{"id":132798,"date":"2021-11-15T16:04:38","date_gmt":"2021-11-15T15:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=132798"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:25:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:25:59","slug":"sex-is-like-a-cheese-bun-sometimes-you-want-one-and-sometimes-you-dont","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2021\/11\/15\/sex-is-like-a-cheese-bun-sometimes-you-want-one-and-sometimes-you-dont\/","title":{"rendered":"Sex is like a cheese bun. Sometimes you want one, and sometimes you don\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"

What prompts us to have sex? That was the main question to be answered in the lunch-time lecture presented at the Erasmus MC on Wednesday by Janniko Georgiadis, a neuroscientist affiliated with the Groningen Academic Medical Centre (UMCG). The lecture was organised by Studium Generale.<\/p>\n

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Georgiadis\u2019s studies have shown how the brain converts sexual stimuli into bodily effects, and vice versa. \u201cWe wish to contemplate how brain\/body interactions work during sex. I believe that will teach us much about sex, without limiting us to the prejudices we currently have with regard to the subject.\u201d
\nFirst, Georgiadis showed why it is important that the brain be involved during sex. \u201cWhenever someone receives stimuli, a connection is being established between the emotional and physiological centres of the brain, and that connection dissolves when there are no longer any stimuli.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having sex in a scanner<\/h2>

But how does he know this? Well, it took some special experiments. The audience, which mostly consisted of medical students, listened admiringly when Georgiadis explained how he conducted the tests. \u201cWe put men in a scanner with a small device around their penis. Their partners then stimulated their penises with their hands in the scanner and stopped whenever we asked them to. At the same time we were scanning the men\u2019s brains to check where circulation increased or decreased. After a while we would allow them to come,\u201d the neuroscientist explained.<\/p>\n

Extremely sensitive <\/h2>

In a later study, Georgiadis discovered that sexual arousal can be measured in people\u2019s breath even without physical stimulation. \u201cThis showed us that body and mind are one. Sex does not take place in one particular part of the body. The whole body is involved.\u201d
\nGeorgiadis said that studies demonstrate that our brains respond to sexual stimuli, even when we are not aware of them. \u201cWe are extremely sensitive to sexual stimuli, particularly when they\u2019re physical. This sensitivity can be modulated by making more or less dopamine available in the brain. In other words, sex uses our brain\u2019s reward system.\u201d In some animals, the purpose of sex appears to be reproduction rather than pleasure. \u201cCats are driven to have sex at certain times by pheromones, but the female does not ovulate until the male has ejaculated inside her several times,\u201d Georgiadis said.<\/p>\n

Reproduction is a side-effect of sex<\/h2>

However, in many animals, and in humans as well, there is a different relationship between sex and reproduction. The experience of sex and the context in which it happens are important to the development of sexual behaviour. \u201cMany of our sexual acts and preferences are not geared towards reproduction and may even play a more significant role than the need to procreate. So reproduction is a side-effect of sex.\u201d
\nGeorgiadis believes it is not a good idea to view sex as something that serves merely to reproduce. \u201cOf course, the ultimate effect of sex may be procreation, but if you disconnect the signals in your brain from reproduction, you may find that you have more sexual preferences than just the one act that results in procreation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cheese bun<\/h2>

Georgiadis said that sex should be viewed as behaviour that is driven by pleasure. In that way, it\u2019s comparable to a nice meal, he explained, drawing a parallel with the buns with which the lunch-time lecture attendees were presented free of charge. \u201cYou see a cheese bun, and if you don\u2019t feel like it, you won\u2019t take one. If you do feel like it, you\u2019ll take a bite. At some point you\u2019ll have had your fill of it. And if you didn\u2019t really like the cheese bun all that much, you may opt for a different type of bun the next time round.\u201d
\nIn other words, our preferences may evolve, and we can learn from every experience. Moreover, we can distinguish between the yearning for sex and the experience of sex. \u201cJust like waiting in line for a bun is different from actually eating the bun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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