rights regarding sexuality e.g. the right to reproductive
self-determination, sexual self expression, and freedom of sexual violence
,Sexology
the scientific study of human sexuality
incl. sexual identity and interests, development, behaviors and functions
* from a bio-psycho-social perspective
science - age at first coitus was ‘self-reported’
men think more about sex than women
sex is important!
progeny/offspring
pleasure, bonding
facultative parento genesis → female can reproduce without sex (sharks)
sexual reproduction advantages:
- causes variation (uniqueness), allows changing environments
- offspring care (attention of both)
most people have sex for pleasure
→ bonding (you bond through sex)
- physical exercise, self-esteem, good against boredom…
Sex is also business…
most of sex workers are female (FSW)
most of them relatively young (13-25 years) → young body’s are way more attractive to have
sex with
these end to regulate (your) sexuality…. and they may be/are biased (or focused on a single
aspect or optimizing a certain parameter
1. innate/own experience
2. mom/dad, friends,...
3. school, religion, government
4. media, the internet
5. health care professionals, science
6. other…
monkey pox/mpox
not a sexually transmitted disease
regulate sexuality
- diseases
- regulate population sizes
heteronormativity biased → more focused on (in for example the media)
,culture: a part of the environment created by humans, including the set of meanings that
people adopt: the boundaries of behavior (and thought)
Ethnocentrism: viewing the own behavioral patterns as the only - or at least the best one -
one in existence
,College 2 - sexological male anatomy & physiology
Sexual activity: a predictor of general health and longevity
- physical health is significantly correlated with sexual activity and many aspects of
sexual function, irrespective of age
- sexual activity is inversely related to mortality: in one cohort study, mortality risk was
50% lower in men with high frequency of orgasm than in man with low frequency of
orgasm
psycho-neuro-endo-hemo(vasculair) dynamics
,most important sexual organ → the brain
biggest sexual organ → the skin
Sexual development
Gonads can become either Testes or Ovaries
- develop as a function of the presence or absence of SRY gene
- SRY → Testes, otherwise Ovaries
- in males, at 7th week, outer portions of gonads degenerate and inner portions
develop into testes
- in females, at 11th week, inner portions of gonads degenerate and outer portions
develop into ovaries
Gonads become testes in males
testes - endocrine glands that produce
- male hormones (androgens)
- mullerian inhibiting substance (MIS)
most changes effect reflect the presence or absence of androgen
female development is the default
‘nature’s impulse is to create a female’
external sex organs:
- penus and scrotum in males
- labia, clitoris and outer vagina en females
when you can see male/female → around 16 weeks
Puberty - development of secondary sex characteristics
puberty occurs when hypothalamus begins to secrete gonadotropin-releasing hormones
(GnRH) causing pituitary to release
- follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)
- luteinizing hormone (LH)
in males, these hormones stimulate testes to produce sperms and secrete testosterone
in (androgens)
in females, they stimulate the ovaries to produce estradiol (estrogens)
, Sexuality and the brain
Limbic system: important for controlling behavior for survival (eating, emotions, fighting,
flight, reproduction)
hypothalamus: important for several things, such as hunger and thirst, circadian rhythm
and sex
genital reaction:
core regions in the hypothalamus project directly or via core regions in the brainstem into
autonomic neurons in the spinal cord
Neurobiology of sexual drive & function
- software: the role of hormones, neuromodulators and neurotransmitters
- hardware: how neurons and neuronal networks process and modulate sexual
responses
hypothalamus controls autonomic and endocrine output with different core regions
Objectives/learning goals
understand and explain:
● theoretical models of human sexuality
● sexual development process
● different sexual dysfunctions
● treatment(s) indicated for sex
Taxonomy → way of describing species
if two individuals can get offspring → same species
can’t get → different species
antrophormism → je kent menselijke eigenschappen toe aan dieren
What is sex?
sex → the sex act
{ sexual intercourse?}
sex exists by virtue of social agreement: there is room for interpretation: there are no true (or
only few) boundaries
sex → biological? sex: or male [46, XY +], or female [46, XX +] or intersex [eg, 46, XXY]
[taxonomy?]
