<< Reduction in Sensory Perception >>

There is a general impression that one who is aroused erotically becomes more sensitive to tactile and other types of sensory stimuli.
The idea that sexually aroused individuals are more sensitive to stimuli is a common one, appearing in such references as: Roubaud 1876:12. Caufeynon 1903:56. Rohleder 1907(1):310. Urbach 1921:127. Malchow 1923:181. Bauer 1927(1):155. Havelock Ellis 1936(1,2):236. Van de Velde 1930:178, 246-247.

Quite on the contrary, all of our evidence indicates that there is a considerable and developing loss of sensory capacity which begins immediately upon the onset of sexual stimulation, and which becomes more or less complete, sometimes with complete unconsciousness, during the maximum of sexual arousal and Orgasm. At orgasm some individuals may remain unconscious for a matter of seconds or even for some minutes.
Loss of sensory capacity or even of consciousness during extreme emotion or sexual arousal is also noted by: Roubaud 1876:16-17. Caufeynon 1903:57. Talmey 1912:61-62; 1915:92-93. Prince 1914:491. Kantor 1924(1):103. Bauer 1927(2):159-160. Hirschfeld 1928(2):241. Van de Velde 1930:247. Hirschfeld 1935:44. Havelock Ellis 1936(11,1):149-150. Kahn 1939:86. W. Reich 1942:83. Negri 1949:97. Brown and Kempton 1950:207. Van de Velde adds: “There is here a profound contradiction. In spite of this magnified receptiveness to sensory impressions during sexual excitement, an individual under its immediate impact, will pay no attention to extraneous things which would otherwise rouse most violent reactions. He is deaf and blind to the world.”

There are French terms “La petite mort” (the little death), and “La mort douce” (the sweet death), which indicate that some persons do understand that unconsciousness may enter at this point. Most persons, however, including technically and professionally trained persons, have failed to comprehend the considerable loss of sensitivity which actually occurs, and the matter therefore needs discussion.

This loss of sensory capacity was first brought to our attention by prostitutes who were contributing histories to this study. Many of the prostitutes rob (roll) their patrons during their sexual contacts. They well understand that their confederates (the creepers) can move about a room without the victim hearing or seeing them if they do not pass directly in front of him; and they can touch him without his being conscious of their presence—providing they confine their activities to the period when he is erotically aroused.

The situation may involve some psychologic distraction. The attention of the individual may be so centered on the sexual activities that he is not consciously aware of other sensory stimulation; but there is some evidence that an actual anesthesia of the sensory structures may occur. It is possible and not improbable that both distraction and anesthesia may be involved. Similar situations are recognized in anger, in fear, and in epilepsy—all of which are phenomena that are physiologically related to sexual response. It is popularly understood that a person may become “too mad to see straight”; “so excited he did not hear the train coming”; or “too angry to know what was happening to him.” Love too appears to be blind, and probably more blind than the poets realized when they wrote about it.
The physiology of such a sensory loss, and of the loss of consciousness, is ill understood and probably very complex. One factor may be the reduction of the blood supply to the brain which may result from excessive vasodilation (Engel 1950:19) or hyperventilation (Engel 1950:76; Shock in Reymert 1950:279). Hyperventilation, according to Houssay et al. 1951:287, also may cause dizziness with muscular hyperexcitability, muscular contractions, and tetany. These symptoms resemble some of those in the sexual syndrome.

Specific observations and experimental data indicate that the whole body of the individual who is sexually aroused becomes increasingly insensitive to tactile stimulation and even to sharp blows and severe injury. Any stimulation which is maintained at a constant level becomes ineffective; and it is quite usual for the participants in a sexual relationship, even though they are unaware of the physiology which is involved, to progressively increase the speed and the force of their techniques. Toward the peak of sexual arousal there may be considerable slapping and heavier blows, biting and scratching, and other activities which the recipient never remembers and which appear to have a minimum if any effect upon him at the time they occur. Not only does the sense of touch diminish, but the sense of pain is largely lost. If the blows begin mildly and do not become severe until there is definite erotic response, the recipient in flagellation or other types of sadomasochistic behavior may receive extreme punishment without being aware that he is being subjected to more than mild tactile stimulation.

There is also evidence that even the genitalia, contrary to the general opinion, become anesthetic as the sexual relationships progress. It is not impossible that precise measurements might show that the genital structures preserve their sensitivity longer than some other parts of the body, but there are no data to establish that point. Since so much of the stimulation during a sexual contact is directed toward the genitalia, and since their pronounced turgidity may increase one’s awareness of those structures, it is understandable that there should be some concentration of attention on those organs during sexual arousal.

