Men Who Cheat - Does Biology Override Psychology?

A recent study in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin suggests that men may actually cheat in relationships more than women, but they attribute it to a more powerful biological sex impulse and not to an inability to keep their zipper zipped.

Part of this paper (Study 1) featured 218 Mechanical Turk (an Amazon service that pays per task) users (70 men, 148 women) who were 32.3 years old on average (SD= 11.6, range=18-70). According to this study, men were slightly more likely than women to act on self-described inappropriate attractions.


BUT, part of this paper (Study 2) was conducted with college-aged subjects (326 men, 274 women) with a median age of 18.6 (SD-0.84) - the time in a man's life when testosterone is high and common sense is low, not to mention the peer pressure to hook-up and the greater percentage of females willing to settle for a hook-up. It was this portion of the study that determined men have greater sexual impulses and not a lack of willpower.

Despite the paper under discussion being based on two different studies, it seems that any attempt to expand these results to incorporate men in general is short-sighted and reductionist. If they conducted the same studies with men and women in the 28-32 cohort, as well as a 38-42, 48-52, and 58-62 cohort, for example, they could then begin to see an "average" disposition for men across their sexually active years.

Personally, I might attribute cheating college guys less to the power of their sex drive and more to the prevalent idea that college is where you sow your wild oats, don't get involved in long-term relationships, and party as much as possible.

Anyway . . . summary below from Science 2.0 and then the abstract to the article. The whole article is freely available online - here.

Do Men Cheat More Than Women? If So, It May Be Biological, Says Psychologist

By News Staff | September 22nd 2013

A recently published paper strongly suggests men succumb to sexual temptations more than women — for example, cheating on a partner or stealing a girl from another guy — because they experience strong sexual impulses, not because they have weak self-control. At least when it comes to those of college age.

Previous papers have said that men are more likely than women to pursue romantic partners that are "off limits" but there has been no real theoretical explanation for this sex difference.

One possible explanation for this effect is that men experience stronger sexual impulses than women do. A second possibility is that women have better self-control than men. The current paper in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin supports the former explanation and provide new insight into humans' evolutionary origins.

"Overall, these studies suggest that men are more likely to give in to sexual temptations because they tend to have stronger sexual impulse strength than women do," says lead author Natasha Tidwell, a doctoral student in the Department of Psychology at Texas A&M University. "But when people exercise self-control in a given situation, this sex difference in behavior is greatly reduced. It makes sense that self-control, which has relatively recent evolutionary origins compared to sexual impulses, would work similarly — and as effectively — for both men and women."

Results were determined by two separate experiments: the first, to determine how the sexes reacted to real-life sexual temptations in their past and, the second, to pick apart sexual impulses and self-control using a rapid-fire reaction time task.

In order to test their first hypothesis, researchers recruited 218 (70 male, 148 female) study participants, who were first asked to recall and describe an attraction to an unavailable or incompatible member of the opposite sex. They then answered survey questions designed to measure strength of sexual impulse, attempts to intentionally control the sexual impulse, and resultant behaviors.

"When men reflected on their past sexual behavior, they reported experiencing relatively stronger impulses and acting on those impulses more than women did," says Tidwell. However, men and women did not differ in the extent to which they exerted self-control. "When men and women said they actually did exert self-control in sexual situations, impulse strength didn't predict how much either sex would actually engage in 'off-limits' sex."

"Men have plenty of self-control — just as much as women," says senior author Paul W. Eastwick. "However, if men fail to use self-control, their sexual impulses can be quite strong. This is often the situation when cheating occurs."

In order to measure the strength of sexual impulse relative to the strength of impulse control, the researchers recruited 600 undergraduate students (326 men, 274 women) to participate in a "Partner Selection Game."

Participants were very briefly shown images of opposite-sex individuals; the images were tagged either "good for you" or "bad for you." Participants were asked to accept or reject potential partners based on the computer-generated "good for you" or "bad for you" prompt. While they were shown photographs of both desirable and undesirable individuals, participants were instructed to make acceptance and rejection choices based on the computer-generated tags.

In some trials, participants were asked to accept desirable and reject undesirable individuals; in other trials, participants were asked to go against their inclinations by rejecting desirable individuals and accepting undesirable individuals.

Men experienced a much stronger impulse to "accept" the desirable rather than the undesirable partners, and this impulse partially explained why men performed worse on the task than women did. However, this same procedure estimates people's ability to exert control over their responses, and men did not demonstrate a poorer ability to control their responses relative to women.

Full Citation: 
Tidwell ND, and Eastwick PW. (2013, Aug 22). Sex Differences in Succumbing to Sexual Temptations A Function of Impulse or Control? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin;
XX(X), 1–14. doi: 10.1177/0146167213499614

Abstract

Men succumb to sexual temptations (e.g., infidelity, mate poaching) more than women. Explanations for this effect vary; some researchers propose that men and women differ in sexual impulse strength, whereas others posit a difference in sexual self-control. These studies are the first to test such underlying mechanisms. In Study 1, participants reported on their impulses and intentional control exertion when they encountered a real-life tempting but forbidden potential partner. Study 2 required participants to perform a reaction-time task in which they accepted/rejected potential partners, and we used process dissociation to separate the effects of impulse and control. In both studies, men succumbed to the sexual temptations more than women, and this sex difference emerged because men experienced stronger impulses, not because they exerted less intentional control. Implications for the integration of evolutionary and self-regulatory perspectives on sex differences are discussed.

