NEW YORK, Dec 17 (Reuters Health) -- Dutch scientists have produced a new
type of adult film. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), they have produced
images of lovemaking. Results of the experiment overturn conventional ideas
about the anatomy of sexual intercourse, the researchers report.
Dating back to at least Leonardo da Vinci, people have attempted to
illustrate the anatomy of sexual intercourse between a man and a woman, but
studying exactly how the body changes during sex has been difficult, according
to a team of researchers led by Dr. Willibrord Weijmar Schultz, of the
University Hospital Groningen in the Netherlands.
In their study, Schultz and colleagues used MRI scans, commonly used to
diagnose a number of illnesses, to view the anatomy of male and female genitals
during sexual intercourse. The researchers also used the scan on women who
stimulated themselves.
Making love in a hollow tube certainly is not the most romantic setting,
but eight couples (including two who needed the help of the impotence drug
Viagra) and three single women were up to the task, the authors report in the
December 18-25 issue of the British Medical Journal.
The experiments yielded several observations about the anatomy of sexual
intercourse and female sexual arousal. First, when a couple is in the missionary
position (woman lying on her back, man on top), the penis is slightly curved
like a boomerang, not S-shaped as previously thought. Second, the uterus does
not become larger when a woman is sexually aroused, as stated by the sex
researchers Masters and Johnson. Finally, when a woman brings herself to sexual
arousal, the uterus rises and the front wall of the vagina lengthens.
MRIs of sexual intercourse may do more than simply produce interesting
images, Schultz told Reuters Health. Learning more about the anatomy of sex may
produce insights into infertility, for which the cause is unknown about 15% of
the time, according to the Dutch researcher.
In a footnote, the research team thanks the study volunteers "for their
cooperation, laughter, and permission to publish intimate MR images of them."
They also thank hospital officials for "the intellectual courage to allow us to
continue this (research)."
