Hormones determine the sexual arousal

Sex hormones crucial to the response to sexual stimuli

07/11/2014

Crucial to the sexual behavior or sexual arousal of men is not the Y chromosome, but the release of sex hormones, reports the Austrian daily „courier“ citing a study by researchers from Emory Health Sciences. The differential response of men and women to sexual images is largely conditioned by the androgens.

In their study, the researchers compared the neuronal responses of men and women to sexual stimuli with those of women who have an X and a Y chromosome rather than two X chromosomes due to a genetic aberration, says the Austrian daily. It has been shown that there is obviously no connection between the Y chromosome and sexual arousal. The different reaction of men and women to sexual stimuli is rather due to sex hormones.

Influence of the Y chromosome on sexual arousal
To examine the influence of the Y chromosome on sexual behavior, scientists not only studied the response of ordinary men and women, but they also took women with a so-called „complete androgen resistance“ (CAIS) in the study. These women show the male sex chromosomes, but externally develop a female body. However, they are missing the uterus. In her blood circulate - as in men - androgens (for example, testosterone). These unfold according to the information provided by the „courier“ but not their effect, since the required receptors are defective. The researcher Stephan Hamann of the Austrian daily newspaper quotes the different effects of sexual stimuli on men and women by saying that „Men in two areas of the brain have much more activity than women - in the amygdala involved in emotion and motivation, and in the hypothalamus involved in hormone regulation and perhaps sexual behavior.“

Although they have a Y chromosome like men, the women with CAIS showed the same response to sexual stimuli as the other women. „We found no difference in the neuronal responses of women with CAIS and typical women, although both were very different from those of the men in the study“, he quotes „courier“ Stephan Hamann. This not only confirms that women with complete androgen resistance are externally and psychologically typical women, but also supports the theory that androgens are the key to explaining deviant male sexual arousal. (Fp)

Picture: Jörg Brinckheger