Sexual dysfunctions -- an evolutionary perspective | Menelaos Apostolou | TEDxUniversityofNicosia
Summary
TLDRThis script delves into sexual dysfunctions, highlighting their prevalence and the societal implications. It explores the evolutionary perspective, suggesting that variation in sexual functioning is due to weak selection pressures in ancestral societies where mate choice was regulated. The speaker argues that what is now considered dysfunction is often a normal variation, exacerbated by modern societal changes. The talk concludes by encouraging individuals to address sexual issues if they cause personal distress, framing it as a common and normal aspect of human diversity.
Takeaways
- 🔎 A sexual dysfunction is defined as a difficulty experienced by an individual or couple during any stage of normal sexual activity, such as pain or inability to achieve orgasm.
- 👤 Approximately 30% of adult men and 40% of women suffer from at least one type of sexual dysfunction, with men most commonly experiencing premature ejaculation and women most often reporting low sexual desire.
- 🤔 The high prevalence of sexual dysfunctions raises questions about their causes, which may include poor mental and physical health, but these factors do not fully explain the issue.
- 🧬 An evolutionary perspective suggests that our bodies have mechanisms that regulate sexual functioning, and that there has been considerable variation in these mechanisms due to weak selection pressures during human evolutionary time.
- 👃 Just as there is variation in physical traits like nose size, there is variation in sexual functioning, and this variation has been maintained in the population due to weak selection pressures.
- 🌐 Anthropological and historical records indicate that in ancestral societies, mate choice was regulated, and individual preferences for sexual satisfaction were less important.
- 🚫 In pre-industrial societies, a woman's sexual satisfaction was not a primary concern, which may explain why there is variation in men's ejaculation latency times.
- 🔄 The shift to modern societies where mate choice is not regulated has led to new challenges, as men now need to provide sexual satisfaction to maintain relationships, potentially leading to issues like premature ejaculation being labeled as dysfunctions.
- 💔 Low sexual desire in women can cause friction in relationships in modern contexts where consent is required for sexual activity, which was not the case in regulated mate choice societies.
- 💡 While sexual dysfunctions may be a normal variation, they can cause significant problems in modern relationships, suggesting that individuals should seek help if they are dissatisfied with their sexual functioning.
Q & A
What is the definition of sexual dysfunction according to the script?
-Sexual dysfunction is defined as a difficulty that an individual or a couple experiences during any stage of normal sexual activity, such as feeling pain or being unable to experience orgasm.
What are the most common sexual dysfunctions in men and women?
-For men, the most common sexual dysfunction is premature ejaculation, followed by erectile difficulties and lack of interest in sex. For women, the most common ones are lack of interest in sex, difficulties experiencing orgasm, and pain during intercourse.
What percentage of adult men and women suffer from sexual dysfunctions?
-Approximately 30% of adult men and about 40% of women suffer from or have at least one manifested sexual dysfunction.
Why might poor mental and physical health be associated with sexual dysfunctions?
-Poor mental health, such as depression, can lead to a lack of interest in sex, and physical health issues, like cardiovascular problems, might affect erectile functioning, which can contribute to sexual dysfunctions.
How does the evolutionary perspective explain the prevalence of sexual dysfunctions?
-The evolutionary perspective suggests that our bodies have mechanisms that regulate sexual functioning, and that there may have been weak selection pressures during human evolutionary time, leading to considerable variation in sexual functioning.
What is the role of anthropological and historical records in understanding sexual dysfunctions?
-Anthropological and historical records provide evidence that in ancestral societies, mate choice was regulated, and this context of regulated choice might have led to the variation in sexual functioning that we see today, which can cause problems in modern societies where mate choice is not regulated.
Why might a man who ejaculates quickly not have been at a disadvantage in ancestral societies?
-In ancestral societies, women did not have a choice of mate, and men did not need to provide sexual satisfaction for their partners. Therefore, a man who ejaculated quickly would not be at a disadvantage in terms of reproductive success.
