The
Manila Times
LIKE A CIRCLE
by : Dr Carl E. Balita
THIS article was triggered by a Senate hearing where Sen. Robinhood Padilla sought clarification about a situation where a male partner has the urge for sex and the partner is not willing or not in the mood. His straightforward matter-of-fact inquisitiveness drew public criticism relative to what seemed to him was a need versus a right on what is biological versus transactional. What do we know about this urge?
Understanding the urge
There is a lack of multidimensional studies on male sexual desire. This is the conclusion of a research that examined the literature on biopsychosocial factors associated with the level of sexual desire in men across systematic literature review of some 169 articles published in legitimate references about male sexual desire and related biopsychosocial factors (Nimbi et al., 2020).
Understanding the urge
There is a lack of multidimensional studies on male sexual desire. This is the conclusion of a research that examined the literature on biopsychosocial factors associated with the level of sexual desire in men across systematic literature review of some 169 articles published in legitimate references about male sexual desire and related biopsychosocial factors (Nimbi et al., 2020).
In conclusion, male sexual desire is characterized by an interplay among biological, psychological, sexual, relational and cultural elements.
Biological factors play important roles in the level of sexual desire, but they are insufficient to explain the male sexual response. Cultural influence is relevant, with cognitive factors linked to gender roles and sexual scripts of masculinity identified as important predictors of sexual desire.
Sexual response
Masters and Johnson, two important sex researchers, suggest a four-phase model for understanding the sexual response cycle: excitement, plateau, orgasm and resolution. Masters and Johnson assert that males and females both experience these phases during sexual activity. Determining how long it takes a man or a woman to orgasm is difficult because the excitement phase and the plateau phase may begin several minutes or several hours before a person climaxes. Men usually take two to seven minutes to orgasm.
Understanding male libido
The male libido lives in two areas of the brain โ the cerebral cortex and the limbic system. These parts of the brain are vital to a man’s sex drive and performance. The cerebral cortex is the gray matter which is part of the brain that’s responsible for higher functions like planning and thinking. This includes thinking about sex.
When one becomes aroused, signals that originate in the cerebral cortex can interact with other parts of the brain and nerves which speed up heart rate and blood flow to the genitals that creates an erection.
The limbic system includes multiple parts of the brain which are involved with emotion, motivation and sex drive.
Researchers at Emory University found that viewing sexually arousing images increased activity in the amygdalae of men more than it did for women.
Testosterone is the hormone most closely associated with male sex drive. Testosterone levels tend to be higher in the morning and lower at night. In a man’s lifetime, his testosterone levels are at their highest in his late teens, after which they slowly begin to decline.
Psychological conditions and medical issues (hypertension, diabetes, endocrine problems) and medications like antihypertensives may affect not only urge but also capacity to engage in a sexual act โ like erection.
Men sex-obsessed machines?
Are stereotypes about the male sex drive true or just popular myths?
A recent study at Ohio State University of over 200 students debunks the popular myth that men think about sex every seven seconds (8,000 thoughts in 16 waking hours). The young men in the study reported thoughts of sex 19 times per day on average (compared to young women who reported an average of 10 thoughts about sex per day). It is also possible that men are more comfortable thinking about sex and reporting their thoughts.
On masturbation
The widespread prevalence of masturbation in the animal kingdom may be better explained by viewing masturbation as a primarily self-reinforcing behavior that promotes pleasure both in human and in nonhuman species (Briken and Fuss, 2023). Based on these observations, various scholars suggested that masturbation improves ejaculate quality, decreases the risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections or is merely a by-product of sexual arousal and thus an alternate outlet to copulation.
Men masturbate more often as confirmed in a study (2009) on 600 adults in Guangzhou, China, where 68.7 percent of males reported that they had masturbated (compared with women at 48.8 percent).
Casual sex
A research study noted that when issued an invitation for casual sex in a nightclub or campus, a significantly higher proportion of men accepted the offer than women. However, in the second part of the same study, women appeared more willing to accept invitations for casual sex when they were in a safer environment.
