A press release from Wellcome Trust begins on a highly accurate note:
The female orgasm is something of a mystery to scientists.
The rest of the presser, on orgasm research on identical twins presents some interesting information showing pretty high heritability correlations.
Twin studies are a popular way of teasing apart genetic and environmental influences on biological traits. The general idea is that the incidence of traits is compared in identical and non-identical twins. If a trait is shared more in identical than in non-identical twins, it is likely that genes are at work: the greater the discordance, the bigger the input from genes.
The two studies – from Tim Spector (who runs the UK’s twin registry) and colleagues, and from Khytam Dawood of Chicago University, working with the Australian Twin Registry – both probed female twins’ experiences of orgasm.1,2
Both studies discovered that the ability to achieve orgasm during sex showed a surprisingly high inheritance – 34 per cent of the effect in the UK and 31 per cent in the US/Australian study could be put down to genetic factors. (For orgasm achieved by masturbation, interestingly, it was even higher – 45 per cent in the UK and 51 per cent in Australia.)
Unfortunately the rest of the piece indulges in sophomoric idles (“Surveying 1500 pairs of twins about their sexual habits may sound like some people’s dream job”) then rehashes a couple of out-of-date evolutionary theories women’s orgasms. But!
But in a footnote it produces some genuinely interesting and potentially actually useful information:
Oddly, the scientists discovered that both men and women found it easier to have an orgasm when they kept their socks on. In the study, 50 per cent of the 24 men and women analysed managed to achieve orgasm without their socks, but 80 per cent were successful with their socks on.
Bit of a bite out of the old fashion savoir faire, wearing socks in bed. Assuming we can trust their data.
Happy HNT (or Half-nekkid Thursday!)
[Apologies for the older photo from my Socks and Shorts set on Flickr but they just went too well with this post. I’ll post the photo I’d planned to use next week instead. —fl]
Submitted by 1276 (not verified) on Wed, 2007-03-28 20:37.
Great photo - Happy HNT
[Thank you, Regal. Happy HNT to you too. --fl]
Submitted by 1276 (not verified) on Wed, 2007-03-28 20:40.
Love the boxers! ;-)
HHNT
~Her
[Thanks, Her. Looks like we both posted from the archives this week. Not so bad every now and then, eh? Happy HNT to you too. --fl]
Submitted by 1276 (not verified) on Wed, 2007-03-28 20:51.
warm toes mean relaxation...mr. lime is known to wear nothing but socks to bed. hey, if it works for him it works for me.
great shot there!
HHNT
[Good to know, Lime. Thanks. And happy HNT to boot. --fl]
Submitted by 1276 (not verified) on Wed, 2007-03-28 22:00.
Whoa! Did you say with socks on? I have this thing against socks on and bare legs. It goes back to this snippet of a movie I saw with a dirty old bad man and he took his pants off and had those weird elastic things on to hold up his dress socks. So I always make husband take his socks off. It's a fun joke now, he tries to sneak them on and I always check and wrestle him to get them off.
Maybe I need to institute Socks on Sunday! LOL
[It's not so kinky if you both wear socks though. Err. I mean it's a different kind of kinky. Um... anyway, why not try it and see if the alleged benefit outweighs your prior squeamishness. :-) Thanks, DFP. --fl]
Submitted by 1276 (not verified) on Wed, 2007-03-28 22:22.
You spotted that one too :) You'd wonder who would even think of it in the first place. Answer: the man who became my husband. I remember not knowing whether to be shocked or amused the first time I found he still had his socks on ....
[My guess is it's cold in MRI rooms and they offer everyone socks regardless. Consequently they offered them for this experiment. Figuring out *why* it would work better could be hours of fun -- everything from nerds have more fun to cold feet depress sexual responsiveness to... Thanks, A. --fl]
Submitted by 1276 (not verified) on Wed, 2007-03-28 22:26.
The photo is adorable!
I have noticed that proper body temperature is critical to orgasm for me. I refuse to believe that socks are key. I hate socks, and I find a man clad in nothing but socks to be a humorous rather than sexy sight!
[Maybe so. I think women in nothing but socks are adorable -- there's something pragmatically kinky about it or something. (Hmm. Gotta think about that for a moment....) Thanks, WS. --fl]
Submitted by 1276 (not verified) on Wed, 2007-03-28 22:44.
well, well... I will have to pass that on to the Porn King in the hopes that he leaves my socks on me... (my tootsies get chilly) but then again... the socks are off for his pleasure, not mine.
