Blog about medicines and adverse drug reactions.
March 30th, 2009 admin
The actual sexual activity that takes place in a sex offense which involves a second person may range from no physical contact of any kind to vaginal coitus. Between these two extremes lies a wide area of possible behavior. This includes touching, casual or more extensive petting (genital or nongenital), mouth-genital contacts (mouth-penis or mouth-vulva), and attempted coitus. Supplementary sexual techniques may extend to anal coitus, either heterosexual or homosexual, or there may have been a general physical attack with underlying sexual content, even though no specific sexual behavior occurred. When one classifies the exact sexual activity in each of the over 2,000 offenses on which such data are available in the present study, instances of all these types of behavior are found. The incidence with which they were reported varies widely among the general types of offenses and more particularly among the age-of-object subclasses. Before classifying these data the heterosexual techniques were arranged in the following order of priority: (1) coitus, (2) attempted coitus, (3) mouth-genital contacts, (4) genital petting, and (5) simple or nongenital petting. Each offense was assigned to a single sexual technique classification, except in the case of mouth-genital and anal contacts occurring together in homosexual offenses, which are discussed later. Thus, if coitus occurred, the offense is classed as basically coital, even though various types of petting, genital or nongenital, may have accompanied the intercourse. For the noncoital offenses, the behavior that was specified as constituting the offense was used for tabulation purposes, even though other sexual activity may have also occurred. Omitted at this point in the analysis are, of course, the sex offenses which did not have a specific person, male or female, as an object of the offense. These comprise somewhat over 1 per cent of the total sample and include cases such as masquerading, fetish theft, and zoophilia.
*375\161\2*
Posted in Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction | No Comments »
March 30th, 2009 admin
We have thus far been discussing the response of males to the sight or thought or depiction of other humans, particularly human females.
The important question as to the appearance, in fact or in fantasy, of these females was not asked. However, when we did question our subjects, it was implicit that neither they nor we had babies or senile crones in mind since we used the terms “women” or “girls.”
After the first years of our research we began routinely asking all of our subjects who had coital experience what age coital partner they preferred. The reply was sometimes given in the form of a specific age or, more commonly, as an age-range. We have established categories of age and tabulated the preferences; if an individual’s preferences overlapped into more than one age-category, he was counted in each.
The major factors in this matter of age preference are:
Our concepts of physical beauty tend to confine preference to, roughly, ages sixteen to twenty-five—an age-span which would include the great majority of beauty-contest winners.
The realization by experienced males that older females are frequently more satisfactory coital partners tends to raise preference to ages twenty-five to forty or older.
Society punishes couples who are radically different in age, and there are few persons who are in a position to withstand this condemnation and ridicule. In addition, more subtle pressures are exerted: a middle-aged man, for instance, may not wish to meet the competition of young men. The thought of, say, a barn dance lasting until 2 a.m. makes him shudder, and in the back of his mind he anticipates the humiliation of being cuckolded by a male more nearly the age of the female. On the other hand, a young man is often vaguely uneasy in a sexual relationship with a considerably older woman; he may admire her beauty and appreciate her sexual ability, but he feels somehow insecure and wonders if he is the seduced rather than the seducer. Furthermore, the young man of twenty may avoid the woman of twenty-seven because she might look upon him as a “young punk”; the fifty-year-old man may cross the female of twenty off his list of prospects because he suspects she would regard him as a lecherous old rou?.
We made some effort to get our subjects to disregard these social factors and give us an age preference as though all females of all ages were equally available without social complications. This effort was not particularly successful; most of our subjects, we feel, could not clearly envision such an abstract and hypothetical situation. In fact, our efforts sometimes backfired, and we received statements such as, “I wouldn’t care if she was eighty if she looked like she was twenty,” or “As long as she was built like a woman, I wouldn’t care how young she was.” Such responses necessitated rephrasing our question in terms of average females.