How does the concept of 'mate choice' relate to the prevalence of sexual dysfunctions today?
-In modern societies, where mate choice is not regulated and individuals can choose their partners, there is an expectation for sexual satisfaction. This can lead to the labeling of certain variations in sexual functioning, like premature ejaculation or low sexual desire, as dysfunctions because they may cause friction in relationships.
What does the speaker suggest for individuals experiencing sexual dysfunctions?
-The speaker suggests that while sexual dysfunctions are common and often a normal variation, if they cause problems or dissatisfaction, individuals should consider seeking help or working on improving their sexual functioning.
How does the speaker use the analogy of nose size to explain the concept of normal variation?
-The speaker uses the analogy of nose size to illustrate that normal variation exists in human characteristics, and just because a characteristic varies and is normal, it doesn't mean it can't cause problems. If the variation causes issues, like a large nose affecting self-esteem, one might consider altering it, similar to addressing sexual dysfunctions.
Outlines
🧠 Understanding Sexual Dysfunctions
The speaker introduces the topic of sexual dysfunctions, defining them as difficulties experienced by individuals or couples during any stage of sexual activity. Common examples include pain during intercourse and difficulty achieving orgasm. The speaker highlights the high prevalence of these dysfunctions, noting that about 30% of men and 40% of women suffer from sexual dysfunctions. Men commonly experience premature ejaculation, erectile difficulties, and lack of interest in sex, while women often face low sexual desire, difficulty achieving orgasm, and pain during intercourse. The speaker questions why these dysfunctions are so common and explores possible mental and physical health causes but notes that most people experiencing dysfunctions are otherwise healthy.
🌿 Evolutionary Explanation of Sexual Dysfunction
The speaker introduces an evolutionary perspective, suggesting that sexual dysfunctions may result from weak evolutionary selection pressures. Using an example of nose size, the speaker explains that during human evolution, traits such as nose shape and size were not strongly selected for, resulting in wide variation. Similarly, there may have been weak selection pressures on sexual functioning, which could explain the variation in sexual desire and functioning among individuals. The speaker mentions anthropological records from pre-industrial societies where mate choices were regulated by parents, and sexual satisfaction was a secondary concern, further influencing these evolutionary outcomes.
🔄 Ejaculation Latency and Sexual Satisfaction
The speaker delves into the concept of ejaculation latency time, explaining that in pre-industrial societies, a man's quick ejaculation did not affect his reproductive success because mate choice was regulated, and women's sexual satisfaction was not a priority. Both predispositions for fast and delayed ejaculation remained in the population, leading to the variation we see today. In modern societies, however, women have more choice in partners, and men's ability to satisfy their partners sexually has become more important. This shift has led to the labeling of quick ejaculation as 'premature ejaculation,' despite it being a normal variation.
💡 Evolutionary Perspective on Female Sexual Desire
The speaker applies the evolutionary perspective to female sexual desire, explaining that in ancestral societies, women with low or high sexual desire were equally likely to reproduce because mate choice was regulated, and women's consent for sex was not required. However, in modern societies, where women have more control over their sexual choices, low sexual desire can lead to relationship conflicts and is often classified as a dysfunction. Despite this, the speaker emphasizes that such variation is normal and not an indication of illness or abnormality.
🔍 Normal Variation and the Importance of Self-Improvement
The speaker concludes by reinforcing the idea that sexual dysfunctions are often just normal variations in human sexual functioning. However, the speaker advises that if these variations cause distress or problems in one's personal life, individuals should consider seeking solutions to improve their sexual functioning. They use the example of someone with a large nose who might seek plastic surgery despite their nose being a normal variation. Similarly, those dissatisfied with their sexual experiences should consider taking steps to improve them, even though the variations are natural and common.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Sexual Dysfunction
💡Premature Ejaculation
💡Ejaculation Latency Time
💡Low Sexual Desire
💡Evolutionary Perspective
💡Weak Selection Pressures
💡Pre-Industrial Societies
💡Mate Choice
💡Anthropological Record
💡Normal Variation
Highlights
Sexual dysfunction is a difficulty during any stage of normal sexual activity.
