During the service, the pastor asked if anyone in the congregation would like to express thanks for prayers which had been answered.

A lady stood up and came forward.

She said, "I have a reason to thank the Lord. Two months ago, my husband, Jim, had a terrible bicycle wreck and his scrotum was completely crushed. The pain was excruciating and the doctors didn't know if they could help him."

You could hear an audible gasp from the men in the congregation as they imagined the pain that poor Jim experienced.

She continued, "Jim was unable to hold me or the children and every move caused him terrible pain. We prayed as the doctors performed a delicate operation. They were able to piece together the crushed remnants of Jim's scrotum and wrap wire around it to hold it in place."

Again, the men in the Congregation squirmed uncomfortably as they imagined the horrible surgery performed on Jim.

She continued, "Now, Jim is out of the hospital and the doctor's say, with time, his scrotum should recover completely."

All the men sighed with relief.

The pastor rose and tentatively asked if any one else had anything to say.

A man rose and walked slowly to the podium.

He said, "Hi, I'm Jim and I would like to tell my wife, the word is 'sternum.' "

UNIB30004Sex:

Science and the Community

Sex and the sciences

Geoff ShawDepartment of Zoology

from Encyclopaedia of sex practice, 2nd Ed. (1952) Ed. Norman Haire. Encyclopaedic Press Ltd.

Sex and the sciences

• the scientific approach• science provides knowledge

– anatomy and physiology• scientific knowledge is incomplete• science in the community

– educators– politics, policy

The scientific approachIterative, experimental approach

Experiments cannot show a hypothesis is true, but can show it to be false

1. what do we know already?

2. what questions arise from this ? hypothesis

3. how can we test this experimentally?

4. results show hypothesis wrong add this new knowledge and start at 1

5. results consistent with hypothesis? design a more refined, independent experiment and repeat from 3 *

* after many experiments you might start to believe the hypothesis is close to the truth.

tendency to produce a mechanistic view of the world

Da Vinci – anatomy of the placenta

– based on the cow.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Coition_of_a_Hemisected_Man_and_Woman.jpg

drawing based on limited anatomical knowledge and a lot of guesswork, but it showsLeonardo’s inquiry into how things work and represents some hypotheses

Andreas Vesalius 1514-1564. Anatomy based on dissected humans – accurate -- but functions of the structures ???

Alfred Kinsey• Pioneer of sexology –systematic study of human sexuality• interest in what people did not the morality of what they did• questionnaires, interviews (300-500 questions; several hours)

• criticism of methodology– selection of subjects– reliability of data– morality

Interesting readings *http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kinsey/sfeature/sf_survey.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinsey_Reports

“He wouldn't say, 'have you ever done so-and-so?', he'd say, 'how often do you do so-and-so?'. Which I think was very clever ...”

Pat Sheffield, Kinsey Interviewee*

“People revealed things about themselves that certainly nobody else even knew, not even their wives or husbands or parents or brothers or sisters.”

Alice Ginott Cohn, Kinsey interviewee*

Masters & Johnson• pioneered research into human

sexual response 1957 to 1990s• 1957-1965 – direct laboratory observation:

– physiology and psychology– 382 women and 312 men – "10,000 complete cycles of sexual response.“

• dispelled many long-standing misconceptions• controversy over their findings

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masters_and_johnson

Masters, W.H.; Johnson, V.E. (1966). Human Sexual Response. Toronto; New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 0-553-20429-7.

Masters, W.H.; Johnson, V.E. (1970). Human Sexual Inadequacy. Toronto; New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 0-553-20699-0.

Tim

e M

agazine M

ay 25, 19

70

Science provides knowledge

• Evolution• Anatomy• Physiology

Sex has evolved

• Charles Darwin sexual selection (1859)– Selection for traits that increase

reproductive success– Selection for anatomy, physiology,

behaviour ...– Applies to all living things, including

humans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_selectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_selection_in_human_evolution

Male Anatomy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_reproductive_system_(human)

Role of the testis• makes sperm

• makes hormones Testosterone– in fetus promotes male differentiation– promote spermatogenesis– stimulate prostate, seminal vesicles

and other accessory sex organs– beard growth / baldness– male body form

(anabolic steroids)

• controlled by pituitary gland– FSH spermatogenesis– LH steroidogenesis

Semen• sperm fertility• from puberty to death• 200-500 million sperm per ejaculate

(<1% of volume)• ~5% of men < 20 million sperm• bulk from seminal vesicle (70%) and

prostate (30%)

Sperm• midpiece powers tail (motility)• acrosome digests coverings round egg• nucleus has DNA (genes)

Female Anatomy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_reproductive_system_(human)