The interaction of the three factors listed above determine preference, but as men get older some factors decrease in importance while others increase. By and large, the range of preference widens with age. Thus a male of twenty may prefer women from sixteen to twenty-five, but when he is fifty his range is likely to be twenty to fifty-five. Concepts of physical beauty tend to anchor the younger end of the range in the twenties, while the other considerations stretch the older end of the range up into menopausal years but rarely beyond.
Most of the men in our sample gave ages twenty-five to thirty-four as a preference. From the viewpoint of beauty combined with sexual responsiveness this is an astute selection and one in keeping with the average ages of the groups (most ranging from twenty-six to thirty-nine).
Three groups indicated their preference for coital partners aged eighteen to twenty-four. These were the heterosexual offenders vs. minors and adults, and the homosexual offenders vs. minors. One group, the peepers, had an equal number expressing preference for ages eighteen to twenty-four and twenty-five to thirty-four.
In general, the age preference follows the ages of the group members: the older the average (median) age of the group, the older are the women they would choose. Physical beauty, however, evidently sets a limit on this trend somewhere in the early thirties. While the males aged into their fourth and fifth decades of life, their age preference for sexual partners (note we speak of preference, not of acceptability) halts with women in their thirties. Only our oldest group (average age fifty), the incest offenders vs. adults, found women aged thirty-five to forty-four more attractive than women of other age groups, but if one calculates the median choice of the men in this group, she would be below her middle thirties.
Although most of the males of all groups preferred females eighteen or older, a not inconsiderable number chose younger girls as their ideal coital partners. Nearly one quarter of the heterosexual aggressors vs. minors and homosexual offenders vs. minors preferred sixteen- to seventeen-year-olds. Seventeen per cent of the heterosexual offenders vs. minors, 16 per cent of the prison group, and 16 per cent of the heterosexual offenders vs. adults concurred. This finding agrees with what we discussed earlier: the four groups with the highest percentages of men preferring girls sixteen to seventeen include two groups who expressed the greatest preference (i.e., the modal percentage) for females eighteen to twenty-four. In other words, many of those who like girls young preferred them still younger. A rank-order of preferences for girls sixteen to seventeen finds three of the four groups whose sex offenses were against persons aged twelve to fifteen occupying the upper three ranks. It should be parenthetically noted that of the groups discussed in this paragraph most were characterized by having had relatively young first coital partners.
Turning now to females aged twelve to fifteen, we see few individuals preferring them. In a rank-order, three of the four groups of sex offenders against children (i.e., persons under twelve) are in the upper five ranks along with two groups whose sex offenses were against girls of that age.
So few males expressed a preference for children under twelve that nothing can be said beyond reporting this simple negative finding which, however, is an important one. It is our conviction that individuals primarily interested sexually in prepubescent children are extremely rare.
Since society is so deeply concerned about adults who engage in sexual activity with children or young people in their early or middle teens, it is worth noting that the problem is not so much one of a predilection for youth as it is one of lack of discrimination against youth. Thus our data show the great majority of so-called “child-molesters” would prefer sexual activity with adults, but are willing to turn to children if adults are unavailable or if the man is intoxicated or under stress. The lower age limit every male sets for himself in his own mind is to some degree elastic, depending upon the situation and physical appearance of the female.
*337\161\2*
Posted in Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction | No Comments »
March 30th, 2009 admin
In discussing the percentage of men in our sample who had had premarital coitus, we noted that the heterosexual offenders and aggressors vs. minors and adults led the other groups. Three of these same four groups are also characterized by having had as their partners large numbers of nonprostitutes—19 for the average (median) offender vs. adults, 16 for the offender vs. minors, 14 for the aggressor vs. adults. The average prison-group male, who while intermediate in an “ever-never” rank-order rated high in the tabulation of accumulative incidence of premarital coitus, had 18—the second largest number of coital companions. In other words, the groups with a relatively large proportion of individuals experienced in premarital coitus tend also to be the groups whose members had coitus with relatively large numbers of females.
