Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex

The clitoris is a central example of overlooked female anatomy and scientific bias throughout Bonk. Roach’s discussion of MRI imaging by Dr. Ken Maravilla and others demonstrates that the clitoris is far larger and more structurally complex than traditionally represented, sharing homologous features with the penis. The book uses this discovery to critique the historic underrepresentation of female pleasure in medical research, illustrating how cultural taboos have long delayed accurate anatomical and physiological understanding.

Bonk describes the late, controversial work of Masters and Johnson, who once claimed limited success in helping gay clients “convert” to heterosexuality. Roach contextualizes this moment as a reflection of 1970s-era social norms rather than empirical validity, noting the methodological and ethical problems that followed. The inclusion underscores how scientific authority can mirror, rather than transcend, the prejudices of its time, and it contrasts sharply with Masters and Johnson’s otherwise groundbreaking research on human sexual function.

Libido, or sexual desire, is one of the book’s recurring scientific puzzles: how hormonal, psychological, and relational factors intertwine to produce attraction and motivation. Roach references studies involving rhesus monkeys, hormone therapy, and birth control to examine how testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone modulate desire. Her treatment of libido moves beyond simple cause-and-effect, presenting it as something shaped by both biology and context, where mood, memory, and opportunity all exert subtle influence.

Coined by William Masters, “gender empathy” refers to the intuitive understanding shared by same-sex partners about one another’s bodily preferences and sensations. In Bonk, this term helps explain why Masters and Johnson observed higher satisfaction rates among gay and lesbian couples in their lab studies: partners could easily mirror their own experiences and communicate openly. The phrase highlights the importance of attunement and feedback in sexual connection, a lesson Roach extends to heterosexual relationships through her broader commentary on communication.

Hormones exert powerful but often invisible influences on desire, behavior, and fertility. Through studies at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and human clinical trials, Roach shows how estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone affect both actions and moods. She compares hormones to three bottles of beer, a metaphor that captures their power to alter perception, confidence, and risk-taking. By blending humor and scientific detail, Roach presents hormones not as all-controlling forces, but as important variables within the complex picture of human sexuality.

Bonk demystifies orgasm, one of the most measured and mythologized aspects of sexual experience, through Roach’s exploration of its biological underpinnings and cultural representations. Masters and Johnson’s laboratory studies, along with imaging research decades later, reveal orgasm as a full-body reflex rather than a singular, localized event. Roach emphasizes the variability of orgasmic patterns between individuals and the frequent mismatch between physical climax and emotional fulfillment, reinforcing her theme that sex cannot be fully quantified.

Pheromones, or chemical substances believed to trigger attraction, receive skeptical scrutiny in Bonk. Roach recounts experiments that attempted to prove the existence of human sex pheromones, from rhesus monkey studies to dubious commercial products like “Athena Pheromone 10X.” Despite occasional suggestive data, most findings fail replication, and Roach uses this scientific uncertainty to satirize the public’s eagerness for shortcuts to attraction. The term becomes emblematic of the tension between wishful thinking and rigorous evidence in sex research.

Ahmed Shafik’s catalog of dozens of newly identified sexual reflexes captures Bonk’s mix of humor and respect for human physiology. Shafik’s work, ranging from “vaginocavernosus” contractions to penile and anal reflexes, suggests a deeply mechanical foundation beneath intimate acts. Roach treats these studies with curiosity and humor, situating them within a global scientific conversation about bodily autonomy, gender norms, and the moral limits of experimentation. Reflexes, for Roach, include both literal muscular responses and the figurative “automatic reactions” that societies show toward sexuality itself.