History of Sex Research

Greeks to 1900 *Early knowledge gained from watching animals *400 B.C. Aristotle, "History of Animals, Parts of Animals, and Generation of Animals," -foundation of western sexology -developed classification system: reproduction by sexual, asexual, and spontaneous generation *During this period, believed male contributed the seed, the woman brought to fruition. *Plato - wandering uterus causes hysteria in women *1600: Vesalius -discounted wandering uterus theory -female anatomy still misunderstood *1653 William Harvey: discovered importance of female egg to reproduction by …

…vaginal walls *orgasmic contractions -Four phase description: (1) excitement (2) plateau (3) orgasm (4) resolution Contraception *1860 rubber condoms sold - prevent v.d., contraceptive *1870 rubber diaphragm available to women *IUD -first recorded use by Arab camel drivers - put stones in camel's uterus -widespread use in 1920 - wire IUD developed by Ernst Grafenberg *Hormonal contraceptives - 1936 - experiment on rats demonstrated that daily progesterone injections inhibited estrous cycle. *The Pill -1960 - FDA approved "Enovid" -contained progestin and estrogen