22 



SEX HORMONES AND OTHER VARIABLES 

 IN HUMAN EROTICISM' 



John Money, Ph.D. 



ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MEDICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND PEDIATRICS, 

 THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, BALTIMORE 



I. Introduction 1383 



II. Empiric Endocrine Restrictions. ... 1385 



III. Morphologic and Behavioral Mat- 



uration 1886 



IV. Eroticism and the Supply of Sex 



Hormone 1387 



A. Prepubertal and Postpubertal Cas- 



tration 1387 



B. Hypogonadism 1388 



C. Gonadal Failure 1388 



D. Substitution Therapy Discontinued. 1389 



E. Impotence and Frigidity 1390 



F. Androgen, Estrogen, and Eroticism 



in Men and Women 1390 



G. Hyperadrenocortical Diversities. . .1391 

 H. Eroticism in Precocious Puberty. . .1392 



V. Cognitional Rehearsals 1392 



A. Definition 1392 



B. Childhood Rehearsals 1393 



C. Hypogonadal Adults and Castrates. 139-4 

 VI. Sex Hormones, Neural Tissues, and 



Behavior 1394 



A. Paraplegic Cognitional Eroticism. .1394 



B. Clitorectomv in Hermaphrodites. . .1395 



C. Penectomy." 1395 



D. Vulvectomy 1396 



VII. Concluding Remarks 1396 



VIII. References 1398 



^ From the Departments of Psychiatry and 

 Pediatrics, The Johns Hopkins University. The re- 

 search program from which many of the data dis- 

 cussed in this chapter were derived has been sup- 

 ported since 1951 bj' a grant from the Josiah Macy, 

 Jr. Foundation. Since 1957 it has been supported 

 also by research grant M-1557 from the National 

 Institute of Mental Health of the National In- 

 stitutes of Health. The research, formerly under the 

 aegis of Dr. John C. Whitehorn, Professor Emeritus 

 of Psychiatry, is dependent on the unfailing good 

 will of Dr. Lawson Wilkins, Professor of Pediatrics, 

 whose endocrine clinic has provided an indispensa- 

 ble wealth of clinical material. 



I. Introduction 



Investigators of the role of gonadal hor- 

 mones in human eroticism are more re- 

 stricted by the mores of our culture than are 

 students in other areas of biologic and 

 medical research. Partly for this reason, our 

 knowledge of the relationship between hor- 

 mones and reproductive behavior in man is 

 not as advanced as it is for the lower ani- 

 mals generally. There is, however, one com- 

 pensating factor. Unlike studies of lower 

 mammals which must be on the basis of 

 gestural and nonverbal signs alone, the 

 study of human eroticism is not limited in 

 this way. Eroticism- in man is a complex 

 of signs and signals including physiosomatic 

 signs from the reproductive system, be- 

 havioral gestures of premating and mating 

 endeavors, and language messages about 

 sexual sensations, imagery, and expectancy. 

 In the study of human eroticism, therefore, 

 linguistic, verbal signs may be added to the 

 gestural ones, and when interviews are con- 

 ducted with sufficient skill, objectivity, and 

 regard for the importance of suitable con- 

 trols, information can be obtained which 

 supplements invaluably that gathered from 

 naturalistic observations and experiments 

 on lower mammals. 



The availability of pathologic subjects 



" Conceptually, eroticism is a more inclusive 

 term than libido in its traditional sense of sexual 

 desire. In Freudian or Jungian usage, however, 

 libido is vastly more comprehensive a concept than 

 eroticism. To avoid ambiguity the term libido is 

 little used in this chapter. 



1383 