• egg production• hormones

- oestrogen- progesterone

• menstruation• implantation• embryo

development

• transport of sperm and eggs

• fertilization• cleavage stages

clitoris

vestibuleurethral opening

vaginal opening

labia minora

labia majora

Gray’s Anatomy

Ovaries and eggs• fixed number of eggs• trickle of eggs start to

develop through repro life• menopause (no eggs left)

• brain pituitary– FSH– LH

Human sexual responseFemale• erection of nipples• vaginal lubrication• vasocongestion of vaginal

walls• tumescence and erection of

clitoris and labia• elevation of cervix and

uterus and expansion of back of vagina

• orgasmic contractions of vaginal and associated muscles

Male• erection of nipples• lubrication of penis• penile tumescence and

erection• swelling of testes• retraction of cremaster

muscle• orgasmic contractions –

emission of semen

multiple?orgasm

plateau

excitement

resolution

Masters & Johnson

• Responses to tactile, visual, auditory, olfactory signals strongly influenced by brain

• Most of the physiological sexual response is autonomic (ie not under voluntary control)

Human sexual response

Rudolph Nureyev and Margot Fontaine

Sex and oxytocin• oxytocin: peptide, brain hormone• promotes uterine contractions at birth• promotes maternal bonding• promotes milk release

• released by sexual stimulation/orgasm

• promotes pair bonding.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19826561.900-cuddle-chemical-could-treat-mental-illness.html?full=true

scientific knowledge is incomplete

Female

Male

monogamoussocially

DNA paternity evidence>50% chicks sired by another male

Scientific knowledge is incompleteExample: new studies of the clitoris by a Melbourne urologist Helen O’Connell and colleagues

figure fromGray’s Anatomya classic medical text

Helen O’Connell

Anatomy of the clitoris

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15921455.500-the-truth-about-women.html

O'Connell first realised just how little was known about female sexual anatomy when she was studying for her surgical exams in the late 1980s. Even nowadays, she says, textbooks routinely recycle decades-old, inaccurate illustrations of female sex organs, or omit diagrams altogether. The written accounts can also lack a certain something. One text describes female genitalia as the same as the guys` only turned inside out; another, as the "poor homologue" of the male.

Clitoral anatomy in nulliparous, healthy, premenopausal volunteers using unenhanced magnetic resonance imaging. O'Connell HE, DeLancey JO. J Urol. 2005 Jun;173:2060-3.

1998 – “CONCLUSIONS: A series of detailed dissections suggest that current anatomical descriptions of female human urethral and genital anatomy are inaccurate. “

Anatomical relationship between urethra and clitoris. O'Connell HE, Hutson JM, Anderson CR,Plenter RJ. J Urol. 1998 Jun;159(6):1892-7.

2005 – MRI imaging of women: the clitoris in life is even more extensive than was revealed by dissections

science in the community

The Warnock Report• 1982-1984 (first IVF birth was in 1979)• Committee: chaired by a philosopher,

members included medical, psychology & psychiatry, theology, social workers, legal, administrators, and … one scientist.

… but they did get lots of submissions from scientists that helped them reach their conclusions.

http://www.hfea.gov.uk/2068.html

“…There was a sense that events were moving too fast for their implications to be assimilated. Society's views on the new techniques were divided between pride in the technological achievement, pleasure at the new-found means to relieve, at least for some, the unhappiness of infertility, and unease at the apparently uncontrolled advance of science, bringing with it new possibilities for manipulating the early stages of human development…”

“… We recognised that within society there is a multiplicity of views …”

“…We found it convenient to divide our task into two parts. The first concerned processes designed to benefit the individual within society who faced a particular problem, namely infertility; the second concerned the pursuit of knowledge, much of it designed to benefit society at large rather than the individual. …”

“… legislation should provide that research may be carried out on any embryo resulting from in vitro fertilisation,whatever its provenance, up to the end of the fourteenth day after fertilisation, but subject to all other restrictions as may be imposed by the licensing body.”

Although the Warnock report concluded that research should be allowed, it imposed substantial regulatory burdens and limitations.

Would IVF have ‘got off the ground’ in the 1970s if the Warnock recommendations had preceded that research ?

• Scientists– seekers of knowledge

• new frontiers• moral / ethical challenges

– communicators– contributors to public debate, political

process & framing regulation and law– educators in a broad sense

Scientists and the community• How many of our politicians are scientists or

even scientifically literate?• How many of our press/media ?• How many of the general public have more than

a vague understanding of the science of sex ?

So use what you learn here, and in the rest of your degree to contribute to society. Debate sex and issues related to sex with your friends, colleagues, neighbours, community groups, churches, politicians. Get involved…