Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex

“My point is that if you want to understand human sexual response, then studying animals is probably not the most productive way to go about it.”

Roach gently undercuts the long tradition of animal-based sex research. The casual “probably” adds humor while still allowing a firm critique of outdated methods. The quote marks a pivot in the book from animal models to the messy, necessary work of studying human sexuality directly.

“In direct manipulation of the clitoris there is a narrow margin between stimulation and irritation.”

Masters’s clinical language underscores how sensitive sexual anatomy can be. The close pairing of “stimulation” and “irritation” shows that small changes in pressure or technique can drastically alter experience. Roach uses this observation to emphasize the value of careful, measured research in an area often reduced to oversimplified advice.

“Women came into Masters and Johnson’s laboratory and had sex with a thrusting mechanical penis-camera that filmed—from the inside—their physical responses to it.”

The matter-of-fact description of a “penis-camera” makes the methods of early sex research sound both clinical and startling. Roach lets the oddness of the device speak for itself, illustrating how far scientists were willing to go to obtain visual, measurable data. The quote shows how innovation in this field often meant crossing social and technological boundaries at once.

“Penile thrusting on its own—with no foreplay or during-play—is, concluded Abate, ‘an inefficient method of inducing female orgasm.’”

This finding directly challenges the assumption that intercourse alone is the main route to female orgasm. By contrasting “thrusting on its own” with foreplay and “during-play,” the quote frames context and timing as physiological factors, not just romantic add-ons. Roach uses it to show how empirical studies can overturn entrenched ideas about what “counts” as normal sex.

“If the distance is less than the width of your thumb, you are likely to come.”

Wallen’s “rule of thumb” turns anatomical research into a simple, memorable guideline. The concrete image of a thumb makes statistical findings accessible to nonspecialists. The quote illustrates how some researchers translate complex data about clitoral-vaginal distance into everyday language without losing scientific grounding.

“The uterine contractions of orgasm are ‘expulsive, not sucking or ingestive in character.’ They originate at the far end of the uterus and make their way toward the cervix.”

Masters and Johnson used precise anatomical language to challenge the popular “upsuck” theory of conception. Describing contractions as “expulsive” rather than “sucking” undercuts the idea that orgasm mechanically pulls sperm toward the egg. Roach highlights this passage to show how careful measurement can overturn long-standing but untested explanations.

“Sex is far more than the sum of its moving parts.”

This statement captures the tension between what can be measured and what cannot. By using mechanical imagery (“moving parts”) and then pushing beyond it, Roach reminds readers that sexual experience includes emotion, context, and meaning as well as physiology, thematically highlighting The Science Versus the Soul of Sexuality. The quote checks the temptation to reduce sex entirely to organs and reflexes.

“Erections are all about blood. Blood is the backbone of a stiff penis.”

Roach reduces the mechanics of erection to a simple principle: blood flow. The repetition of “blood” and the metaphor “backbone of a stiff penis” translate vascular physiology into direct, memorable language. The quote helps recast erectile difficulties as circulatory issues rather than purely moral, psychological, or character-based failures.

“Viagra sealed the deal. In 1998, Pfizer—with a cadre of media-savvy urologists in tow—launched a massive publicity campaign to announce an exciting new approach to impotence.”

This sentence links a scientific development to a deliberate marketing strategy. Phrases like “sealed the deal” and “media-savvy urologists” show how corporate promotion helped turn impotence into the treatable condition “erectile dysfunction.” Roach uses the quote, which highlights one aspect of The Cultural Politics of Sex Research, to highlight how pharmaceutical success depends on public messaging as much as on lab results.

“When a discharge is likely to occur, the device is elevated with the organ, and the connections are drawn sufficiently taut as to pull the hair.”

The dry, mechanical tone of this 1889 patent description reveals the logic behind anti-masturbation devices. Terms like “connections” and “drawn… taut” sound neutral but encode a system designed to cause pain at the moment of sexual release. Roach cites the passage to show how Victorian medicine framed masturbation as an undesirable behavior that “scientific” tools could monitor and punish.

“It seemed no ailment stood strong in the face of another man’s testis.”

Roach’s wry summary distills the grandiose claims made for early gland-grafting procedures. The exaggerated idea that “no ailment” could resist transplanted testes exposes the overconfidence and wishful thinking behind these treatments. The quote illustrates how hope, spectacle, and profit often outpaced solid evidence in early sexual medicine.

“‘A man is as old as his glands.’”