The incest offenders vs. adults and the homosexual offenders vs. adults, the two most heterosexually restrained groups, had the fewest companions—five. The incest offenders vs. minors also had five, a rather unexpected finding since they had the largest proportion (97 per cent) of individuals who were experienced in premarital coitus and also rated either intermediate or high in accumulative incidence. They are atypical in having confined their substantial amount of activity to so few partners. The control group, a comparatively sexually restrained group, had an average of eight coital partners, placing them in the lower third of the order.
Premarital coitus with prostitutes presents a quite different picture, and a somewhat confused one. The incest offenders vs. children and the aggressors vs. children rank first with an average (median) of 18 prostitutes. The exhibitionists are second with 17, and we shall subsequently see that an unusually large number of them not only had experience with prostitutes but had their first coitus with a prostitute. The incest offenders vs. adults and the homosexual offenders vs. children had had coitus with between 16 and 17 prostitutes. This concentration of offenders against children is striking. Moreover, these same groups had premarital coitus with more prostitutes than companions: in the case of the incest offenders vs. adults the ratio is somewhat more than 3 to 1; among the other groups the ratio is less one-sided, but still markedly in favor of prostitution. A reliance upon prostitutes suggests an inability or disinclination to find companions, or an inability to maintain lasting sexual relationships, an inability that in later life may have contributed to the selection of children rather than adults as sexual partners. Conversely, the groups characterized by much heterosexual activity (such as the heterosexual offenders vs. minors and adults and the prison group) had substantially more companions than prostitutes in premarital life and, in subsequent years, devoted their sexual attentions to females over the age of puberty.
*299\161\2*
Posted in Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction | No Comments »
March 30th, 2009 admin
By and large, the sex offenders whose objects were females aged twelve and over tend to have fewer members with prepubertal masturbation than sex offenders against female children or males. Less than 43 per cent of the heterosexual aggressors vs. minors and adults, the incest offenders against females over twelve, the control group, and the heterosexual offenders vs. adults had prepubertal masturbatory experience. Conversely, all the sex offenders against female children and all the homosexual offenders exceed 43 per cent. This trend cannot be explained at present, but it is most interesting that prepubertal masturbation is associated with subsequent sex offense against prepubertal females and males. Also it is noteworthy that the association between masturbation and homosexuality, which will be described later, occurs prior to puberty. The fact that the control group and the incest offenders vs. minors and adults have the fewest individuals who masturbated before puberty suggests that general sexual inhibition and restraint may start early since these groups are typified in adult life by these traits.
Examination of the ages at which prepubertal masturbation began reveals only a confused picture from which nothing can be deduced.
*261\161\2*
Posted in Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction | No Comments »
March 30th, 2009 admin
Seventy-nine per cent of the peepers, a modest proportion, had had premarital coitus by the time they were interviewed. Comparatively small percentages of individuals were experienced by younger ages but in later life the peepers occupy intermediate rank-order positions. By age fourteen only 13 per cent had had premarital coitus, which is the smallest figure exhibited by any group; by age sixteen the peepers have the second smallest number of experienced individuals (34 per cent); but by ages eighteen, twenty, twenty-three, etc., their percentages are not unusual. This advance from a low position by age sixteen to an intermediate position by age eighteen represents the peepers’ maximum increase in incidence; they never rise as markedly again. The slow start of the peepers in their premarital coital careers may correlate with the extremely poor social adjustment with females when they were sixteen and seventeen, a poor adjustment which was presaged when they were only ten to eleven when they also had few female playmates.
Their slow start is also visible in the age-specific incidence of premarital coitus with companions. In the period between puberty and age fifteen only .16 per cent, the smallest proportion recorded, had premarital coitus. The proportion increased to moderate status and remained there; until age-period 26—30 when the peepers rise to second rank with 93 per cent of their still unmarried men having premarital coitus with companions.
A similar picture is seen in the age-specific incidence of premarital coitus with prostitutes. Beginning with the smallest proportion recorded in age-period puberty—15, the proportions increase both absolutely and relatively until the peepers are first in rank-order in age-period 26-30 with three quarters of the still unmarried males having coitus with prostitutes.