Prolactin - The Brain Chemical That Can Kill Libido in Long-Term Relationships

This is an interesting article on prolactin, a chemical (hormone) both men and women produce this chemical, which performs a wide variety of roles in the human body. Here is a little from Wikipedia on prolactin:

Prolactin ... stimulates the mammary glands to produce milk (lactation): Increased serum concentrations of prolactin during pregnancy cause enlargement of the mammary glands of the breasts and prepare for the production of milk. Milk production normally starts when the levels of progesterone fall by the end of pregnancy and a suckling stimulus is present. Sometimes, newborn babies (males as well as females) secrete a milky substance from their nipples known as witch's milk. This is in part caused by maternal prolactin and other hormones. 

Prolactin provides the body with sexual gratification after sexual acts: The hormone counteracts the effect of dopamine, which is responsible for sexual arousal. This is thought to cause the sexual refractory period. The amount of prolactin can be an indicator for the amount of sexual satisfaction and relaxation. Unusually high amounts are suspected to be responsible for impotence and loss of libido (see hyperprolactinemia symptoms). 

Highly elevated levels of prolactin decrease the levels of sex hormones — estrogen in women and testosterone in men.[3] The effects of mildly elevated levels of prolactin are much more variable, in women both substantial increase or decrease of estrogen levels may result.

For men in particular, increased levels of prolactin are seriously problematic. As is stated above, prolactin in men decreases testosterone, which decreases libido and sexual function. That is the context of this question/answer article from Alternet (originally from The Guardian [UK]).

"I Love Her But the Sex Has Died": The Brain Chemical That Can Kill Libido in Long-Term Relationships

Trying to sustain a long-term relationship that is also sexual presents humans with a chemical catch-22

July 9, 2013 | By Carole Jahme 

Writer Carole Jahme shines the cold light of evolutionary psychology on readers' problems.

From an anonymous male, aged 40+

I have been in several very loving, amorous, "serious" relationships as an adult, none frivolous and none (at least on a conscious level – who the hell knows what's going on with me subconsiously) with the intention of being short-term.

Inevitably, however, my sexual attraction for my partner wanes to the point where we become virtually non-sexual. This can happen in less that a year after the relationship started. This condition consistently contributes to the relationship falling apart. My emotional feeling of love stays constant, and the breakup is traumatic for both of us. Add to the mix my undeniable enjoyment of and never-failing satisfaction with masturbation, and it seems to be a recipe for disaster. Is there an evolutionary take on any of this?

Carole replies:

Trying to sustain a long-term relationship that is also sexual presents humans with a chemical catch-22.

Studies on the length of relationships have shown that couples in harmonious, stable and trusting long-term relationships have higher blood levels of oxytocin (a chemical that regulates attachment, promotes cooperation and facilitates sensations of joy and love) than people who are not in compatible relationships. These happy couples also reap other benefits in terms of longer lifespan, lower rates of alcoholism, depression and illness, and more rapid recovery after accidental injury.

But there are conflicting chemicals at work in sexual relationships that sometimes prevent them from ever becoming long-term. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in the limbic system – the brain's primitive reward centre. It mediates both the sex drive and addiction to drugs. Brain scans have shown that the rapid rise in dopamine levels during orgasm is similar to that seen in a heroin high. But dopamine falls rapidly following orgasm in both males and females and is replaced with rising levels of a hormone called prolactin.

Both are part of the brain's "dopaminergic" reward system.

At first, rising prolactin causes sleepy post-orgasm contentment. (Interestingly the amount of prolactin produced is far greater after sex with a partner than after masturbation. Thus there is little prolactin relief for those who masturbate.) But once this sleepy feeling of satiation has passed, prolactin may go on rising and cause problems for couples wanting to sustain a long-term sexual relationship. In both men and women excess levels of prolactin can cause loss of libido, anxiety, headaches, mood swings and depression.

High prolactin is associated with sensations of despair. When the prolactin levels of newly caged wild monkeys were monitored, the hormone was seen to rise once the animals realised they were trapped. Levels of the hormone were much higher in monkeys incarcerated for months compared with wild animals that had only just been caged. Science has yet to determine how long prolactin continues to rise and remain high in humans after orgasm, so this is speculative, but in a relationship with lots of sex it could mean levels are elevated for weeks or even months.

How does all this tie in with your predilection for maturbation? There have been some illuminating studies of this behaviour in non-human primates. It has been found, for example, that male monkeys who masturbate tend to be of low status, whereas high-status male monkeys are likely only to experience ejaculation during sex. It also seems that the frequency of masturbation is higher in captive primates than in wild animals. You can make of this what you will.

The dopaminergic system varies among humans, some people exhibiting more reward-seeking behaviour than others, and this may go some way towards explaining why many relationships are burnt out after a year. In reproductive terms, 12 months is long enough for fertilisation to take place. It is also certainly long enough for prolactin levels to rise. Once your libido flags and anxiety sets in, the short-term reward gained from masturbating may give you a dopamine "high" without risking bringing on that post-orgasmic prolactin "low".

Chemical compatibility is essential to all good relationships. Couples lucky enough to enjoy long-term partnerships may have similar sex drives (perhaps not too much sex, or even none at all?) and dopaminergic systems that don't flood their bodies with too much prolactin. Human behaviour seems to be under the control of two evolutionary programs: one that results in fertilisation, disillusionment and a series of partners, and the other that enables humans to develop the lasting relationships that lead to long, happy and healthy lives.

