COMING PROBLEM?
Genetic link seen in women's sexual dysfunction
PARIS
British scientists say they have established a link between genetics and a woman's ability to experience orgasm, striking a blow at those who pin the blame for female sexual dysfunction on social or cultural factors.
Previous research has documented the widespread phenomenon of women who never or rarely reach orgasm but--unlike male sexual dysfunction--the causes of this problem have been explored only sketchily.
The most common theories are environmental rather than biological. They blame, for instance, an oppressive upbringing, conservative religion, or male social pressures that can inhibit a woman's sexuality and discourage her from even talking about her sexual problems.
Breaking new ground, British researchers questioned more than 3,500 adult female twins who had enrolled in a major study to explore heredity and the environment.
Identical twins are clones--they share the same genes--whereas nonidentical twins have only 50 percent of their genes in common. Thus, assuming that both sets of twins are comparable, if a phenomenon is spotted among identical twins but is absent among nonidentical twins, the suspicion has to fall on a genetic cause for the difference, according to this approach.
The results found that overall, nearly one in three (32 percent) of the respondents said they never or rarely reached orgasm during intercourse, and 21 percent were still unable to reach orgasm, or rarely, during masturbation.
The big difference, though, was in the replies between identical and nonidentical twins.
Among identical twins, 31 percent said they always or frequently attained orgasm during intercourse and 39 climaxed during masturbation. This compared with only 10 percent and 17 percent among nonidentical twins.
The researchers led by Tim Spector of the Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology Unit at London's St. Thomas's Hospital say the remarkable difference clearly points to heredity as a factor in orgasmic function.
"We found that between 34 and 45 percent of the variation in ability to orgasm can be explained by underlying genetic variation, with little or no role for the shared environment," such as family background, religion, social class, or education, they write.
The authors refrain from suggesting what the genetic link could be, but they note that many problems that weigh on women's sexual health, such as anxiety migraine, blood pressure, and depression, are also linked to heredity.
The study appears in the June issue of Biology Letters, a journal of the Royal Society, Britain's de facto academy of sciences.
If the research is confirmed and amplified, the thinking about female sexual dysfunction could be revolutionized in the same way that male impotence is now conceived as a medical problem that can be openly discussed rather than a taboo subject or source of guilt or blame about "underperformance."
Some research has already suggested that the chemical nitric oxide, which causes the erection in men, may also play a role in female arousal. Other potential biological factors in women's sexual pleasure are levels of the hormone androgen and natural variations in the brain's "pleasure centers" which respond to feel-good molecules.
Feminists though caution strongly against treating female dysfunction as a potentially lucrative pharmaceutical challenge. They say the problem should be treated according to the individual woman's needs, and that social and cultural factors should also be borne closely in mind.
A total of 683 pairs of identical twins and 714 pairs of nonidentical twins, ages between 19 and 83, took part in the study, replying by anonymous questionnaire.
AFP
|