Those who engaged in premarital coitus with companions did so with only moderate frequency—the peepers are intermediate in the rank-orders—the median individual reporting a frequency of between twice a month and once every week and a half up to age thirty. These frequencies are quite comparable to those of the control group. Our data on frequency of premarital coitus with prostitutes show the peepers in low to intermediate positions in the rank-orders at various age-periods. They have either the lowest or next lowest average (mean) frequencies, ranging from 0.19 to 0.24 per week. The other form of average, the median, puts the peeper low in the rank-orders with but 4 to 6 contacts with prostitutes a year between puberty and age thirty. During the same years the median control-group individual reported 4 to 12 a year.
In the number of premarital coital partners, companions or prostitutes, the average peeper had premarital coitus with a moderate number (12) of companions, but with relatively few (eight) prostitutes.
The proportion of total orgasms derived from premarital coitus with
companions is moderate; the large proportion (48 per cent) in age-
period 26-30 is the result of the extraordinary activity of one male who
raised the group figure markedly.
The proportion of total sexual outlet from premarital coitus with prostitutes is always relatively small to moderate, never exceeding 7 per cent and never equaling that of the control group.
Only moderate to low percentages of peepers reported that the various restraints upon premarital coitus that we have studied were important inhibiting factors in their lives. The sole exception was fear of venereal disease, wherein the peepers occupy second place in rank-order with 20 per cent stating that this was a strong deterrent. This inexplicable emphasis upon disease may represent a rationalization or it may in some way fit in with peeping: it is interesting that a group so fearful of venereal disease should specialize in an offense not involving physical contact.
*222\161\2*
Posted in Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction | No Comments »
March 27th, 2009 admin
There is still debate about whether to initiate protease inhibitors as part of the first treatment regimen offered to a patient or to wait until after the initiation of the antiretrovirals and the start of disease progression, although most experts now recommend triple therapy from the start. In addition, there has been discussion about initiating these medications during the acute infection period and not waiting until several years later, when the virus eventually “outsmarts” the immune system and starts attacking it. Some experts are recommending an aggressive approach, with a combination of antiretrovirals and protease inhibitors given during the primary infection period and continuing for six months. Whether this approach becomes the standard of care for treatment will depend on its long-term effectiveness. Research is continuing in an effort to answer this question.
If a person experiences toxicity or intolerable side effects from the foregoing medication regimens, then an alternative regimen can be chosen. Unfortunately, many people experience side effects from these medications, and changes in medication or dose reductions are often needed.
*332\213\8*
Posted in Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction | No Comments »
March 27th, 2009 admin
There are specific blood tests for hepatitis B. On the one hand, about 90 percent of people with acute hepatitis B infection show evidence of the infection on blood tests when they first visit their health care provider. On the other hand, early in the infection the blood tests may be negative in a person who is actually infected; later blood tests will show evidence of the infection in such a person. Ask your health care provider what your test results mean and whether or not you need additional tests to rule out infection.
The tests that are most helpful to diagnose hepatitis look for either the body s immune response to the virus (antibodies) or particles of the virus itself. The blood tests can distinguish among people who have been infected and have cleared the infection, people who have been infected and are carriers, and people who have been vaccinated—although follow-up tests may be necessary to make these distinctions. To determine the stage of infection, it may be necessary to perform a liver biopsy, which involves taking a piece of liver tissue from a person under anesthesia and examining the sample under a microscope.
Tests that measure how well the liver is working, called liver function tests or liver injury tests, are not an adequate screen for hepatitis B. Although results of these tests are often elevated in acute and chronic hepatitis, normal liver function tests cannot be interpreted as ruling out viral hepatitis infection.
When a person is found to be a carrier of hepatitis B, it is recommended that a blood test also be performed for hepatitis D, or delta hepatitis. This is an infection that can only occur in individuals who have hepatitis B infection, since the delta virus needs the hepatitis B virus to survive. Hepatitis D can be sexually transmitted but has a higher risk of transmission from blood exposure, such as through injection drug use or receiving transfusions with infected blood. (The blood supply has been screened for hepatitis D since the 1970s.) A person can be infected with hepatitis D at the same time that infection with hepatitis B occurs, or he or she can become superinfected with hepatitis D while a carrier for hepatitis B. In either situation, severe liver damage and death can result, or the person is likely to become a carrier for hepatitis D as well as B, which can hasten the progression of liver disease to cirrhosis. The diagnosis of hepatitis B and D, m both the acute and chronic forms, is reportable in most states to the health department.
