Things to do when you're bored: Blame Sideshow

OR,

Interesting facts about the, er, male member...

Well, it's not my fault that I went off on a penile tangent yesterday. It's Sideshow's fault. And for that matter Google. Astonishing the kind of information that's just floating around out there. And in point of fact since I'm female; ergo no peter member of my own to investigate; and the average guy only knows slightly more about his than I do; what's a girl to do if she wants to get educated I ask you?

So somewhere in between exclaiming "Ooooo, niiiiice..." and "Oh gods, my eyes!" I found this:

First of all, men might be surprised to know the default state of the penis is erect. It's the brain that brings erections down to earth.

How can this be?

There's a constant battle in men's bodies between the forces of erection and flaccidity, says Dr. Irwin Goldstein...This ongoing struggle between the excitatory and inhibitory systems, as scientists call them, determines when the penis is erect.

The battle takes place in a circuit of nerves that loop through the brain, penis and spinal cord. Excitatory or inhibitory signals - seeing a pretty woman, smelling an alluring perfume or spilling a glass of ice water in your crotch - can occur anywhere within the loop.

Without signals fom the brain, the default state of the penis is erect.

In this sexual civil war, an area of the brain called the para-gigantocellular nucleus (PGN) works to suppress erections. But when the mind is at rest, during REM sleep, for example, the brain stops firing neurons and men experience spontaneous erections - as many as four or five a night.

(Link)

Hah! I knew it. Y'all are just a bunch of walkin', talkin'; and apparently; sleepin' erections. Well, actually, I haven't a smug leg to stand on since the process is the same for chicks, what with our analogous protuberances.

posted by dorna! @ 2:08 pm