It may take only mild stimulation and sometimes only the slightest touch of the genitalia at the peak of sexual arousal to precipitate orgasm. This, however, does not seem to be evidence of increasing sensitivity, but evidence of the high level to which the physiologic changes may have proceeded before the final touch brings the individual to the point of climax. A drop of water cannot fill an empty cup, but a single drop can make an already filled cup overflow. The effectiveness of the minor tactile stimulation which may precipitate orgasm may emphasize nothing more than the fact that there has been a previous build-up of physiologic changes which are now ready to culminate in orgasm.

Not only the sense of touch but all of the other senses become increasingly ineffective during erotic arousal. The sense of sight is considerably contracted during sexual activity. The pupils dilate, and the range of vision is so narrowed that the individual loses his capacity to observe things that lie to the side and can see only those objects which are directly ahead. Some persons become so blind at the peak of sexual arousal that they do not see lights which are moved directly in front of them or recognize other sorts of visual stimuli. Such a loss of visual capacity is one of the known effects of anoxia; and since an anoxia may be involved in sexual response, this is one possible explanation of the sensory loss here.
The reduction of visual capacity during arousal is also noted by several authors, including: Roubaud 1876:17. Talmey 1912:61. Bauer 1927(2):159. Goldstein and Steinfeld 1942:44. Dilation of the pupil of the eye during arousal is also described by: Van de Velde 1930:247. Havelock Ellis 1936(11,1):166-167. Haire 1937:200. Sadler 1944: 42. Faller in Hornstein and Faller 1950:237. Stone and Stone 1952:173. Note that the injection of adrenaline may also produce such a dilation (Cannon 1920:37).

The sense of hearing is similarly impaired during erotic arousal. Minor sounds are completely overlooked by the sexually responding individual. The wife who hears the shade flapping or the baby crying after coitus has begun, simply registers the fact that she is not responding erotically. The occasional records of persons being apprehended by police or other intruders when they are engaged in sexual activity may depend on the fact that sexually occupied persons do not hear with their normal acuity. The sense of hearing may be so completely lost during maximum sexual response that very loud noises close at hand and voices at their maximum are not heard.
The impairment of hearing during arousal is also noted in: Bauer 1927(2):159. Van de Velde 1930:247 manufactures a paradox by deciding that while hearing becomes more acute, the aroused person is nevertheless “deaf and blind to the world.”

The senses of smell and taste may similarly be reduced and ultimately more or less lost whenever there is real sexual arousal. Contacts which would be offensive to an individual who was not sexually stimulated, no longer offend. Data on the reception of semen in the performance of fellatio indicate that there may be considerable consciousness and some offense when the sexual relation is not sufficiently stimulating, but that there is a reduction of consciousness of both the contact and the taste when the sexual relation is had between persons who are erotically aroused.

The temperature sense is similarly diminished and may become quite lost during sexual activity. In the earlier stages of arousal there is, as we have already noted, a considerable recognition of the surface warmth of the body which develops as a result of the peripheral circulation of blood. But the sexual arousal may progress to a point at which most persons become unconscious of the extreme temperatures of summer or of winter, of an overheated or a very cold room, or even of objects like cigarettes which may actually burn them.

Since few persons are aware of these losses of sensory capacities, they do not comprehend that they are incapable of giving a coherent account of the physiologic events which transpire during their sexual activities. There is usually some recognition of the fact that one becomes “hot” when there is sexual arousal (because of the peripheral flow of blood), “bothered” (because of the neuromuscular tensions), and “aroused” (by the change in physiologic state). But that is usually the limit of awareness of one’s own reactions. Persons whose sexual reactions regularly involve the most vigorous sorts of body movements, such as rhythmic or propulsive extensions of the arms and legs and movements and torsions of the back and neck, are amazed to learn from other persons who have observed them that they have ever behaved so.

Some insight into the effects of sexual arousal comes from our histories of amputees who have lost arms or lower limbs. It is well known that such individuals frequently experience what have always been considered to be phantom pains in their non-existent limbs. It is, however, sometimes possible to stop such phantom pains by blocking the spinal centers which would control those areas in a normal limb. The spinal centers are still connected with the remnants of the nerves that belong to those areas, and the localization of the pains in the nonexistent portion of the limb is due to the fact that no one, amputee or non-amputee, is able to localize the point of origin of any stimulation when the stimulus is applied to the basal portion of a nerve.

From the standpoint of the sexual physiology which is involved, it is notable that our data indicate that amputees rarely if ever experience phantom pains when they are aroused sexually. On the other hand, such pains may suddenly return after orgasm, thereby emphasizing the fact that they were absent during the period of arousal. This appears to be another instance of a loss of sensory perception, or of the distraction of perception during sexual arousal.

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