Saturday, October 31, 2009

From the mailbag: two for the "unclear on the concept" folder

We often post our wackiest theist emails for your entertainment. But sometimes we get stuff that's just strange all down the line, as in, Did they realize who they were sending this to? And we also sometimes get earnest emails from non-theists, where they need a little help on understanding a thing or two.

Here's something that came out of the blue, which, once we chiseled our way through the odd syntax and comma splices, just made us scratch our heads.

Dear friend ,

I am Sabyesachi contacting you from Culture Unplugged Studios – a global, new age, new media studio focused on enabling networks of socially & spiritually conscious content & its creators, with operations in India, USA, UK and New Zealand.

Bwuh? It goes on.

We are at present in process of launching next online film festival - ‘Spirit Enlightened’ (to be live from December 09 to July 10), for which we seek your participation. ‘Spirit Enlightened’, aspires to trace the spirit that has led the humanity through centuries & civilizations and is in the making of our future. The festival hopes to explore with you, ‘That’ which envelops to infuse & evolve the individual as well as collective being, expands our vision of time as well as place, enlivens our hearts, and enlightens our species to transcend the present state of being for the mystical new – the next state of supramental self. Lets observe & feel this divine/enlightened spirit in the moment of its performance, in the midst of humanity now and forever, through film-media.

Actually, I think it'd be fun as hell to contribute to something like this, if only to read their spluttering reply explaining that what we sent wasn't exactly what they had in mind. They just might go supramental on us!

Second, here's a letter from a self-described agnostic, who's curious about, well, girls. Now, I don't wish to make fun of this fellow, and in fact I've had a nice exchange with him and he seems a decent chap. It's just that...well, read his question. Somehow, I detect a flaw in his thinking.

Im emailing because I dont know where else to ask. I am agnostic (leaning towards atheism) but there is one thing which baffles me, which seriously seems like a product of creationism - the female orgasm.

It has literally no purpose in our survival as a species, its sole purpose is to give the woman pleasure. Why would it exist?

Um...ladies...?

22 comments:

  1. Ah, the female orgasm. First of all, it encourages women to have sex, which helps perpetuate the species.

    Secondly, it actually does aid in conception. The female having an orgasm before the male lubricates the vagina and makes it more hospitable to sperm.

    However, it works the best if the woman has an orgasm after the man. During orgasm the cervix contracts, dipping in and out of the vagina and into the pool of male ejaculate.

    The one consolation I have is that douchebags who don't think the female orgasm is worthwhile are perhaps slightly less likely to perpetuate their genetic material.

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  2. Yes, Meredith is right. Another evolutionary benefit I have heard, in addition to the few that Meredith puts forth is the fact that the female orgams causes the women to relax and lay still for a moment. If after the man ejaculated in a woman, she got up and ran around, it would enhance the amount of sperm that falls out. By having the woman orgasm, having her relax and lay around, for a moment afterword, the sperm gets a better shot at actually staying in.

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  3. Take a look at Sperm Wars by Robin Baker. I know he talks about it and I think there might be a whole chapter.

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  4. This reminds me of the idiots that ask, "Why do men have nipples?"

    They apparently think that men and women are different species.

    If you ask the question, "Why do humans have orgasms?" the answer is pretty obvious, as above answered.

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  5. On a related note, why do women have brains? All they need to do is cook, clean, and make babies. The rest seems so extraneous.

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  6. The female orgasm is a myth. I have never seen one and to perpetuate the rumor that it exists simply keeps the males that believe in it feeling inadequate and insecure.

    The only orgasm that is required by evolution is the male one, which means that if you ever find a female that can orgasm she must have some male DNA (or be a transsexual).

    The female orgasm no more exists than the female G-spot or, heaven forbid, the male G-spot! How/why would nature ever require a male G-spot?

    As I wrote that I was very much reminded of Poe's Law, hence this sentence :)

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  7. The climax is the aspect of orgasm that is required for reproduction and since this is not required of the female, women also have a natural propensity to experience longer, and even more intense orgasm that men can learn from. Female orgasm is good for the overall well being and health of women, and men who learn to reliably produce it.

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  8. Don't you just love the "Why" questions !!
    I hate the smell of other people's farts, but really quite enjoy my own. I wonder why? Sadly I can imagine Ray & Curt developing the atheists worst nightmare part #2. The argument from flatulence.

    "Atheists think there's a purpose and evolutionary benefit to the phenomena of an invisible eerie presence accompanied by a low humming sound and the stench of death”.