The difference between these two studies suggests that cultural factors like social norms can have a big impact on the way that men and women seek out sexual relationships.
Casual sex among Filipino adolescents
More Filipino adolescent males admit to having casual types of sexual partnerships than females (Ujano-Batangan, in Graduate Institute Publications, 2012). Such partnerships are only for releasing sexual energies or sexual urges, which adolescents refer to as “libog” (lust). Lust is conceptualized by adolescents as something biological, characterized by bodily sensations that trigger arousal and create tension โ and needs to be released.
Some adolescents, most of whom are males, would tend to compartmentalize the concepts of lust and love, reporting that they love their partners in committed relationships but lust after another individual. While the lust is characterized by nonpermanent partnerships, love is characterized by a certain level of regularity โ based on mutual need to sexually satisfy one another.
A cardinal rule in casual sex is that none should fall in love with the other in the process.
The digital space presents additional contexts for casual and transactional sexual partnerships. Cybersex presents a “safer” context for exploring one’s sexuality.
Filipinos and porn
Pornhub, the largest online pornographic site in the world, reports that in 2023, the Philippines had reclaimed its position in this year’s PornHub Year In Review as the second top country by traffic (US being first), a significant leap from last year’s ninth place. Additionally, the Philippines has maintained its first place ranking in “time spent per visit,” with an average duration of 11 minutes and 15 seconds, up from last year’s 10 minutes and 59 seconds. Japan follows close. The most searched terms among Filipinos in 2023 are pinay, pinoy, japaneses, hentai, Korean and also includes pinay gangbang, stepmom, lesbian, gangbang, pinay solo and threesome. This indicates the sexual appetite and fantasies of the Filipinos.
While online porn is often thought to be dominated by male viewers, the Philippines once again bucked the trend, being the only country in the world with more female visitors (58 percent) than males.
On average, Filipinos will visit around nine pages in a little over 13 minutes. It is one of the longest average visit durations that Pornhub has tracked.
Sexual behavior can be wholly enjoyable while emerging from a deeper developmental or evolutionary origin. It is precisely because reproduction is so important to the survival of a species that evolution made it so pleasurable that animals โ both human and nonhuman โ are motivated to seek it out even when conception is undesirable or impossible. It is clear why these powerful feelings of pleasure aren’t only restricted to us humans. The urge to seek out that sort of pleasure is a combination of instinct on the one hand and a powerful desire to attain reward on the other (Balcombe).
In philosophy, Plato attempted to create, and triumphantly achieved, an erotic theory that accounts for the metaphysics of desire, which is within each of us โ eros and philia.
-END-
Biological factors play important roles in the level of sexual desire, but they are insufficient to explain the male sexual response. Cultural influence is relevant, with cognitive factors linked to gender roles and sexual scripts of masculinity identified as important predictors of sexual desire.
Sexual response
Masters and Johnson, two important sex researchers, suggest a four-phase model for understanding the sexual response cycle: excitement, plateau, orgasm and resolution. Masters and Johnson assert that males and females both experience these phases during sexual activity. Determining how long it takes a man or a woman to orgasm is difficult because the excitement phase and the plateau phase may begin several minutes or several hours before a person climaxes. Men usually take two to seven minutes to orgasm.
Understanding male libido
The male libido lives in two areas of the brain โ the cerebral cortex and the limbic system. These parts of the brain are vital to a man’s sex drive and performance. The cerebral cortex is the gray matter which is part of the brain that’s responsible for higher functions like planning and thinking. This includes thinking about sex.
When one becomes aroused, signals that originate in the cerebral cortex can interact with other parts of the brain and nerves which speed up heart rate and blood flow to the genitals that creates an erection.
The limbic system includes multiple parts of the brain which are involved with emotion, motivation and sex drive.
Researchers at Emory University found that viewing sexually arousing images increased activity in the amygdalae of men more than it did for women.
Testosterone is the hormone most closely associated with male sex drive. Testosterone levels tend to be higher in the morning and lower at night. In a man’s lifetime, his testosterone levels are at their highest in his late teens, after which they slowly begin to decline.