*239\213\8*
Posted in Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction | No Comments »
March 27th, 2009 admin
Most chlamydia infections don’t cause any symptoms! Half of men and three-quarters of women with chlamydia infections in the genital area are completely symptom free. Therefore, many people at risk for infection with chlamydia may mistakenly believe they don’t need to be tested. A person with chlamydia infection may remain symptom free for his or her entire life or may start to show symptoms weeks, months, or even years after infection.
A woman with chlamydia infection can have infection of the uterus and Fallopian tubes (pelvic inflammatory disease [PID]), of the cervix (mucopurulent cervicitis [MPC]), of the urethra (urethritis), around the liver (this is a complication of PID called Fitz-Hugh Curtis syndrome), or a combination of these. If she is going to develop symptoms, they will usually appear one to three weeks after infection. The symptoms include the following:
— discharge from the genital area
— burning with urination
— pelvic pain
— bleeding between periods or after sexual intercourse
(See the sections on pelvic inflammatory disease and mucopurulent cervicitis for a more thorough discussion of these syndromes.) About half the time, chlamydia infection that appears to be limited to the cervix is actually causing silent (symptom-free) infection in the uterus. For all women, the urethra is a potential site of infection with chlamydia; the only symptom may be burning with urination. This may be the only symptom in infected women who have had a hysterectomy.
*148\213\8*
Posted in Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction | No Comments »
March 27th, 2009 admin
Talking with a partner about these issues before you become sexually active has been proven to help prevent infection with STDs, no matter what your age or sexual orientation. Study after study confirms that communicating with a partner increases the chance that steps will be taken to guard against STDs and unwanted pregnancy. However, poor communication with a partner increases the likelihood that you will contract a sexually transmitted infection.
As noted earlier, screening for sexually transmitted infections is the only way to know for sure whether or not a person has been infected. The goal of this chapter is to help prepare you to become a better communicator about sexual health. The chapter begins with a discussion about why it is so difficult to communicate and then suggests ways to make communication easier. In general, talking about sex is easier if you practice communication skills beforehand. If you have thought about what your partner may tell you, and what you would say in response, you will be better prepared for different situations that may arise. You can also learn from your past mistakes. If in the past things did not turn out exactly as you would have wanted, think about what you might do differently in the future and identify the communication patterns you want to change. You do not have to keep on making the same mistakes.
You owe it to yourself to be safe.
*64\213\8*
Posted in Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction | No Comments »
March 27th, 2009 admin
Allergic reactions. Many women have allergic reactions or increased sensitivity to certain products used in safer sex practices, such as latex condoms and spermicide (nonoxynol-9). About one-third of people have allergic reactions, which can range from mild to severe, to spermicide or other lubricants. Allergic reactions most often occur immediately or shortly after intercourse and may consist of redness, itching, and breaks in the skin.
Bacterial vaginosis. Although bacterial vaginosis usually doesn’t cause significant irritation of the labia and vagina, sometimes there can be mild itching. More common is a white to gray discharge, which has a strong, fishy odor, usually most prominent after sex or during menstruation.
Herpes. Herpes outbreaks often itch, and in fact this may be the only sign that the virus has reactivated and is on the surface of the skin. There may be tingling, redness, a bump, or a break in the skin, such as a blister, ulcer, or slit. Lymph nodes in the groin may be swollen, and a person may also experience leg pain and flu-like symptoms.
Jock itch. Also caused by a fungus, but by a different fungus than Candida, this condition is very common in both men and women. It is caused by the fungus Tinea cruris and most commonly causes an itchy, scaly red rash on the genitals and the upper thighs.
*18\213\8*
Posted in Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction | No Comments »