<< Male Genital Secretions >>

In the male the so-called Cowper’s glands connect with the urethra near the base of the penis (Figure 119f). These glands in the male and the Bartholin glands in the female originate from the same embryonic tissues. They are, therefore, actual homologues. The clear and slippery Cowper’s secretions supply a pre-coital or pre-ejaculatory mucus (the glad-come of the Negro vernacular), which may exude from the urethral opening at the tip of the penis of some males when they are sexually aroused.
That there is a secretion from Cowper’s glands as a result of sexual arousal is, of course, commonly known, and is noted in: Roubaud 1876:26. Rohleder 1907(1):310. Moll 1912:22. Hirschfeld 1928(2):231. Dickinson 1933, 1949: 81. Havelock Ellis 1936(11,1):153. Sadler 1944:4, 14. Faller in Hornstein and Faller 1950:92, 236.

In many species of mammals the Cowper s glands are well developed and in some species (e.g., the boar) they are enormous. Stallions, rams, boars, male goats, and some others may dribble or run continuous streams of such secretions as soon as they approach a female in which they are sexually interested.
The boar possesses enormous Cowper s glands measuring in some cases 4 to 5 inches in length and 1 to 2 inches in diameter, according to McKenzie, Miller, and Bauguess 1938:6-7, 37-41.

In the human species, the Cowper’s glands are much more poorly developed. Most human males do not secrete more than a drop of mucus during sexual activity, and perhaps a third, especially at older ages, do not secrete enough mucus to have it ever exude from the urethra. Another third, however, may develop enough of the Cowper’s secretion to wet the head of the penis during sexual arousal, and there are a few human males who secrete Cowper’s mucus in such quantity that it may pour copiously from the urethra whenever they are erotically stimulated. When there are pre-coital mucous secretions they do provide evidence of erotic arousal; but the absence of such secretions in a human male cannot be taken as evidence that he is not aroused.

Cowper’s secretion usually appears before orgasm. It is, therefore, a pre-coital mucus, although there is an occasional male in whom secretion does not develop until after orgasm. Since these secretions are alkaline, it is commonly pointed out that they may neutralize the acidity of urine in the urethra. Sperm should in consequence have a better chance to survive their passage through the urethra. The secretions may also provide lubrication for genitalia which are in copulo. But the fact remains that few human males secrete enough of this mucus to accomplish either of these ends, and most males do manage to copulate and to effect fertilization without especial difficulty.
That Cowper’s secretion may neutralize the urethral acidity is suggested in: Dickinson 1933, 1949:72. Hotchkiss 1944:55. Farris 1950b :14. On the other hand, Hooker in Howell (Fulton edit.) 1949:1202 feels that the prostatic secretion is the neutralizing agent and that Cowper's secretion is merely a lubricant.

In addition to the Cowper s secretions, the liquids which exude from the male’s penis during sexual arousal may contain secretions from the lining of the urethra.

The largest gland contributing to the male genital secretions is the prostate. It is located at and around the base of the penis (Figure 119f). It provides the major portion of the liquid semen which is ejaculated by the male at the time of orgasm.

Most of the remainder of the semen comes from two seminal vesicles, which are expanded portions of the two ducts (vas deferens) which carry sperm from the testes to the seminal vesicles (Figure 119f). Sperm are continually moving up from the testes and into the seminal vesicles. There they are stored until there is sexual arousal and orgasm and then, along with other sperm which have been accumulating in the upper ends of the sperm ducts, they are thrown out as a microscopic part of the ejaculate. While the cavities of the seminal vesicles serve as storehouses for the sperm, their spongy walls are glandular, and these are the structures which contribute their secretions to the semen. Both the prostate and seminal vesicles are probably stimulated into secretion as soon as erotic arousal starts, and by the time orgasm occurs a considerable quantity of liquid, averaging about 3 cc. or the equivalent of a teaspoonful in volume, is ready for ejaculation.

There is a popular opinion that the testes are the sources of the semen which the male ejaculates. The testes are supposed to become swollen with accumulated secretions between the times of sexual activity, and periodic ejaculation is supposed to be necessary in order to relieve these pressures. Many males claim that their testes ache if they do not find regular sources of outlet, and throughout the history of erotic literature and in some psychoanalytic literature the satisfactions of orgasm are considered to depend upon the release of pressures in the “glands”—meaning the testes.
For examples of the carry-over of the popular concept of full male “glands” accounting for sexual interest, see such material as: Bauer 1929:234. Haire 1937:150. Freud 1938:608-609. Deutsch 1945(2):85.

Most of these opinions are, however, quite unfounded. The prostate, seminal vesicles, and Cowper’s are the only glands which contribute any quantity of material to the semen, and they are the only structures which accumulate secretions which could create pressures that would need to be relieved. Although there is some evidence that the testes may secrete a bit of liquid when the male is erotically aroused, the amount of their secretion is too small to create any pressure. The testes may seem to hurt when there is unrelieved erotic arousal (the so-called stone-ache of the vernacular), but the pain probably comes from muscular tensions in the perineal area, and possibly from tensions in the sperm ducts, especially at the lower ends (the epididymis) where they are wrapped about the testes (Figure 119).-Such aches are usually relieved in orgasm because the muscular tensions are relieved—but not because of the release of any pressures which have accumulated in the testes. Exactly similar pains may develop in the groins of the female when sexual arousal is prolonged for some time before there is any release in orgasm.
Pain in the genital region as a result of unrelieved sexual arousal is, of course, common knowledge. Curiously enough, it is mentioned infrequently in the literature, but see: Malchow 1923:252. Haire 1948:109. Weisman 1948:137-138. Negri 1949:114-115.

In both the female and the male, a considerable congestion of the whole pelvic area may be the consequence of sexual arousal. This depends both upon the tumescence and upon the muscular tensions which have developed. Whenever there is prolonged or repeated arousal without orgasm, this pelvic congestion may become chronic (as in the “engagement pelvis”) and lead to the continual discomfort or more acute pain which the clinician sometimes meets in his practice.

The prostate gland and seminal vesicles of the male do have embryonic equivalents in the female embryo, but they never develop in the adult female and do not produce any secretions equivalent to those of the male.

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