Someone writes:

>"Remember that milk let-down oxytocin is demonstrated to make the >uterus
>contract, probably an evolutionary mechanism for decreasing >blood loss
>after childbirth. Orgasm-released oxytocin has no >demonstrated function
>but is thought by some to induce REVERSE >contractions in the uterus to
>move the sperm upstream to the egg.
>(Other researchers dispute this hypothesis.)"

I'm not sure what is meant by "reverse contractions."  I've never breastfed
while pregnant (my kids are too far apart in age), but I've certainly had
orgasms while pregnant.  :o

Orgasms while pregnant, in me (N=1) caused massive, amazing, contractions of
the uterus.  We used to joke that (1) we were giving the baby a hug, and
therefore letting the baby 'share the love' and (2) that I had a bowling
ball under my shirt.  Rock hard uterus.  Not a chance that anyone would ever
confuse it with a Braxton-Hicks contraction.  And it also didn't lead to
premature labor.  I was successful in inducing labor using orgasms with my
youngest when he was two days past his due date.  More than anyone wanted to
know . . .

My understanding was that the main function of oxytocin release from orgasms
was the same as its main function in response to the baby nursing, which is
to say -- it leads to the woman feeling waves of love, affection, and caring
towards whoever is around.  That it also causes the uterus to contract, and
that this helps the uterus clamp down and reduces blood loss after
childbirth is a secondary function of oxytocin release in respone to
breastfeeding.

Recent research out of UCLA shows that women under stress release oxytocin,
and it leads them to form bonds of caring and friendship with those around
them, in stark contrast to stress leading to a "fight or flight" response in
men.

Alan Dixson's exhaustive work "Primate Sexuality" says "In the human female,
a negative pressure gradient develops between the vagina and uterus as a
result of orgasm (Fox et al. 1970).  Various workers have suggested that
this might result in semen being transported rapidly into the cervical canal
or the uterine cavity.  Yes Masters and Johnson (1966) were unable to
demonstrate such transfer of radio-opaque material across the cervix after
(manually induced?) orgasms.  To the best of my knowledge, such rapid
transfer has never been demonstrated in the human female."  Elsewhere, he
discusses the fact that orgasms occur in a variety of nonhuman female
primates, as well as humans.

Kathy Dettwyler


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