Psychological conditions and medical issues (hypertension, diabetes, endocrine problems) and medications like antihypertensives may affect not only urge but also capacity to engage in a sexual act โ like erection.
Men sex-obsessed machines?
Are stereotypes about the male sex drive true or just popular myths?
A recent study at Ohio State University of over 200 students debunks the popular myth that men think about sex every seven seconds (8,000 thoughts in 16 waking hours). The young men in the study reported thoughts of sex 19 times per day on average (compared to young women who reported an average of 10 thoughts about sex per day). It is also possible that men are more comfortable thinking about sex and reporting their thoughts.
On masturbation
The widespread prevalence of masturbation in the animal kingdom may be better explained by viewing masturbation as a primarily self-reinforcing behavior that promotes pleasure both in human and in nonhuman species (Briken and Fuss, 2023). Based on these observations, various scholars suggested that masturbation improves ejaculate quality, decreases the risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections or is merely a by-product of sexual arousal and thus an alternate outlet to copulation.
Men masturbate more often as confirmed in a study (2009) on 600 adults in Guangzhou, China, where 68.7 percent of males reported that they had masturbated (compared with women at 48.8 percent).
Casual sex
A research study noted that when issued an invitation for casual sex in a nightclub or campus, a significantly higher proportion of men accepted the offer than women. However, in the second part of the same study, women appeared more willing to accept invitations for casual sex when they were in a safer environment.
The difference between these two studies suggests that cultural factors like social norms can have a big impact on the way that men and women seek out sexual relationships.
Casual sex among Filipino adolescents
More Filipino adolescent males admit to having casual types of sexual partnerships than females (Ujano-Batangan, in Graduate Institute Publications, 2012). Such partnerships are only for releasing sexual energies or sexual urges, which adolescents refer to as “libog” (lust). Lust is conceptualized by adolescents as something biological, characterized by bodily sensations that trigger arousal and create tension โ and needs to be released.
Some adolescents, most of whom are males, would tend to compartmentalize the concepts of lust and love, reporting that they love their partners in committed relationships but lust after another individual. While the lust is characterized by nonpermanent partnerships, love is characterized by a certain level of regularity โ based on mutual need to sexually satisfy one another.
A cardinal rule in casual sex is that none should fall in love with the other in the process.
The digital space presents additional contexts for casual and transactional sexual partnerships. Cybersex presents a “safer” context for exploring one’s sexuality.
Filipinos and porn
Pornhub, the largest online pornographic site in the world, reports that in 2023, the Philippines had reclaimed its position in this year’s PornHub Year In Review as the second top country by traffic (US being first), a significant leap from last year’s ninth place. Additionally, the Philippines has maintained its first place ranking in “time spent per visit,” with an average duration of 11 minutes and 15 seconds, up from last year’s 10 minutes and 59 seconds. Japan follows close. The most searched terms among Filipinos in 2023 are pinay, pinoy, japaneses, hentai, Korean and also includes pinay gangbang, stepmom, lesbian, gangbang, pinay solo and threesome. This indicates the sexual appetite and fantasies of the Filipinos.
While online porn is often thought to be dominated by male viewers, the Philippines once again bucked the trend, being the only country in the world with more female visitors (58 percent) than males.
On average, Filipinos will visit around nine pages in a little over 13 minutes. It is one of the longest average visit durations that Pornhub has tracked.
Sexual behavior can be wholly enjoyable while emerging from a deeper developmental or evolutionary origin. It is precisely because reproduction is so important to the survival of a species that evolution made it so pleasurable that animals โ both human and nonhuman โ are motivated to seek it out even when conception is undesirable or impossible. It is clear why these powerful feelings of pleasure aren’t only restricted to us humans. The urge to seek out that sort of pleasure is a combination of instinct on the one hand and a powerful desire to attain reward on the other (Balcombe).
In philosophy, Plato attempted to create, and triumphantly achieved, an erotic theory that accounts for the metaphysics of desire, which is within each of us โ eros and philia.
-END-