    What fools, if they cannot produce the chemical equation for "insert anything here" therefore god exists.

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  9. Pure speculation, but the orgasm seems like it could also be a way of determining the maturity and sexual experience of the male.

    If the male doesn't care enough to bring his mate to climax, then he probably is not ready to take care of a child, and should be tossed aside in favor of a more patient and considerate candidate.

    If he is inexperienced, then he may not have the skills and/or knowledge to "achieve his goal", in which case, he may not be physically ready to provide for a family.

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  10. Thomas: "If the male doesn't care enough to bring his mate to climax, then he probably is not ready to take care of a child, and should be tossed aside in favor of a more patient and considerate candidate."

    At which point it's too late...

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  11. While the first post may seem misdirected, that might not be the case. Critical thinking is strongly related to developing an atheistic worldview. Unfortunately the revers is often not the case. There are a large number of "atheists" who trade in Jebus for New Age nonsense. It makes sense send announcements for this nonsense to atheist groups.

    The second post does not sound legitimate. If it is I would suggest a new definition for agnostic. Agnostic = Clueless. Is there anything the post that refutes that hypotheses.

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  12. In addition to the other reasons listed in the comments here, I've also heard it suggested that the female orgasm - and sexual pleasure in general - make it less likely for our natural anxiety to be triggered by, say, a snapping twig or what-have-you and interrupt a copulation before it's completed. Think of it as a temporary suspension of our fight-or-flight response.

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  13. Dr Zachary Moore of the Evolution 101 Podcast covered female orgasms in podcast #133.

    If you don't want to subscribe to his podcast (which I recommend), you can read the transcript at his blog here:
    http://evolution-101.blogspot.com/2006/10/female-orgasm.html

    His answer is that it's basically like the male nipple. Each gender shares something from the other. He also covers common misconceptions. It's an interesting podcast episode.

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  14. The Female Orgasm Podcast is also very interesting for those who are prone towards learning HOW to produce female orgasm with topics such as: Experiencing the Optimum Amount of Sensation During Sensual Experiences & Creating Female Orgasm, Every Time and Anytime. at www.podbean.com/podcast-detail?pid=38418

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  15. I am far more concerned that with the entire internet at his fingertips, the second poster thought this blog was the best place to find out the "why" of female orgasms. This blog is entertaining and can sometimes be a source of great information but... I mean... really?

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  16. the female orgams causes the women to relax and lay still for a moment. If after the man ejaculated in a woman, she got up and ran around,

    this one made me giggle so hard I almost peed myself...

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  17. @march Hare
    One sexual encounter is "too late", if and only if humans were only capable of conceiving one child, and were guaranteed to do it the first time they have sex.

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  18. When you consider it from a biological perspective, females are only 1 chromosome away from males. And, if males didn't have orgasms, I can say with a fair amount of confidence that there wouldn't be a whole lot of baby-making going on. Because of this, female orgasm might not necessarily have a purpose per say, beyond being a residual component of our evolutionary departure from asexual reproduction. If it did serve a purpose beyond this, my supposition would be that it's likely related to the chemical-releases that occur in the brain post-orgasm.

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  19. Ok I'm taking a human evolution class and this topic recently came up.

    a) along with cryptic ovulation the female orgasm allows the woman to use sex as another method to rate men as potential long term mates

    b) gives an incentive to sex both in pair and extra pair (which is beneficial to the female as it brodens the gene diversity of her offspring)

    c) is physiological artificat due to sharing the same en vitro ontology as the penis.

    d) orgasim in women causes a notable small but statistically significant lowering of retrograde sperm loss. The amount is about 3% or so, but that is enough that over a geographical time scale it would be selected for


    Any or all of those are reasons for it's existence.

    The "It keeps the woman from moving about after copulation" has been discredited. You can do jumping jacks after sex and have the same amount of retrograde sperm loss as taking a nap.

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  20. "I am far more concerned that with the entire internet at his fingertips, the second poster thought this blog was the best place to find out the "why" of female orgasms. This blog is entertaining and can sometimes be a source of great information but... I mean... really?"

    Reminded me of seeing a Trojan commercial before an Angry Video Game Nerd. Really....? Let me just say, probably waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off on the ol' demographics.

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  21. That idiot is over-looking the fact that the pleasure aspect of the male orgasm serves no purpose but to make the male want to have sex.
    And that leads to the obvious answer that sex feels good so that we will have sex and make babies. duh. duh times a thousand.

    ReplyDelete

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