intersex → i in LGBTQIA
Gender → the roles of cis- and trans-, or any gender that are constructed in a society
Sexuality → sexual feelings, thoughts, attractions, and behaviors towards other [ourselves,
objects, …]
Sexual behavior → behavior that produces arousal and increases the change of an orgasm
Sexual identity → how one defines themselves with regard to sexual / romantic interests
(e.g. straight, gay, lesbian, bi, a, pan)
Sexual orientation → what one actually does and like (and not what one says)
Sexual health → the ability to sexually adapt and self-manage in the face of life’s physical,
psychological and social challenges
sexual rights → basic inalienable rights regarding sexuality e.g. the right to reproductive
self-determination, sexual self expression, and freedom of sexual violence
,Sexology
the scientific study of human sexuality
incl. sexual identity and interests, development, behaviors and functions
* from a bio-psycho-social perspective
science - age at first coitus was ‘self-reported’
men think more about sex than women
sex is important!
progeny/offspring
pleasure, bonding
facultative parento genesis → female can reproduce without sex (sharks)
sexual reproduction advantages:
- causes variation (uniqueness), allows changing environments
- offspring care (attention of both)
most people have sex for pleasure
→ bonding (you bond through sex)
- physical exercise, self-esteem, good against boredom…
Sex is also business…
most of sex workers are female (FSW)
most of them relatively young (13-25 years) → young body’s are way more attractive to have
sex with
these end to regulate (your) sexuality…. and they may be/are biased (or focused on a single
aspect or optimizing a certain parameter
1. innate/own experience
2. mom/dad, friends,...
3. school, religion, government
4. media, the internet
5. health care professionals, science
6. other…
monkey pox/mpox
not a sexually transmitted disease
regulate sexuality
- diseases
- regulate population sizes
heteronormativity biased → more focused on (in for example the media)
,culture: a part of the environment created by humans, including the set of meanings that
people adopt: the boundaries of behavior (and thought)
Ethnocentrism: viewing the own behavioral patterns as the only - or at least the best one -
one in existence
,College 2 - sexological male anatomy & physiology
Sexual activity: a predictor of general health and longevity
- physical health is significantly correlated with sexual activity and many aspects of
sexual function, irrespective of age
- sexual activity is inversely related to mortality: in one cohort study, mortality risk was
50% lower in men with high frequency of orgasm than in man with low frequency of
orgasm
psycho-neuro-endo-hemo(vasculair) dynamics
,most important sexual organ → the brain
biggest sexual organ → the skin
Sexual development
Gonads can become either Testes or Ovaries
- develop as a function of the presence or absence of SRY gene
- SRY → Testes, otherwise Ovaries
- in males, at 7th week, outer portions of gonads degenerate and inner portions
develop into testes
- in females, at 11th week, inner portions of gonads degenerate and outer portions
develop into ovaries
Gonads become testes in males
testes - endocrine glands that produce
- male hormones (androgens)
- mullerian inhibiting substance (MIS)
most changes effect reflect the presence or absence of androgen
female development is the default
‘nature’s impulse is to create a female’
external sex organs:
- penus and scrotum in males
- labia, clitoris and outer vagina en females
when you can see male/female → around 16 weeks
Puberty - development of secondary sex characteristics
puberty occurs when hypothalamus begins to secrete gonadotropin-releasing hormones
(GnRH) causing pituitary to release
- follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)
- luteinizing hormone (LH)
in males, these hormones stimulate testes to produce sperms and secrete testosterone
in (androgens)
in females, they stimulate the ovaries to produce estradiol (estrogens)
, Sexuality and the brain
Limbic system: important for controlling behavior for survival (eating, emotions, fighting,
flight, reproduction)
hypothalamus: important for several things, such as hunger and thirst, circadian rhythm
and sex
genital reaction:
core regions in the hypothalamus project directly or via core regions in the brainstem into
autonomic neurons in the spinal cord
Neurobiology of sexual drive & function
- software: the role of hormones, neuromodulators and neurotransmitters
- hardware: how neurons and neuronal networks process and modulate sexual
responses
hypothalamus controls autonomic and endocrine output with different core regions