References
1. Carter, SC (1998) Neuroendocrine perspectives on social attachment and love. Psychoneuroendocrinology; 23(8): 779-818.

2. DeVries, C, Glasper, ER (2005) Social structure influences effects of pair-housing on wound healing. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity; 19(1): 61-68.

3. Coan, JA et al (2006) Lending a hand: social regulation of the neural response to threat. Psychological Science, A Journal of the Association for Psychological Science; 17(12): 1032-1039.

4. Holden, AEC et al (2008) The influence of depression on sexual risk reduction and STD infection in a controlled, randomized intervention trial. Journal of Sexually Transmitted Diseases; 35(10): 898-904.

5. Holstege, G et al (2003) Brain activation during human male ejaculation. The Journal of Neuroscience; 23(27): 9185-9193.

6. Heaton, JPW (2003) Prolactin: An integral player in hormonal politics.Contemporary Urology; 15: 17-25.

7. Suleman, BVM, Mbaruk, A et al. (2004) Physiologic manifestations of stress from capture and restraint of free-ranging male African green monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops). Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine; 35(1): 20-24.

8. Thomsen, R, Soltis, J (2004) Male masturbation in free-ranging Japanese macaques. International Journal of Primatology; 25(5): 0164-0291.

9. Guo, G, Tong, Y et al (2007) Dopamine transporter, gender, and number of sexual partners among young adults. European Journal of Human Genetics; 15: 279–287.

What's Normal Testosterone Anyway? The Complex Truth About Low Testosterone

From Men's Journal, two articles to help men understand a little more about what testosterone is whether or not we should be supplementing with it when our testosterone gets lower with age.

Here is my educated and largely minority position:

I support testosterone replacement with a doctor's guidance and with close attention to the details of side effects and outcomes. BUT I only support this when the two best approaches have been exhausted - diet and weight training - both of which increase natural testosterone levels.

A diet with adequate protein, 1/3 of fat calories from monounsaturated fats, at least 10% of fat calories coming from saturated fats, and so on, can jack up your testosterone. All of the sex hormones are made from cholesterol (which is why we need the saturated fat), and we also need the monounsaturated fats for healthy hormone production.

Heavy weight training (4-8 reps per set, and multiple sets with the aim of 24-35 total reps per exercise) has a powerful impact on test levels.

If those approaches have been tried and given time to work (with regular checks of hormone levels), then we can look at T replacement. My caveat to this is that we also need to use an aromatase inhibitor to prevent any excess T from being converted to estrogen. An occasional dose of clomiphene can also keep natural testosterone from cessation and reduce estrogenic side effects. However, most T replacement protocols provide so little T that the risk of conversion is slight.

But I am not a doctor, so check with your own doctor before yadda, yadda, yadda.

Anyway, here ya go.

What's Normal Testosterone Anyway?

Deciphering what normal testosterone means.

While we're all being conditioned by health-care pros to "know our numbers" – from cholesterol to blood pressure – precisely what constitutes normal for testosterone seems less clear. When the Endocrine Society first set their guidelines in 2006, they did so based on the readings of some 120 males (dropping the highest and lowest few percentiles) and arriving at a range between 288-1,000 (ng./dl.), with most doctors setting the cut-off point for men at 300. But even this number is merely a guideline, and it's not unlikely that normal men with no symptoms of low testosterone would have levels in the 200 range. Most doctors agree that the number should only matter if you have multiple symptoms of low T, and like Dr. Gregory Bernstein, believe a number may be highly individualized. "Some men may live at what would be considered a low level, and that's normal for them," he says. "Whereas other men need higher levels. It goes back to the question that we don't know what truly is normal."

– Mark Healy

The Complex Truth About Low Testosterone

Illustration by John Ueland

Should you take testosterone?

Over the past few years anyone who's turned on a TV or opened up a Web browser has probably been bombarded with come-ons about low testosterone – or "low T" – and the crucial role the hormone plays in a man's health. And with good reason. After all, the problem of testosterone deficiency is in many ways the perfect medical problem: It's easy to correct with supplemental doses of the hormone, and treating it combats an array of inevitable, age-related conditions: depression, low energy, inability to build muscle, trouble sleeping, waning libido, even heart problems. Now, thanks to a savvy, shame-free marketing campaign by various companies offering testosterone gels – the "low T" business is booming. Sales of supplemental testosterone have more than doubled since 2006 and there are as many as 5.6 million men estimated to be currently taking testosterone. Men over 40 are showing up at their doctor's office wondering if their T levels are high enough, and whether they could benefit from cranking them up a notch.

But, as promising as hormone replacement is, the intricacies of our body chemistry largely remain a mystery, and there's still little consensus over which patients actually need testosterone supplements and what levels are considered abnormally low. Though the potential repercussions of the therapy – the lowering of sperm production and the possible hastening of existing prostate cancer – are understood and acknowledged, there is no shortage of men looking to take advantage of a little hormonal edge.

"You have all the drug companies pushing their formulations, and saying that testosterone replacement is the be-all, end-all," says Dr. Gregory Bernstein, a urologist at Washington Urology at Virginia Hospital Center. "But the fact is, this is sort of in its infancy still. There's a lot we don't know about testosterone."

