<< Respiration >>

As a correlate of the increase in pulse rate and blood pressure which occurs in the sexually responding individual, there is an increase in breathing rate. In the earlier stages of arousal the breathing becomes deeper and faster, but with the approach of orgasm the respiration becomes interrupted. Inspiration is then effected with prolonged gasps, and expiration follows with a forceful collapse of the lungs. There is some popular understanding of this, as is evidenced by the fact that the panting of the actor in the old-time melodrama became a stylized representation of sexual passion. Some of the gasping and sucking sounds and some of the more specific vocalizations which may occur during the climax of sexual activity result from this forced type of breathing. The tortured facial expressions of persons who are sexually aroused, and particularly of those who are near the point of orgasm, usually include expanded nostrils, an open mouth, and pursed lips which suggest that the individuals are struggling to secure air to satisfy the demands of the increased pulse rates and high blood pressures.
Modifications in respiratory rate as a result of sexual arousal are matters of common knowledge, and are also recorded by various authors: Roubaud 1876:17. Rohleder 1907(1):372. Talmey 1912:61. Kisch 1926:288, 345. Bauer 1927 (1):154, 157. Van de Velde 1930:245. Havelock Ellis 1936(11,1):150-151. Reich 1942:82. Podolsky 1942:49. Negri 1949:97. Brown and Kempton 1950: 207. Faller in Hornstein and Faller 1950:237. Stone and Stone 1952:173. Actual measurements have been made less often, but see: Gantt in Hoch and Zubin 1949:37, 42-43. Klumbies and Kleinsorge 1950a:954; 1950b:61 ff.

Figure 139f. Respiration in human female during sexual activity

Record on the same female shown in Figures 122, 123, 137.
Data from Klumbies and Kleinsorge 1950.

>>