30% of adult men suffer from sexual dysfunction, with premature ejaculation being the most common.
40% of women suffer from at least one sexual dysfunction, with lack of interest in sex being the most prevalent.
People with one sexual dysfunction often have another, indicating a complex interplay of issues.
Mental and physical health can affect sexual functioning, but they do not fully explain the prevalence of sexual dysfunctions.
An evolutionary perspective suggests that our bodies have mechanisms that regulate sexual functioning.
Variation in sexual functioning may be due to weak selection pressures during human evolutionary time.
Anthropological and historical records indicate that mate choice was regulated in ancestral societies.
In ancestral societies, a man's ejaculation latency time did not significantly impact his reproductive success.
Today, a man's ability to satisfy his partner sexually is crucial for maintaining relationships.
Premature ejaculation is a modern label for a variation that was not problematic in regulated mate choice societies.
In pre-industrial societies, a woman's sexual desire did not affect her reproductive success as much as it might today.
Low sexual desire in women can now lead to relationship friction due to the need for mutual consent in modern relationships.
Sexual dysfunctions are common and normal variations, but they can cause problems in contemporary society.
It's important to understand the evolutionary context of sexual functioning to appreciate the variation observed today.
If sexual dysfunction causes personal distress, it may be worth addressing despite being a normal variation.
Transcripts
e
can you hear me yes you can um so that's
a nice morning uh full of uh
sex yeah that's good that's how mornings
should be um okay so I will talk about
sexual dysfunctions uh today uh I will
try to understand what's going on there
what uh causes them and uh my starting
point uh will be what is a sexual
dysfunction uh a sexual dysfunction is a
difficulty that an individual or a
couple phases uh during any stage of
normal sexual activity so if you're
having sex uh and um uh you feel pain
you experience pain or you cannot
experience orgasm that would classify as
a sexual
dysfunction uh the interesting thing the
surprising thing with sexual
dysfunctions is how common they are so
if we take men approximately 30% of
adult men uh suffer from have a
manifested sexual dysfunction the most
common one is premature ejaculation
followed by erectile difficulties and
lack of interest in sex um for woman
things are a bit uh worse um
approximately sorry 40% of women uh
suffer from uh or have at least one
manifested sexual dysfunction uh the
most common one is lack of interest in
sex uh followed by uh difficulties
experiencing orgasm uh and pain during
intercourse um and I'm saying at least
one because uh people who have a sexual
one sexual dysfunction usually have
another as well so if a woman uh has a
low sexual desire it's quite likely that
she also has uh difficulties
experiencing orgasm or uh she has pain
during
intercourse okay so overall it seems
that uh uh at least one in Three Men and
almost half uh of woman uh have uh a
sexual dysfunction that's a very high
prevalence which leads to the question
why what causes this and uh um some good
candidates would say is poor uh mental
health and poor physical health so for
in instance if you are if you suffer
from depression you don't feel H like
having sex obviously um and uh if you
have some cardiovascular problems then
um this might affect your erectile F
functioning but uh most of the people
who uh have uh a sexual dysfunction are
mentally and physically healthy that is
these factors do not really EXP explain
um uh sexual
dysfunctions um yes they have an effect
but in most of the cases they just don't
explain this and this made me curious
just try to figure out why what what
really causes them why we have such a
high prevalence of sexual dysfunctions
and uh to answer this um I employed an
evolutionary perspective now in The
evolutionary perspective our body is a
collection of mechanisms or adaptations
um that enable us
um to survive and reproduce that what
what they do so in this uh perspective
we have specific mechanisms which
regulate sexual
functioning which brings me to the
question of why uh evolutionary forces
have allowed considerable variation in
sexual functioning so if we take women
for instance uh there are woman a lot of
women who have low sexual desire and a
woman who have high sexual desire the
question is why um evolutionary forces
have not saved a woman all woman to have
low sexual desire or even better high