Scott Berliner, a clinical integrative pharmacist who has been administering hormone therapy, including testosterone, for more than 25 years, believes that we need to look at the causes of low testosterone rather than merely replacing what the body is lacking. Two culprits, he says, are stress and the abundance of toxins – from the parabens and heavy metals in our deodorant and shampoos to the chemicals in our food – that raise male estrogen levels while lowering testosterone. Berliner points to a fairly complicated process called "cortisol steal" in which cortisol, a sort of superhormone the body uses to cope with stress and to process information, can throw off testosterone production by robbing the body of other hormones (namely DHEA) it would otherwise use to make testosterone. "Basically when you have a lot of stress and a lot of information to process, the body's requirement of cortisol goes up, and often the body will rob [from the DHEA] to make more cortisol rather than testosterone. That's why stress can lower libido. Combine that with the amount of toxins the average person consumes, and the process of making testosterone is disrupted." Before beginning a program of testosterone, Berliner suggests patients first limit their intake of testosterone-inhibiting chemicals by switching to chemical-free grooming products and adopting an organic diet.

Some physicians are beginning to take a more measured approach because the therapy is still relatively new and may have regrettable side effects. Exacerbating any existing prostate cancer is the main worry, and testosterone therapy is not recommended for men who have the disease or have a high risk of the disease. Bernstein exercises greater vigilance of the prostate in patients who are on testosterone therapy. "There are no studies that show that testosterone replacement causes prostate cancer," he says, "but if you're going to go on testosterone replacement, you need to be extra vigilant in your prostate-cancer screening now that we've revved up the system. These prostate cells are getting stimulated by this extra testosterone, and now you've sort of unleashed the cancer cells to start multiplying as well."

Another, more surprising, potential effect of supplemental testosterone is a drop in sperm production. So when treating patients who are suffering from low T who want to remain fertile, Bernstein prescribes clomiphene citrate (Clomid is one brand name), which stimulates sperm production in the testes as it also increases testosterone. "It's a way to stimulate the body to make its own increase in testosterone rather than taking it externally," he says. Similarly, other physicians prescribe not testosterone replacement, but a supplement of the hormonal precursors to testosterone, like the steroid DHEA.

Beyond decreased sperm production, another repercussion you don't see in the pop-up window ads asking "Is it low T?" is dependence: Once you begin taking testosterone, it's very difficult to stop because the body accommodates for the extra hormone and slows its natural production of it. In reality, replacing hormones is a lifelong commitment. Perhaps that's why some doctors are counseling patients to use caution and to look for other solutions before signing on for full testosterone therapy. Others see the gradual decrease in testosterone as a natural form of aging that we can combat by building muscle and reducing stress, even while we accept it and learn to live with it.

"I think too many people come in to see me thinking that giving them testosterone is going to be the fix for all their problems," says Bernstein, "and that's not the case. It needs to be used in the right scenario."

Dr. Ronald Swerdloff, Chief of Endocrinology at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and one of the authors of the Endocrine Society's recent guidelines, which advocated prescribing the therapy only to men who both exhibit symptoms and show low levels, sees both sides. "There are undoubtedly people who are being treated that don't meet the best guidelines. But there are many people who do meet the guidelines who aren't being treated."

From io9, this is an excellent summary of the current knowledge on gendered differences in sex drive - with the caveat that this article and the researchers mentioned are working within the traditional binary limitations on what appears as male and female genders. There are a lot of links to original research.

Do men really have higher sex drives than women?

ROBERT T. GONZALEZ 

1/21/13 11:27am

There is possibly no greater source of debate than the age-old question of whether men want sex more than women. But embedded in that debate are a host of other questions. What is a "sex drive" anyway? What is a good scientific way to compare men and women's sexual desires? What happens when women want it more than men? Does sexual desire in gay and lesbian couples mirror that of men and women in straight relationships?

Let's explore, starting with the largest sex study ever conducted.

One big sex survey

In 2005, the BBC conducted a massive cross-cultural internet survey (over 200,000 participants across 53 countries) that looked at, among other things, self-reported sex drive and sociosexuality (basically how prudish people are in their sexual attitudes and behavior). Height, a physical trait with a pretty unambiguously gender-based difference, was also measured.

Men across all cultures reported higher sex drives and less restricted sexual attitudes than women, but women were consistently more variable than men in their sex drives. Another important, if not entirely surprising pattern, suggests that these differences are not entirely biological, and are due in some part to social and cultural ideologies.

Gender equality and economic development tended to predict, across nations, sex differences in sociosexuality, but not sex differences in sex drive or height. Parameters for sociosexuality tended to vary across nations more than parameters for sex drive and height did.

No surprise there. Women compelled to wear burkas will probably relate to sex and sexuality differently than more sartorially liberated western counterparts. Women who've grown up getting told by creepy old men to squeeze an aspirin between their knees are liable to self-report more conservative behaviors and attitudes about sex.

These variations also play into what psychologist Richard Lippa calls "a hybrid model," wherein "both biological and social… influences contribute to sex differences." It's the old nature vs. nurture debate, and it's part of why sex, sexuality, sex drive — and the studies that investigate them — are so damn complicated. It's also why questions about sexual appetite require more than one study to fully explore.

The BBC survey was just one study. A big study, sure, but the fact of the matter is that there's no one way to measure the strength of someone's sex drive. As Case Western psychologists Roy Baumeister, Kathleen Catanese and Kathleen Vohs point out in this fantastic review of research on gender differences in sexual desire:

On an a priori basis, one would expect the difference in motivation to be reflected in desired frequency of sex, desired variety of sex acts and partners, frequency of fantasy, frequency of masturbation, number of partners, frequency of thinking about sex, willingness to make sacrifices in other spheres to obtain sex, and the like.

