<< Tumescence >>

In consequence of this increase in the peripheral circulation of blood, all distensible parts of the body become swollen (tumescent) in an individual who is sexually stimulated. This tumescence provides some of the most obvious evidences of sexual arousal.

Almost instantly, or within a matter of seconds or a minute or so after the initiation of a sexual contact, certain areas of the body may become swollen, enlarged, and stiff with an excess of blood. This is equally true of the human and lower mammalian species, both female and male. In some of the most distensible areas, such as the penis, blood is forced in by the arteries faster than the capillaries and the veins can carry it away. This engorgement may in itself aid in the process by closing the veins so they cannot carry blood away as rapidly as they normally do. The penis, clitoris, some of the tissues near the entrance to the vagina, the nipples of the breast, and the side walls of the nose contain a spongy erectile tissue which makes those structures especially liable to enlargement during sexual arousal. Blood is carried by small arterioles into the spaces of the spongy tissue, or actually forced through the walls of the capillaries into the cavities, and the whole structure consequently enlarges. The penis, for instance, may become from half again to double its usual length, and become turgid and stand forward or up in erection when it is tumescent. The clitoris may become swollen and erect. The labia minora, which are usually limp and folded, may become swollen and prominently protrudent. In both the female and the male, the nipples of the breast may become enlarged, hard, and erect. The soft parts of the nose, the alae, may become swollen and the nostrils in consequence become expanded.
Entrapment of blood in the penis as a result of venous compression in erection is also noted in: Eberth 1904:253. Dickinson 1933, 1949:78-80. Hirsch 1949: 66 (locked). Hooker in Howell (Fulton edit.) 1949:1203 (veins possess funnel-like valves). Maximow and Bloom 1952:487.

While the phenomenon of tumescence is commonly recognized in connection with the penis, and sometimes with these other erectile organs, it is not so often realized that a considerable tumescence may also occur during sexual arousal in all other parts of the body, even though these other parts do not contain erectile tissues. The surface outlines of the whole body of one who is sexually aroused become quite different from the outlines of one who is not so aroused. The lobes of the ears may become thickened and swollen. The lips of the mouth may become filled with blood and, in most individuals, more protrudent than under ordinary circumstances. The whole breast, particularly of the female, may become swollen, enlarged, and more protrudent, and the general outline of the breast may become more rounded.-The anal area may become turgid. The arms and the legs may have their outlines altered. The tumescence is so apparent everywhere over the body that it alone is sufficient evidence of the presence of erotic arousal. Women who pretend arousal when there is none may, to some degree, simulate the motions of coitus; but they cannot voluntarily produce the peripheral circulation of blood and the consequent tumescence of the lips, the breasts, the nipples, the labia minora, and the whole body contour which are the unmistakable and almost invariable evidences of erotic arousal.
Tumescence of various parts of the body during arousal has also been noted by: Rohleder 1907(1):372. Bauer 1927(1):157. Van de Velde 1930:245. Dickinson 1933, 1949:65-68, figs. 103-104 (recognized the tumescence of the whole breast). Havelock Ellis 1936(11,1):144 ff. Sadler 1944:37. Faller in Hornstein and Faller 1950:237. Stone and Stone 1952:173.

In some males the erection of the penis may occur in a matter of seconds—even three or four seconds—and in some females the clitoris and the labia minora may respond as quickly. In many species of lower mammals the reactions are even more nearly instantaneous. Stallions, bulls, rams, rats, guinea pigs, porcupines, cats, dogs, apes, and males of other species may come to full erection almost instantaneously upon contact with a sexual object.
We have observed almost instantaneous erection in all of the animals listed above. Root and Bard 1947:82 mention this in the cat, and other authors imply rapid erection in their descriptions of the brevity of coitus—for example, in: Ford and Beach 1951:35-37.

Rapid tumescence in the human animal occurs most frequently among vigorous, younger persons in whom erectile capacities far exceed those of most older persons, although some older females and males may still retain their capacities for rapid response.

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