Franke Program in Science & Humanities: Evolutionary Roots of Female Orgasm

Event time: 
Tuesday, October 4, 2016 - 5:00pm
Location: 
WHC 208 See map
53 Wall Street
Event description: 

Lecture by: Prof. Mihaela Pavlicev, Department of Theoretical Biology, University of Vienna and Prof. Gunter P. Wagner, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Systems Biology Institute, Yale University

With Commentary by: Prof. Elisabeth Lloyd, Department of History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine
Indiana University
 
The origin and meaning of female orgasm has occupied biologists and philosophers since the beginning of the study of life. The main problem is that female orgasm has no manifest roles in human reproduction but is never the less a complex physiological trait. We propose that female orgasm is derived from a neuro-endocrine reflex that was necessary for ovulation but in primates lost its reproductive role. We will also discuss the implications of our model for the understanding of so-called “orgasmic dysfunction.”
 

http://frankeprogram.yale.edu/event/evolutionary-roots-female-orgasm

Admission: 
Free
Open to: 
General Public