Good luck finding a single study that covers all those factors. (Hint: there isn't one.) As a general rule, there is no single survey, no particular sample population (even one with 200,000+ participants) that is perfect. What you really need is a lot of studies. Baumeister and crew combed through over 150 of them for their review. Let's look at some of what they found.

Men want it more, succumb to it more, and pay more money for it

Most studies suggest that lustful tendencies — including spontaneous sexual thoughts,uncontrolled or unwanted thoughts and spontaneous physical arousal — are a lot more common in men than in women.

The same goes for studies that focus on the desired frequency of sex. Men tend to want sex more than women, whether it's at the beginning of a relationship or after 20 years of marriage.

What about gays and lesbians? Research on sexual desire in same-sex relationships is particularly interesting, and, again, suggests that men desire sex more frequently than women, regardless of either gender's sexual orientation. Baumeister's summary warrants a lengthy citation:

One large investigation that included a sizeable sample of same-gender relationships was the study by Blumstein and Schwartz. They found that gay men had higher frequencies of sex than lesbians at all stages of relationships. Within the first 2 years of a relationship, for example, two thirds of the gay men but only one third of the lesbians were in the maximum category of having sex three or more times per week (the highest frequency category). After 10 years together, 11% of the gay men but only 1% of the lesbians were still in that category of highly frequent sex. 

At the other extreme, after 10 years nearly half the lesbians, but only a third of the gay men, were having sex less than once a month. Even that difference may be a substantial underestimate of the discrepancy in sexual activity: Blumstein and Schwartz reported that the gay men who had largely ceased having sex after 10 years together were often having sex with other partners, whereas the lesbians who had ceased having sex together had generally not compensated for this deficit by finding other sexual outlets. A lack of sexual desire and activity in women is reflected in the phrase "lesbian bed death," (e.g., Iasenza, 2000) which has been coined to describe the low levels of sexual activity among lesbians in long-term relationships.

This pattern of greater male sex drive, manifested in a variety of forms, turns up in study after study after study. A representative sampling:

• Several studies show that men desire significantly more sex partners than women. (One survey found that, uninhibited by factors like disease or laws, college age females would ideally like to have 2.7 sex partners over the entire rest of their lives. College age males, on the other hand, desired an average of 64 lifetime sex partners.)
• Men masturbate more. A meta-analysis of 26 studies on gender differences in sexual behavior found that "masturbation was the largest difference of all the variables they examined, with men nearly a full standard deviation higher than women."
• Several studies to date indicate that women have an easier time than men going without sexual gratification. For a particularly interesting (if unsettling, given the long and sordid history of sexual abuse in the Catholic church) look at the ability and willingness to forego sex, see this investigation on clerical celibacy among Catholic men and women.

Men also spend way more money on porn, are less likely to report a pathological lack of sexual desire, and tend to rate their genitals — and the genitals of their partners — as more inherently lovable and attractive than women.

A Biological Basis?

The role of social and cultural pressures on these experimental findings cannot be ignored, but studies are beginning to turn up more and more compelling evidence of a biological basis for differing sex drives, as well.

Take testosterone, for example. Men's blood testosterone levels are, on average, seven or eight times higher than women's. Recent studies have shown that women administered high doses of testosterone reported an increase in sexual activity, reports of pleasure and orgasm, sexual arousal and sexual desires relative to women administered a placebo. Studies on female-to-male and male-to-female transexuals lend these findings additional credence. Writes Baumeister:

A study of 35 female-to-male transsexuals and 15 male-to-female transsexuals also supports the impact of androgens on sex drive. In a longitudinal design that tested patients before and 3 months postoperatively, Van Goozen, Cohen-Kettenis, Gooren, Frijda, & Van de Poll (1995) found a decrease in sexual interest and arousability among the male-to-female transsexuals, who were administered anti-androgens and estrogens. In contrast, the female-to-male transsexuals, who were administered testosterone, reported heightened sexual interest and arousability. These data highlight the importance of testosterone in producing meaningful changes in sexual arousal and interest, even over a relatively short time. 

Sex Drive ≠ Sexual Capacity ≠ Sexual Enjoyment ≠ Sexuality, etc.

All of this brings us to some glaring, massively important points. Greater sex drive does not translate to greater capacity for sex, or greater enjoyment of sex. (The latter is a pretty tough thing to nail down, but the fact that women are physically capable of engaging in more sex, and of having more orgasms, would suggest that women's capacity for sex is greater than men's). Nor does it suggest a greater inherent male sexuality. And the idea that greater sexual desire is always a good or desirable thing is so ass-backwards it barely warrants mentioning in the first place.

Perhaps the most important point in any discussion about sex and sexual desire is that differences in sexual appetite — especially in studies like the ones cited by Baumeister and his colleagues — reflect tendencies across large populations. Things can play out very, very differently on an individual level. The relationship between a person and his or her sexual partner/partners — male, female or transgendered — will vary enormously.

The fact is: women wind up wanting sex more than their male partners ALL THE TIME, and the expectation of higher male desire can have a devastating impact on a relationship. As Hugo Schwyzer explains in this great piece for Jezebel, a lack of balance in a sexual desire between two people of any gender can be problematic, but it's often especially difficult when the situation arises between a woman and her less-horny male partner:

As therapists have pointed out again and again for years, most of us come into relationships with a "He who cares less, wins" model. The lower-desire partner has the power to grant or deny - and that often leaves the higher-desire partner feeling powerless and rejected, and the lower-desire partner feeling guilty. 