sexual desire um and one answer one
possible answer is that uh there have
been weak selection pressures during uh
human uh evolutionary
time and I can demonstrate what I mean
by that with a different
example so um when
uh lights go up uh uh when this night
session ends you will notice uh that
people's noses are very different that
is they vary in size and uh shape why
why not everybody's nose is the same
well one answer is part of the answer is
that um during a human evolution um um
there have been weak selection pressures
on uh nose is size and shape that is to
say uh an individual with a
predisposition to have a small nose was
not better off in terms of survival or
reproductive success than an individual
um who had a predisposition to have a
moderate Siz nose um as a consequence
all predispositions remained in the
population and what we have is this or
what you will see when the lights go
up so perh perhaps this was also the
case um uh with sexual functioning that
is in certain aspect in specific um uh
areas of sexual functioning maybe in the
past there had been weak selection
pressures and as a consequence we have
considerable
variation now the bad news is that we
cannot go back in time to see what was
there yet we can get an idea and we can
get an idea uh using evidence from the
anthropological
record all right so what was happening
is that in the past uh our ancestors
used to live in small bands of people
who based their subsistance on hunting
and Gathering uh and later on in human
evolutionary time on agropastoralism now
there are modern societies today um
which are pre-industrial and they base
their subsistence on hunting and
Gathering and uh on agropastoralism um
an anthropologist went there and study
them and produce a rich uh
anthropological record by studying This
Record we can sort of figure out what's
happening in these societies today and
we can infer what was happening in the
similar Societies in the past okay so
what the anthropological record tell us
it tell us that in this societies um
made choices regulated that is
individuals are not free to choose their
own uh
mates uh what happens for instance is
that parents control uh M choice and
choose uh spouses for their children so
for instance if their uh daughter comes
of age uh they would uh arrange a
marriage with a man of her choice and um
um would give ha to him uh and when they
would exercise Choice their primary
concern was to arrange uh to establish
an alliance with another
family so this is the common pattern in
modern pre-industrial societies and we
can infer that this was also uh the uh
the pattern in ancestral human societies
and we don't even have to infer this
because we have historical evidence uh
for the later part of human uh
Evolution um we have historical records
that is we have records from ancient
Greece Rome Byzantine Empire uh pre
Victorian England and so on and these
tell the the same story they agree that
is um in these societies uh M Choice was
regulated individuals didn't have uh uh
much uh uh Choice over their
Partners okay so putting everything
together uh the anthropological and
historical records tell us the story we
can we come from uh uh uh a society uh
from ancestral societies where made
Choice was
regulated now this is important for
understanding sexual functioning for the
for understanding the variation of
sexual
functioning let me be more specific
about
this um let me examine um ejaculation
latency time that is how um uh fast uh
how soon a man ejaculates after the
initiation of sexual
intercourse now in an ancestral
pre-industrial
context um a man who would ejaculate um
uh uh soon after um uh the initiation of
sexual intercourse um this is in seconds
somewh here um allowing little time for
the sexual satisfaction of his um uh
partner uh wouldn't be better off or
worse off than a man who would ejaculate
uh later on uh allowing more time for
the sexual satisfaction of his partner
why because in a in ancestral
pre-industrial societies woman didn't
have any choice of mate so um uh the
sexual satisfaction of women was a
secondary concern men didn't care about
this too much and didn't matter much
what happens then is that both
predispositions would remain the
population that is the predisposition to
ejaculate soon after they initiation of
sexual intercourse or the predisposition
to in to ejaculate later on um both
would remain the population and what we
have today uh is this distribution this
nice distribution of ejaculation latency
time so you can see here this is in
seconds um and uh uh indicates um uh how
fast uh a man would ejaculate after the
initiation of sexual intercourse okay
that is why we have this distribution
