1388 



HORMONAL REGULATION OF BEHAVIOR 



clarification is the inadequacy of detail in 

 most of the reports available for evalua- 

 tion, although some reports are exemplary, 

 like those of Foss (1937) and Hamilton 

 (1943). Another part of the difficulty is 

 that the effects of gonadectomy may vary 

 with age, being less marked in older than 

 younger men, with respect to behavior as 

 well as to physical characters. More im- 

 portant, as many writers have emphasized, 

 is the dominance of cognitional and learned 

 factors in the overt expression of eroticism 

 in man. These may include type and extent 

 of prior sexual experience, preference for a 

 given partner, freedom from fear of preg- 

 nancy, the degree of respect and affection in 

 the marital relationship, the background of 

 cultural expectancy regarding castration, 

 and so forth. 



In efforts to ascertain the effects of cas- 

 tration, as well as in other efforts to deter- 

 mine the role of the gonads in erotic func- 

 tioning, past experience is always a compli- 

 cating factor in any type of subject under 

 study. As lower animals and presumably 

 man develop and mature, psychologic or ex- 

 periential as well as genie factors mold the 

 substrate on which the hormones act in such 

 a way that diversity rather than similarity 

 in response is seen during adulthood (see 

 chapter on hormones by Young) . The range 

 may extend from absence of a response to 

 intense reactions verging on the pathologic 

 in their deviation from what is typical for 

 the species. For the investigator who is ex- 

 pecting a uniformity of response to a given 

 quantity of a hormone, this diversity in re- 

 sponse may mask the effect of the hormone 

 and prompt him to minimize the degree of 

 its effectiveness. Or, atypical patterns of 

 behavior such as homosexuality may be 

 seen in individuals in whom there is no evi- 

 dence of gonadal pathology or of abnor- 

 mality of secretory function (Kinsey, 1941 ; 

 Sevringhaus and Chornyak, 1945). Cases of 

 this kind do not justify rejection of the 

 concept of hormonal participation in hu- 

 man erotic behavior. They give emphasis 

 instead to the importance of the character 

 of the tissues mediating the behavior, by 

 whatever mechanisms it is brought to ex- 

 pression. 



B. HYPOGONADISM 



Surgical castration has a functional 

 counterpart in hypogonadism which, like 

 castration, may be of either prepubertal or 

 postpubertal occurrence. Unlike castration, 

 hypogonadism may be partial, with only 

 partial and not complete deficiency of gon- 

 adal hormones. Published reports sometimes 

 confuse one type of patient with another, so 

 that findings are somewhat difficult to eval- 

 uate. The difficulty is enhanced by the fact 

 that neM^ diagnostic advances in endocri- 

 nology and nuclear sexing permit greater 

 precision in the grouping of patients, not 

 possible in the older studies. In general, 

 however, there has been a consensus of opin- 

 ion that erotic drive in hypogonadal and 

 eunuchoid males of various types is likely 

 to be heightened by androgen administra- 

 tion (McCullagh, IVIcCullagh and Hicken, 

 1933; Vest and Howard, 1938; Howard and 

 Vest, 1939; Pratt, 1942; Heller and Nelson, 

 1945; Heller and Maddock, 1947). In cases 

 of partial gonadal failure, control studies 

 with a placebo would have validated the 

 results more convincingly, but in cases of 

 total gonadal failure the results of hor- 

 monal substitution therapy are quite dra- 

 matic enough to be convincing in them- 

 selves. Definitive reports on eroticism in 

 treated hypogonadal females are lacking in 

 the literature. 



C. GONADAL FAILURE 



Fresh evidence on hypogonadism was ob- 

 tained from the hypogonadal patients listed 

 in Table 22.1. These patients were com- 

 pletely hypogonadal, that is totally hor- 

 mone deficient at the age of 16 or older, 

 before treatment began. They were prepu- 

 bertal, functional castrates. 



Juveniles, who are by definition hypo- 

 gonadal, play erotically together, but it is 

 quite a different matter for a person who has 

 reached the adult years with unmatured 

 genitals to engage in an erotic relationship. 

 Metaphorically speaking, this fact suggests 

 that the first job of the sex hormones is to 

 set the stage properties in order so that the 

 drama of eroticism can be enacted. Support 

 for such a view comes from the circumstance 

 that among the hypogonadal patients en- 

 tered in Table 22.1, advancing age alone 



