Welcome to the first post in a new feature on Of Sex and Love: Science of Sex. In this feature, I plan to discuss the science of sexuality in an easy-to-digest format that’s accessible to the casual reader. I will also follow up with some extended reading material for people who want to know more about the subject of each post.
I hope you enjoy.
We all learned about Pavlov, his dogs and classical conditioning in school. By associating a neutral stimulus (the ringing of a bell) with a desired reward (food), Pavlov was eventually able to condition dogs to salivate at only the sound of the bell, even when there was no food in sight.
Much like food conditioning, sexual conditioning exists. However, many people first stumble across their capacity for conditioning quite by accident. Whether you masturbate to hardcore porn during your formative years and become unable to get off any other way or you realize that you’re physically turned on at the sight of a bright red lipstick that your partner wears specifically for sex, you’ve been conditioned.
Human’s aren’t the only animals capable of sexual conditioning. In fact, humans may be less prone to this type of conditioning than other animals. People who higher sex drives who more easily respond to sexual stimuli are the most likely candidates to become sexually conditioned, whether by accident or design. Most studies focus on men, who may be more likely to become sexually conditioned; however, women can experience it, too.
Upon discovering sexual conditioning, some people like to experiment it. BDSM practitioners sometimes employ sexual condition as it’s especially helpful to force someone to orgasm on command. You can certainly play around with sexual conditioning without being kinky, however.
Attempting to sexually condition someone without their knowledge may cross fall into consensual gray area. And classical conditioning has been used for nefarious purposes: specifically to change a person’s sexual orientation. The process, known as conversion therapy, attempts to change a person’s orientation with stimuli such as electricity or nausea drugs. No reputable studies show that this type of conditioning is successful, and one proponent of conversation therapy who wrote a controversial paper about it has since changed his stance and offered an apology to the gay community.
Finally, PTSD because of past trauma can lead to conditioned behavior in otherwise neutral environments because of fear conditioning. This is one reason why it can be difficult for survivors of assault to engage intimate behavior after the assault.
Fortunately, negative conditioning and fear conditioning may be reversed through a process known as counter-conditioning.
Although classic conditioning used for sexual purposes is possible and can be fun, we must address the ethical implications as well as the limitations of sexual conditioning.
Further reading on conditioning and sexuality:
- Fear Conditioning and PSTD
- Classical Conditioning: Sex & You
- Field conditioning of sexual arousal in humans
- Counter-Conditioning a Distressing Sexual Response
- Spitzer Reassesses His 2003 Study of Reparative Therapy of Homosexuality
Did you enjoy the first installing of Science of Sex? Do you have further questions or suggestions for next month’s subject? Leave me a comment!
I really enjoyed this article! It’s so interesting to see how the concept of conditioning affects our personal lives and the way we navigate the world, in many different ways, especially during sex. Recently I started keeping a masturbation journal to look for patterns in my fantasies and things like what time of day I usually masturbate, or what toys I use. I’ve been doing this for almost two months now and the biggest realisation that’s come from it has been that I generally only masturbate before sleep or taking a nap. To the point where I can’t lay in bed relaxing without feeling like I want to/should masturbate. And sometimes I masturbate out of habit, not desire, before going to sleep – it’s like I’ve conditioned myself to expect that I need the endorphins from masturbation to help me sleep. I haven’t reached any conclusions about this yet, but found it a fascinating one to learn about myself.
That very well could be. I lack a routine enough to have conditioned myself (or to track things, d’oh!).