oral sex is followed or bypassed, most sexual encounters ultimately result in penetrative intercourse. Yet just as orgasm, the apex of the sexual pyramid, is far briefer and more acute than its preamble, the penetrative phase of sex is, today, generally much shorter than the pre-sex, wooing and foreplay phase. Did prehistoric humans spend time on foreplay? Although we can have no evidence one way or the other, it would not be unreasonable to surmise that the whole copulatory sequence today is much longer than it was for our most distant ancestors.
But what will almost certainly have been the same then as now is that the length in time of the consummatory phase of intercourse will have been dictated, as it is today, by the amount of thrusting movement it takes before the male reaches orgasm. This can vary from a matter of a few seconds to an hour or more, the latter in the case of highly controlled males using deliberate and quite intellectually demanding delaying strategies; it is usually difficult for penetrative intercourse to proceed immediately after male orgasm, although a degree of tumescence may persist, enabling the male to continue, albeit with some effort and discomfort to him.
At the moment of the male orgasm (which we will deal with first for the very good reason that it often occurs first unless measures are taken to avoid it) the vital functions reach some of their highest peaks outside those attained in moments of extreme danger. Heart rate at the sexual climax can accelerate to 180 and blood pressure a bottom (diastolic) figure as high as 250. Extra heart beats and skipped beats are not uncommon, especially in people who are not in good physical condition. Respiratory rate may increase to 40 per minute. There is facial grimacing and breathing becomes a desperate gasping for air, with a rhythmic moaning or groaning as a counterpoint. The testes withdraw upwards to their maximum elevation.
Erotic sensations travel from the various outposts of erogenous skin to brain at high speed â 156 mph to be precise. As muscle tension and blood-flow to the pelvis approach their peak before dispersing in the final orgasmic reflex, there are spasms in the buttocks, tingling in the fingers and toes, and mounting muscular tension
(myotonia)
in the neck, legs and arms. Most (but not every) male orgasm involves ejaculation, which internally occurs in two stages. During the first stage of emission, seminal fluid is expelled from the vas deferens, seminal vesicles, and prostate gland into the base of the urethra near the prostate. The collecting fluid is felt as a consciousness of imminent ejaculation. Some men can have an orgasm at this point through rubbing the prostate gland.
In the ejaculation stage, the seminal fluid is propelled by the muscular contractions of orgasm into the portion of the urethra within the penis and then expelled from the urethral opening. The mechanism of the ejaculation is a series of powerful muscular contractions from the pubic or pubococcygeal (PC) muscle group that supports the pelvic floor, running from the pubic bone in front to the coccyx, or tailbone at the back, and within the testes and scrotum, then continuing through the epididymis, vas deferens, seminal vesicles, prostate gland, urethra, penis, and anal sphincter. These contractions, a maximum of three or four in number, at 0.8-second intervals, havethe effect of expelling the seminal fluid along the urethra at a speed that has been measured at 28 m.p.h. The initial contractions can be followed by two to four slower âaftershockâ spasms. The length of a male orgasm is typically from 10 to 13 seconds.
Even though friction from the passage through the penis obviously slows sperm down from its 28 m.p.h. starting speed, the initial volley is occasionally, especially when there is a build-up of semen, still fast and powerful enough on exit to project a body of seminal fluid from roughly a fraction of a centimetre to a few
But what will almost certainly have been the same then as now is that the length in time of the consummatory phase of intercourse will have been dictated, as it is today, by the amount of thrusting movement it takes before the male reaches orgasm. This can vary from a matter of a few seconds to an hour or more, the latter in the case of highly controlled males using deliberate and quite intellectually demanding delaying strategies; it is usually difficult for penetrative intercourse to proceed immediately after male orgasm, although a degree of tumescence may persist, enabling the male to continue, albeit with some effort and discomfort to him.
At the moment of the male orgasm (which we will deal with first for the very good reason that it often occurs first unless measures are taken to avoid it) the vital functions reach some of their highest peaks outside those attained in moments of extreme danger. Heart rate at the sexual climax can accelerate to 180 and blood pressure a bottom (diastolic) figure as high as 250. Extra heart beats and skipped beats are not uncommon, especially in people who are not in good physical condition. Respiratory rate may increase to 40 per minute. There is facial grimacing and breathing becomes a desperate gasping for air, with a rhythmic moaning or groaning as a counterpoint. The testes withdraw upwards to their maximum elevation.
Erotic sensations travel from the various outposts of erogenous skin to brain at high speed â 156 mph to be precise. As muscle tension and blood-flow to the pelvis approach their peak before dispersing in the final orgasmic reflex, there are spasms in the buttocks, tingling in the fingers and toes, and mounting muscular tension
(myotonia)
in the neck, legs and arms. Most (but not every) male orgasm involves ejaculation, which internally occurs in two stages. During the first stage of emission, seminal fluid is expelled from the vas deferens, seminal vesicles, and prostate gland into the base of the urethra near the prostate. The collecting fluid is felt as a consciousness of imminent ejaculation. Some men can have an orgasm at this point through rubbing the prostate gland.
In the ejaculation stage, the seminal fluid is propelled by the muscular contractions of orgasm into the portion of the urethra within the penis and then expelled from the urethral opening. The mechanism of the ejaculation is a series of powerful muscular contractions from the pubic or pubococcygeal (PC) muscle group that supports the pelvic floor, running from the pubic bone in front to the coccyx, or tailbone at the back, and within the testes and scrotum, then continuing through the epididymis, vas deferens, seminal vesicles, prostate gland, urethra, penis, and anal sphincter. These contractions, a maximum of three or four in number, at 0.8-second intervals, havethe effect of expelling the seminal fluid along the urethra at a speed that has been measured at 28 m.p.h. The initial contractions can be followed by two to four slower âaftershockâ spasms. The length of a male orgasm is typically from 10 to 13 seconds.
Even though friction from the passage through the penis obviously slows sperm down from its 28 m.p.h. starting speed, the initial volley is occasionally, especially when there is a build-up of semen, still fast and powerful enough on exit to project a body of seminal fluid from roughly a fraction of a centimetre to a few
Similar Books