And while that's true when the man is the one with the higher desire, at least in that instance both he and his low-desire female partner are aware that they are following a culturally appropriate script. Because men are "supposed" to want "it" more, men are also "supposed" to be accustomed to rejection: "it's not me", a man can tell himself, "it's just that women naturally aren't as sexual as men." When our own experience lines up with the myths, we may be frustrated or resentful - but at least we are reassured that we're "normal." Higher-desire women don't get that reassurance. Neither, for that matter, do their male partners.

For more level-headed discussion on the study and theorizing of sexuality and sexual desire, check out the exhaustive review by Buameister, Catanese and Vohs. It's pleasantly clear, balanced, and surprisingly readable stuff:

Is There a Gender Difference in Strength of Sex Drive? Theoretical Views, Conceptual Distinctions, and a Review of Relevant Evidence

Images via Shutterstock

Maybe Testosterone Replacement Is Not the Answer

I have advocated for testosterone replacement for men with low or even low-normal testosterone levels for many years. More and more doctors have gotten on board with that approach despite a very vocal minority of doctors who consider it dangerous or non-effective.

Some of the symptoms of low testosterone include muscle loss and strength decline, cognitive decline, cardiovascular disease, decreased libido, erectile dysfunction, depression, decreased masculinity, fat gain, metabolic disorders, decreased energy and work performance, and even height loss due to loss of bone density.

Unless the man is concerned about fertility, the usual method of replacement is a transdermal gel or cream, and some of the better known products are AndroGel, Axiron, Testim, and Fortesta. In younger men concerned about fertility, testosterone injections are given every two weeks or up to every three months, depending on the form.

Some of the risks of testosterone therapy include growth of prostate cancer and breast cancer, worsened symptoms of benign prostatic hypertrophy, liver toxicity and liver tumor (only with oral administration), gynecomastia (breast tissue growth), erythrocytosis (thickening of blood due to increased red blood cell production), testicular atrophy and infertility, skin diseases (usually only with the patch), and new or exacerbated sleep apnea.

Most or all of these can be managed with an aromatase inhibitor to prevent the conversion of testosterone to estrogen and with maintaining moderate T levels as opposed to high-normal.

For a good overview of the benefits and risks, The benefits and risks of testosterone replacement therapy: A review by Nazem Bassil, Saad Alkaade, and John E Morley (2009) is a an excellent open access paper (Ther Clin Risk Manag.; 5: 427–448).

All of this brings me to the point of this post - there might be another way to get the benefits while reducing the risks.

Dr. William Llewellyn often researches and writes about hormone manipulation in athletes (body builders mostly) and the general public - his team offers testosterone therapy for aging men. He recently posted an article that summarizes some new research on using aromatase inhibitors to reduce estrogen and increase testosterone, without the risks of t-replacement therapy. Better yet, these can be taken as a daily pill with no liver risks, and no injections to worry about.

Arimidex vs. Femara for increasing testosterone in men (HRT)

June 5, 2012 By William Llewellyn

Testosterone medications like AndroGel, Axiron, Testim, and Fortesta are the products most widely prescribed to treat age related hormone decline in men, a condition know as andropause or adult hypogonadism. However, direct hormone replacement is not ideal for all patients. This often includes men looking to maintain fertility, or those with low testosterone caused by excess estrogen. To better treat such cases, a number of alternate therapies are being investigated. Several of these involve anti-estrogenic or aromatase-inhibiting drugs, which can raise testosterone levels by lowering the activity of estrogen. This works because estrogen is a strong inhibiting signal towards testosterone synthesis in men. When estrogen levels go up, testosterone drops.

Researchers at the Aretaieion Hospital in Athens Greece recently completed a study comparing the use of Femara (letrozole) and Arimidex (anastrozole) in men with low testosterone, which are two of the more potent and modern aromatase inhibitors. The study involved infertile men (n=29), all having testosterone concentrations below 300 ng/dL and a T/E ratio under 10. The men were divided into two groups, each given either 1 mg of anastrozole or 2.5 mg of letrozole per day. The medications were continued for six months. At the end of therapy, basic health markers were compared to baseline, including hormone levels and sperm density. The data is presented in the tables below.

The results in this study appeared to be promising for both drugs. Sperm density was improved in 73.4% of the men taking letrozole, and 78.6% for those using anastrozole. Testosterone was substantially improved for both groups as well. With men taking letrozole, testosterone increased from 275 ng/dL to 495 ng/dL on average, an 80% bump. With anastrozole, the average testosterone level went from 265 ng/dL to 513 ng/dL, or a 94% increase. Side effects were mild and transient, including GI upset, lethargy, headache, and liver enzyme elevations in a small number of patients. Both drugs were deemed “well tolerated”, and none of the participants were forced to discontinue treatment.

No comparative conclusions could be drawn in this study. Letrozole and anastrozole appeared equally effective at treating men with low testosterone, infertility, and low T/E ratio. There are still questions that need to be answered, especially when it comes to the long-term safety of this type of therapy. In particular, there are some concerns with a potential loss of bone mineral density, or elevations in serum cholesterol and cardiovascular disease risk. Still, the results here were promising, and add to a series of other positive studies with men taking AI drugs for low testosterone. The present researchers have furthered this discussion by recommending the use of T/E ratio as an additional diagnostic tool. A ratio below 10:1 would identify those hypogonadal men that might benefit from aromatase inhibitor therapy.