[If wordslut's right about body temperature then it's not just adding to his pleasure to take them off you, it could be subtracting from yours. Thanks, Lushlyme. --fl]
Submitted by 1276 (not verified) on Wed, 2007-03-28 23:36.
All this talk about socks is just camouflage to conceal your real message symbolized by the famous *swoosh*: Just do it!
;-)
Happy HNT, Figleaf!
[Wow, good eye, Kochanie. Thanks! --fl]
Submitted by 1276 (not verified) on Thu, 2007-03-29 03:21.
Funny you say that, about more modest or more lewd, I was thinking the same thing as I was photographing myself! Happy HNT!
[Great minds think alike I guess. :-) Thanks, Regal. --fl]
Submitted by 1276 (not verified) on Thu, 2007-03-29 04:51.
I like to be completely nekkid for sex but that's just me...
HHNT, love the pic!
[Thanks, Zoely! (Yikes, some bruise!) Happy HNT to you too. --fl]
Submitted by 1276 (not verified) on Thu, 2007-03-29 05:04.
Figs,
Sounds like a good topic for an informal poll: Sox and sex - yes or no?
Nice HNT shot, as always.
[Yeah, I'm a little curious about that too now. Thanks, Janeway. --fl]
Submitted by 1276 (not verified) on Thu, 2007-03-29 06:16.
Warm feet and fresh breath and we're talking eye rolling orgasm!
[Mmm, the sensation of really fuzzy socks against my back and legs would be... um... better stop now. Thanks, Madame! --fl]
Submitted by 1276 (not verified) on Thu, 2007-03-29 06:28.
That's funny, because those are the first things I try to get off of people ... being that I myself rarely wear socks if I can avoid it. Nothing like a naked man in socks ... happy HNT, figleaf! I'm back in the world of HNT!
[They're usually the first thing I take off too. (You can take the boy out of the country...) Welcome back to HNT, WG. Thanks. --fl]
Submitted by 1276 (not verified) on Thu, 2007-03-29 07:49.
heehee brilliant. and i have to admit i love going to bed still wearing my knee lengths or stockings ;) in fact it's sometimes hard to make me take off the shoes! nothing unusual in that!
happy hnt babe.
[Sounds wonderful, Keda. A bit unusual but in a stirring rather than odd way. Happy HNT to you too. --fl]
Submitted by 1276 (not verified) on Thu, 2007-03-29 09:49.
HAPPY HNT, IF WOULD LIKE A LINK UNDER MOMTHEMINX OR MYBARENAKEDDIARY , LEAVE YOUR BLOGNAME AND URL. OX
Great post.
Submitted by 1276 (not verified) on Thu, 2007-03-29 11:21.
I just found your blog and glad of it! I always thought my own preference for socks had something to do with aging and decreasing circulation. Nice to find out it's a cum aid.
[Thanks, Sue. Nice to find your site too. We've been discussing sex and aging lately so it's good to hear from someone writing a book called "Mature Lust." --fl]
Submitted by 1276 (not verified) on Thu, 2007-03-29 13:02.
That is highly interesting... but I wonder what those scientists would say about wearing shoes and sex... Well, you have to like it first... I do... the sluttiest the shoes are, the best I go... ;-)
HHNT!
[Hmm. Shoes and sex are kind of fun. Highly useful for outdoor sex too. :-) Thanks, SeaRabbit. Happy HNT to you, too. --fl]
Submitted by 1276 (not verified) on Thu, 2007-03-29 17:46.
Call me crazy, but I do really love a man in athletic socks. Bare chest, sweat pants, white athletic socks, lying on a couch watching ESPN....I find that an incredibly erotic image that begs for seduction. Love your HNT!
[This is crazy? I don't think so. I think sweats or yoga pants and a t-shirt are some of the sexiest "lingerie" there is. Also yeah, the nice thing about seducing someone who's watching TV is... what are the odds you're interrupting anything important? *They* might not think so, at least at first, but, really, could you call it seduction otherwise? :-) Thanks, Nympho! --fl]
Submitted by 1276 (not verified) on Fri, 2007-09-07 18:37.
My congratulations for your blog. I'm a lover of socks and stockings in women feet, because I'm a indignous descendent from Pará/Brazil, and our people and the river people of the North region of my country has like common use wear only stockings or socks, because they ar'nt acostumated at shoes use that sacrifice their feet. I'm, like I told, a lover of this practice, and in order to thanks for your blog I'm writing this. God bless you.
[Thank you, Deusarino. --fl]