he's a pal of leslie unruh, the author of the South Dakota universal abortion ban legislation. (which was defeated.)
he's a schill for the notoriously 'light on scientific accuracy' abstinence-only crowd for the christian right. (which doesn't work.)
(want his bio? check out talk2action's research here.)
he runs a string of those so-called crisis pregnancy centers in massachusets.
and his biggest claim to fame?
he thinks:
sex causes people to go through oxytocin withdrawal which in turn prevents people from bonding in relationships. Seriously.
[Keroack] explained that oxytocin is released during positive social interaction, massage, hugs, “trust” encounters, and sexual intercourse. “It promotes bonding by reducing fear and anxiety in social settings, increasing trust and trustworthiness, reducing stress and pain, and decreasing social aggression,” he said.
But apparently if you’ve had sex with too many people you use up all that oxytocin: "People who have misused their sexual faculty and become bonded to multiple persons will diminish the power of oxytocin to maintain a permanent bond with an individual.” Hear that? Too many sexual partners and you’ll never love again!
(basic science: while it's true that oxytocin plays a major role during labor, breastfeeding and is released into the bloodstream during orgasm - as vasopressin is released in males - and that it does seem to enable trust and ease social anxiety, his basic premise that sexual promiscuity will use up 'too much' and your ability to form bonds with another person will diminish is bullshit - at least not for biological reasons. the number of partners shouldn't matter. if oxytocin levels were subject to fluctuation because of orgasm/sexual intercourse then it would be instance that mattered, not the number of partners.
and what a wonderful, discerning little chemical it would be! if all this was true, then it would also follow that oxytocin is able to distinguish between sex with a marital partner and sex with an extra-marital partner, would it not? genius little chemical!
anyway, oxytocin doesn't 'run out'. if that was the case, every time a woman gave birth she'd be capable of less bonding with each successive child - not to mention that with each instance of sex with her partner, over time, she'd be less able to maintain that bond. see? illogical bullshit.
and doesn't he know that oxytocin now comes in pill or nasal spray? no one has to suffer low bonding!)
this total ignoramus is going to be in charge of a government program for women's sexual health. monday is his first day. nice.
does george w. bush know ANY qualified people??
5 comments:
does george w. bush know ANY qualified people??
Yes.
But, he hate's those Know-It-All, elitists.
Spread the word ladies...there has never been a better time to try to get the ERA passed...we need to let out representatives know what we want!
although it's a huge question mark to know how supportive of women's reproductive health a female bush appointee would be, it's extremely telling that there isn't a single WOMAN nominated for women's issues at all in the bush administration - FDA, Dept Health/Human Services, Contraception and Family Planning - I'm sorry, the best candidates for this would be MEN??
what the frack??
I know this is an article that appeared a long time ago, but i saw it and had to respond. Overall it makes me a little sad.
I was thinking, so we have this God. A God who loves us unconditionally and created us to live by the way reality is to be. So if that is the case and God wants us to be married and intimate to one person, then why is it so problematic to consider the take that this guy has on Oxytocin. If the ultimate desire of God is for us to have intimacy with one person, then He could limit the amount of bonding and who we would be bonded too. So what would happen is that a women who is experiencing the Biblically amazing form of sex is being bonded to her husband and when she has children, she is being bonded to her children.
Now I don't know a lot about that, but I do know that sin has a negative effect on our body. I know that the more I worry, my body acts in a way that it is not supposed to. They say that 80% of illness is psychosomatic and that would probably be really a sin matter.
Thanks for letting me say my thought...
Christian (Really my name is Christian...LOL)
christian,
thanks for stopping by!
you know, if only biology actually worked like that - God wants us to be good people and so builds in an automatic system to prevent us from stepping out of line. then we'd all be perfect!
but our biology doesn't work like that.
i'm not saying that folks shouldn't experience intimacy the way you've defined it. i'm not even saying that oxytocin doesn't facilitate good feelings and such - i'm just saying that the way this guy said it works is wrong. empirically wrong.
and for a medical doctor to be so ignorant, and then to be put in a position of authority over a subject he obviously knows nothing about, is ridiculous.
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