Source: Fertil Steril. 2012 May 11. [Epub ahead of print]

 

Researchers - Male sex drive 'to blame for world's conflicts'

According to a bunch of nutjob evolutionary psychologists, in a new study published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, a review of the "evolutionary evidence" supports the so-called "male warrior hypothesis" as the origin of all human conflict.

Yep, it's that simple. Turn off the male sex drive and there will be no more wars, no more religious disputes, and no more English soccer hooligans (I'd bet cutting off the beer would have more impact on this last one).

People actually believe shit like this.

This was published in The Telegraph UK.

Male sex drive 'to blame for world's conflicts'

The male sex drive is to blame for most of the world's conflicts from football hooliganism to religious disputes and even world wars, according to scientists.

Men are programmed to be aggressive towards anyone they view as an outsider  

By Nick Collins, Science Correspondent

23 Jan 2012

The "male warrior" instinct means that men are programmed to be aggressive towards anyone they view as an outsider, a study claims.

In evolutionary terms an instinct for violence against others helped early men improve their status and gain more access to mates, but in modern terms this can translate into large-scale wars.

In contrast women are naturally equipped with a "tend and befriend" attitude which means they seek to resolve conflicts peacefully in order to protect their children, researchers said.

The study, published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, is a review of evolutionary evidence for the so-called "male warrior hypothesis".

It claims that in every culture throughout history, men have been more likely than women to use violence when confronted by people they saw as outsiders.

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The "tribal" attitude of men, ultimately aimed at boosting their chances of reproducing, is similar to the territorial behaviour of chimpanzees, it was claimed.

The study also examined evidence which suggests men have a stronger sense of group identity than women, and that they will develop closer ties with others in their group if they are in competition with rivals.

Although men's hostile responses most likely evolved to combat the threat from outsiders, they "might not be functional in modern times and are often counterproductive," experts said.

Over time this has resulted in full-scale wars between countries and empires, and also in scraps and skirmishes between rival groups of football supporters and urban gangs.

Prof Mark van Vugt, who led the study, said: "A solution to conflict, which is an all too common problem in societies today, remains elusive. One reason for this might be the difficulty we have in changing our mindset, which has evolved over thousands of years.

"Our review of the academic literature suggests that the human mind is shaped in a way that tends to perpetuate conflict with ‘outsiders’."

Prof van Vugt said the research established that conflict with other groups of men presented our ancestors with opportunities to improve their status and gain more access to territory and potential mates.

He added: "We see similar behaviour in chimpanzees. For example, the males continuously monitor the borders of their territory.

"If a female from another group comes along, she may be persuaded to emigrate to his group. When a male strays too far, however, he is likely to be brutally beaten and possibly killed."

Research by Californian scientists in 2008 showed that the evolution of aggression and bravery in men was down to competition for mates and territory.

Their study showed that our genes can have a significant impact on traits like belligerence, meaning that in the course of our history the most aggressive group was singled out by natural selection.

Hunter-gatherer communities engaged in frequent skirmishes with other, neighbouring groups, taking land, goods and women as a reward for victory.

This meant belligerence was rewarded with reproductive success, and the benefits of the trait were genetically passed down to future generations, while those lacking aggression were filtered out.

There are several historical examples linking the male sex drive and conflict, such as Mongolian warlord Genghis Khan who studies suggest has 16 million direct male descendants today as a result of his appetite for women.

Vikings also left a strong genetic fingerprint in areas like the Scottish Western Isles, the Isle of Skye and Iceland because raiding parties would take local wives as a reward for successful raids.

Web MD - Researchers Identify Male Menopause Symptoms

The correct term is andropause (or late-onset hypogonadism), not male menopause. Now that we squared that away, it's good that we are much closer to a diagnosis. It's not all the same for all men. Low test levels may not even register for some men, while others can be in the middle-normal range and exhibit all of the emotional and physiological symptoms.

The three physical symptoms were: difficulty in engaging in vigorous physical activity, inability to walk one kilometer, and inability to bend or stoop. The three psychological symptoms were: low energy, feeling sad, and fatigue.

They report a very low level of diagnosis (2%) which feels WAY off to me.

Researchers Identify Male Menopause Symptoms

Decreased Sex Drive and Fatigue Are Among Symptoms of Late-Onset Hypogonadism

By Katrina Woznicki
WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

June 17, 2010 -- European researchers have identified physical and psychological symptoms that along with a decreased testosterone level can help diagnose “male menopause.”

Male menopause, known clinically as late-onset hypogonadism, refers to a drop in testosterone levels, which sometimes occurs as men age. Although all women experience menopause (a significant decline of estrogen) as they age, only a small number of aging men have male menopause. The study appears in the June 17 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

In this study, researchers from the Development and Regenerative Biomedicine Research Group at the University of Manchester in England suggest that about 2% of elderly men enrolled in the European Male Aging Study may have male menopause. The UK team based their findings on a random sampling of men participating in the European Male Aging Study. Their sampling included 3,369 men between the ages 40 and 79 who came from eight European centers.

Study researcher Frederick C. W. Wu, MD, and his colleagues surveyed the men about their physical, sexual, and psychological health. Morning blood samples were collected to assess testosterone levels. Men with pituitary or testicular diseases were excluded from the study.

