Psychosomatic Medicine 31:251-268 (1969)
© 1969 American Psychosomatic Society

Sympatho-Adrenomedullary Activity, Diuresis, and Emotional Reactions During Visual Sexual Stimulation in Human Females and Males

¹ Departments of Medicine and of Psychiatry, Karolinska sjukhuset; and the Department of Physiology, Karolinska Institutet Stockholm, Sweden

A total of 53 female and 50 male students were shown a 1-hr film program preceded and followed by control periods of equal duration. Adrenaline and noradrenaline excretion increased significantly in both groups during the film period in relation to control levels before and after. During the film period, sexual arousal was the main emotional reaction reported by both sexes, the self-rating scores as well as their increases, however, being significantly higher in the male group. This difference in reported subjective reactions was paralleled by a corresponding difference in the urinary excretion of adrenaline, both the excretion levels and the increases over the control levels being significantly higher in the males. Possible explanations for the sex differences are discussed. Changes that occurred in the urine flow, specific gravity, and creatinine excretion during and after this type of psychosexual stimulation are reported, as are some psychoendocrine relations. Their possible significance is discussed against the background of the Kinsey hypothesis that men are more prone than women to sexual arousal from visual stimuli.

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