due to two weak selection pressures
what's the problem
now uh in modern societies things are
different uh made choice is no longer
regulated uh woman have a choice they
can choose with whom they will stay with
and this means that uh a man has to
provide some satisfaction to his uh
partner uh to keep here and in turn yes
has to be um and this means that men who
are here and a lot of them uh may be in
trouble because uh they ejaculate soon
after the initiation of sexual uh uh
intercourse not allowing considerable uh
time for the sexual satisfaction of
their Partners so uh a lot of men then
in a modern uh context have this problem
and we because this is uh a problem we
tend to label it uh premature
ejaculation but this is is a label
doesn't mean that those who are here are
ill or there's something wrong with them
it's just normal variation um which
still however causes them problems they
CA it causes them problems today 100
years ago if you are here no problem
today
problem yeah that's laugh okay um uh
sorry before I go to this um this is the
story also this can this this can be
applied to woman as well so for instance
um uh most of us we have a mechanism
which generate sexual desire um and the
purpose of this mechanism is to motivate
us to seek sexual uh
intercourse now uh in a context where
made choic is regulated what happens is
that uh parents uh arrange the marriage
the marriage of their daughters and they
give her to a man of their choice and
they Grant him uh the right to have sex
with her and he would exercise this uh
uh right irrespectively of the will of
uh uh of his wife this means that uh a
woman with a predisposition to have a
low sexual desire will not be better off
or worse off in terms of reproductive
success than a woman who uh has a higher
sexual uh desire uh that is to say both
women um will um uh have children will
get married have children and will pass
on their predispositions uh to Future
Generations now today however uh things
are different a man needs the consent of
um uh his uh partner uh in order to have
sex with her and a woman with a low
sexual desire um might be uh unwilling
to give this concern or she might not be
willing to give this concern as
frequently as her partner would like so
this would result in a situation where
the man would like sex the woman
wouldn't like they would have fights and
eventually this would tend to uh
classify low sexual desire as a
dysfunction so we tend to label uh this
as a dysfunction because uh this uh
creates friction uh between uh the
couples um again woman who classify uh
fall in this category that is
approximately 40% of women um doesn't
mean that they are real or anything
that's a normal uh
variation okay all right so that's uh
the kind of uh labeling um uh we uh
give okay so um to bring everything uh
together in order to understand where we
are uh uh today um uh we sort of need uh
to figure out uh where uh we came from
um and we came from uh an environment a
context where M Choice was uh
regulated uh and as a consequence this
um on certain aspects of sexual
functioning there had been a weak
selection uh
pressures uh and uh uh this result in
considerable variation in certain
aspects of uh uh sexual uh
functioning um now because the
environment is different this this
variation might need uh might cause
people problems however this is a normal
uh variation at least in most of the
cases it is a normal uh variation so
that's I guess the take-home message uh
uh of today that uh most people that um
uh experience these difficulties uh they
shouldn't think that okay that I'm me or
there's something wrong with me or
whatever this is a normal and common and
very common thing but before I finish I
wouldn't like people to think that's
okay fine all right that's if I have
this difficulty all right no problem
it's normal I'm going home and that's it
no uh perhaps people need to uh work on
this if this is causes them problems so
I mean to go back to my uh uh example
with the noses uh let's say if I have uh
a big nose um well that's normal Vari
ation okay um but perhaps this causes me
some problems I don't like it it hurts
my self-esteem aesthetically it's not
what I want um so even if it is a normal
variation if this is cause me trouble
perhaps I may consider uh to have some
uh plastic surgery now the same goes
with the sexual dysfunctions in most of
the cases um uh uh people people who
face uh sexual dysfunction that's a
normal
variation however if you're not
satisfied with uh your sexual
functioning um my suggestion is try to
do something about it so to improve on
this so that's all thank you very much
for listening
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