Wu and colleagues identified three key symptoms related to sexual health that were associated with a decreased testosterone level and contributing to a male menopause diagnosis -- erectile dysfunction, reduced sex drive, and decreased frequency of morning erection. Six non-sexual symptoms were also identified as possibly contributing to a male menopause diagnosis. The three physical symptoms were: difficulty in engaging in vigorous physical activity, inability to walk one kilometer, and inability to bend or stoop. The three psychological symptoms were: low energy, feeling sad, and fatigue. However, the researchers noted the physical and psychological symptoms were not as strongly associated to low testosterone levels as the three sexual symptoms.

Overall, 2.1% of study group participants had testosterone levels and at least three sexual symptoms associated with criteria for late-onset hypogonadism. Researchers reported the prevalence of hypogonadism would likely increase with age; from 0.1% for men aged 40 to 49 to 0.6% for men aged 50 to 59, to 3.2% for men aged 60 to 69, and to 5.1% for men aged 70 to 79. The study also showed that men who had male menopause were more likely to have other health problems, such as being obese.

The findings, Wu said, could help doctors identify who is at risk for male menopause and who could benefit from testosterone-replacement therapy.

"The diagnosis of classical hypogonadism is corroborated by underlying diseases affecting the testes or pituitary gland, which controls testicular function, but this well-practiced diagnostic approach is frequently found wanting when dealing with the age-related decline of testosterone in elderly men who are prone to have a significant background of non-hormone-related complaints," Wu said. "Our findings have for the first time identified the key symptoms of late-onset hypogonadism and suggest that testosterone treatment may only be useful in a relatively small number of cases where androgen deficiency is suspected, since many candidate symptoms of classic hypogonadism were not associated with decreased testosterone levels in older men."

Wu and his team noted that the differences in testosterone levels between men with symptoms and men without “were marginal, highlighting the weak overall association between symptoms and testosterone levels.” Researchers also pointed out that their data collection about the patients’ symptoms were based on the patients’ recall, so there could be a potential bias.

Wu said there is a risk of overdiagnosing male menopause, a condition some critics say is just a part of the natural aging process and not a medical condition at all. It is estimated that hormone therapy has increased by 400% in the United States since 1999, though this spike in treatment has not been observed in other countries.

"The application of these new criteria should guard against the excessive diagnosis of hypogonadism and curb the unwise use of testosterone therapy in older men,” Wu said.

A U.S. study published last month in the International Journal of Clinical Practice reported a high prevalence of hypogonadism among older men and projected that this figure would increase given the fact that men are living longer into old age. The article also reported an association between male menopause and other chronic health problems, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and metabolic syndrome, an endocrine disorder that can increase the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

Christopher Saigal MD, MPH, an associate professor of urology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said one of the strengths of the study is that it is a general population study that is not focused on men seeking care for urology problems, such as erectile dysfunction.

“Many of the complaints ascribed to having 'low testosterone' seem as likely to be found in men with normal testosterone,” Saigal tells WebMD via email. “The authors found that some sexual symptoms and a lower self-reported vitality were consistently associated with low testosterone levels.”

Saigal said that it’s known that circulating testosterone decreases by about 1% per year in men after age 30, but whether this decline causes risks to one’s health or whether testosterone therapy would be beneficial or induce risk remains unknown.

“We still don't know how effective supplementation will be at ameliorating these, or the long-term risks of the medication, but we now have an evidence-based definition of men who might be helped,” Saigal said. “They must have specific symptoms as well as properly collected blood tests.”

"This article raises more questions than it answers," says Natan Bar-Chama, MD, associate professor of urology and associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.

"It is essentially a statistical exercise with, in my opinion, limited clinical implications … Firstly, clear guidelines by the endocrine society exist and have been recently updated to diagnose hypogonadism (total testosterone of <300>

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Tags: andropause, health, testosterone, aging, sex drive, hypogonadism, three physical symptoms, deficient vigorous physical activity, inability to walk, one kilometer, inability to bend or stoop, three psychological symptoms, low energy, feeling sad, fatigue, Katrina Woznicki, Web MD, late-onset hypogonadism

Ditch the Viagra and Hit the Gym

Exercise is good for your heart, your overall health, and - it seems - your sexual health as well. To be more specific than the article - weight training boosts circulating levels of testosterone, which increases sex drive. Also, the less body fat we carry, the less estrogen in our bodies (stored makes estrogen and has estrogen receptors, muscle does neither), which improves the T:E ratio, thereby increasing sex drive.

Men should exercise to improve sex life

May 31, 2010

Many men turn to a little pill if they are unhappy with their sexual functioning. But it might be worth giving exercise a try.

Men who exercised had significantly higher scores on a sexual-function questionnaire compared with men who were sedentary, according to a study released Monday at the annual meeting of the American Urological Assn.

The study evaluated 178 men, both whites and blacks, whose average age was 62. When researchers adjusted for factors that could affect sexual functioning -- such as age, body mass index, heart disease, diabetes, medications and depression -- the men who reported more exercise still had significantly higher sexual function scores.

Among all the men, however, the average sexual function score was only 53 points out of a possible 100. The study was conducted at the Durham VA Medical Center.

-- Shari Roan

Photo credit: Bryan McLellan / For The Times

That's a low score (the average sexual function score was only 53 points out of a possible 100) for an average. Dang.

Tags: Ditch the Viagra, Hit the Gym, LA Times, Shari Roan, Men should exercise, improve sex life, men, health, exercise, fitness, sex drive