Brinkley’s slogan reduces the complexity of aging to a single organ system. Its catchy rhythm made gland treatments sound like a simple solution to a universal fear. Roach uses this phrase to show how pseudoscientific branding can turn speculative therapies into lucrative businesses.

“The AMS Malleable 650 Penile Prosthesis is a high-profit item with a steady demand.”

The language here could describe any consumer product rather than a surgical implant. By focusing on “high-profit” margins and “steady demand,” the quote reveals how sexual medicine is embedded in commercial markets. Roach uses it to raise questions about where medical necessity ends and profitable consumerism begins.

“Male and female fetuses both begin life with something closer to a clitoris. The male’s expands into a penis, while the female’s remains more or less as is.”

This concise explanation of fetal development emphasizes common origins rather than strict differences. Seeing the penis as a modification of a shared structure challenges hierarchies that treat female anatomy as secondary or incomplete. Roach uses the observation to ground later comparisons of male and female arousal in shared physiology.

“Eight years and 3,000 subjects later, the answer appeared to be no. Viagra did in fact increase blood volume in the nethers, but most women seemed not to notice it.”

The build-up of “eight years and 3,000 subjects” suggests success, making the “no” more striking. The contrast between measurable blood flow and women’s reports of not “noticing” underscores one of the book’s central ideas: Genital change does not always equal perceived desire or pleasure. The quote indicates limits to simply extending a male-focused drug model to women.

“Based on Sipski’s data, only one thing definitively precludes orgasm: a complete injury to the sacral nerve roots at the base of the spine.”

This finding locates orgasm in specific neural pathways rather than in particular body parts or psychological traits. The mention of “sacral nerve roots” foregrounds the spinal cord as crucial infrastructure for sexual response. Roach points to this conclusion to show how neurophysiology can complicate assumptions about who is “capable” of orgasm.

“Sipski defines orgasm as a reflex of the autonomic nervous system that can be either facilitated or inhibited by cerebral input (thoughts and feelings).”

Sipski’s definition integrates body and mind in a single framework, clarifying that though orgasm is an automatic reflex, one’s mental state can strengthen or block it. Roach draws on this description to support one of her central ideas: Sexual experience emerges from the interaction between involuntary processes and conscious interpretation.

“‘My whole body feels like it’s in my vagina,’ said the subject, a quadriplegic woman who had just had an orgasm…while applying a vibrator to her neck and chest.”

The subject’s metaphor conveys how spinal injury can reorganize sensation. Feeling as though her “whole body” is localized in one area suggests that sensory maps in the brain have shifted. Roach uses this testimony to give emotional and concrete shape to abstract concepts like neural plasticity.

“You have no idea what a perplexing mess is female arousal.”

Roach’s candid phrasing prepares readers for data that refuse simple explanations. Calling female arousal a “perplexing mess” acknowledges contradictions between genital response, desire, and self-report. The quote sets a tone of humility and curiosity around a topic that people often approach with overconfidence.

“Women, both gay and straight, will show immediate genital arousal (as measured by a photoplethysmograph) in response to films of sexual activity, regardless of who is engaging in it—male, female, gay, straight, good hair or bad.”

This summary of Chivers’s findings shows that genital arousal can be broad and automatic, even when it does not match a person’s stated orientation or preferences. The humorous aside “good hair or bad” reinforces the idea that bodily response is less selective than conscious desire. This quote highlights the mismatch between what the body does and how people understand or label their arousal.

“When the cavernosus muscles reflexively contract—as they do upon entry—this boosts blood flow to the clitoris. At the same time as the vaginocavernosus reflex is affecting the clitoris, Shafik found, it’s also putting the squeeze on the man’s dorsal vein, helping trap blood in the penis and keeping it firm.”

These sentences lay out a proposed reflex loop between partners during vaginal intercourse. The step-by-step description shows how involuntary muscle contractions might enhance both clitoral blood flow and penile rigidity at once. Roach includes this passage to demonstrate how some researchers envision sex as a coordinated mechanical system linking two bodies.

“Shafik has published papers on a total of eighty-two anatomical reflexes that he has discovered and named.”

The sheer number of reflexes suggests both ambition and a drive to catalog every possible reaction. By stressing that Shafik has both “discovered and named” these reflexes, the quote hints at the desire to leave a personal stamp on the scientific record. Roach uses this to invite readers to think about how personality and professional incentives shape research claims.

“Hormones are nature’s three bottles of beer.”

Roach’s metaphor compares hormonal swings to the disinhibiting effects of alcohol. The image helps illustrate how shifting hormone levels can change perception and behavior, especially around desire and attraction. The quote links technical endocrinology to familiar social experiences, making the science less abstract.