by Jesse Bering
Murray, Craig
Muscarella, Frank, “alliance information theory” of
Muslims
Nabokov, Vladimir, Lolita
narcissism
National Galleries, Scotland
Native Americans
natural selection
navigational shortcomings, and homosexuality
Neanderthals
necrophilia
Nerve magazine
Nettle, Daniel
neuroanatomy
neuroepileptics
neurotransmitters
New Hebrides
New Scientist
New York magazine
New York Times
New Zealand
Nicholas, Saint
nighttime: seizures; sex; sexsomnia
nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT)
Norenzayan, Ara
Northern Ireland
Nursing Inquiry
object fetishes; see also specific fetishes
OELT
Olry, Régis
Oneida Community
oral contraceptives
oral sex, see cunnilingus; fellatio
orangutans; penis
orgasm; female; lack of; male; masturbation; “sedation” effect of; through vaginal penetration
Orland, Frank
Orthodox Jews
ovaries
ovulation; concealed; induced
oxytocin
pain; suicide; testicular
Panksepp, Jaak
Papua New Guinea tribes; cannibalism; semen-ingestion rituals
Paraguay
parasites
parents, homophobia in
paternity; mistaken; semen displacement theory
pedophilia; brain damage and; homosexuality and; as mental disorder; podophiliac
penile flicking
penile plethysmograph
penis; autofellatio; circumcised; coronal ridge; erections; evolution; foreskin; glans; post-ejaculation; premature ejaculation; response to children; semen displacement theory; shaft; shape; size; sleep-related erections; testing; uncircumcised; vagina penetrated by
penis cerebri
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Petrinovich, Lewis; The Cannibal Within
phallometric testing
pheromones; menstrual synchrony and; pubic hair and
Pick’s disease
pineal gland
placenta, eating
Platek, Steven
Plato
podophilia
Polanski, Roman
Pollet, Thomas
polyamory; evolution and; homosexuality; Oneida Community
pornography; child; gay male; Internet; lesbian; straight
port-wine stains
postictal behavior
Poucher, George
Poulin, Robert
Pradhan, Sunil
Prause, Nicole
predation
preeclampsia
prefrontal cortex
pregnancy
pre-homosexuality; children; genetics and
premature ejaculation; genetics and; “survival of the fastest” theory
Presley, Elvis
Presley, Lisa Marie
Pretty Baby
primitive cultures, suicide in
prolactin
prostatic acid phosphatase
prostitution; pubic lice
protein, aborted fetus as source of
Protestant Reformation
Proust, Marcel
psychiatry; autofellatio and; Freudian; hebephilia and
Psychoanalytic Review
Psychological Reports
Psychological Review
Psychological Science
puberty; precocious
pubic hair; evolution; lice; pheromones and; shaving; texture and composition
pubococcygeus muscle
rabbits, sex with
Rahman, Qazi
rape; brain damage and; of children; date rape drugs; sexsomnia
rats; laughter
redback spiders
Rekers, Eddie
religion; burial practices; Christianity; evolution and; genetics and; homophobia motivated by; reproduction and; supernatural monitoring hypothesis
REM sleep
reproduction, God’s imperative for
Rétif de la Bretonne; Monsieur Nicolas
retifism
reverse engineering
rhesus macaques; brain; sex
Rhodes, Katherine
Rome, ancient; suicide in
rubberphilia
Russia, cannibalism in
Sacks, Oliver
safe-sex practices
Sagarin, Brad
Sagawa, Issei
St. Clair, Margaret, To Serve Man: A Cookbook for People
Sambia, semen-ingestion rituals of
Sammis, Becky
San Francisco
Sartre, Jean-Paul, No Exit
Saturday Night Live
Savage, Dan
Schenck, Carlos
Schooler, Jonathan
Science
Scotland
scrotum; descended testicles; temperature
seals
sebaceous glands
sebum production
Secret Instructions Concerning the Jade Chamber
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
self-irrumatio
semen; antidepressant effects of; chemistry; displacement theory; evolution; FSH and LH hormones in; happiness and; ingestion rituals; oral ingestion of; premature ejaculation
semen displacement theory
serotonin
sex; absence of desire; autofellatio; empathy and; erotic age orientation; fantasies during; female ejaculation; group; induced ovulation during; interspecies; nighttime; polyamory; premature ejaculation; semen chemistry and; semen displacement theory; sleep-related; testicle retraction during; vagina penetrated by penis; vigorous; see also specific types of sex
sex role preferences; homosexual; top/bottom/versatile self-labels
Sex Roles
sexsomnia; homosexuality; rape; sleepwalking and
Shackelford, Todd
Shaffer, Peter, Equus
Shakers
Shakespeare, William; Hamlet
Shapiro, Colin
Shariff, Azim
Shields, Brooke
Shneidman, Edwin
shoe fetish
Singer, Peter
skin; acne
sleep; erections during; REM; sexsomnia
sleepwalking; sexsomnia and
“slow speed–high aggressiveness hypothesis”
smell
Smith, John Maynard
snakes, sex with
Sociological Review, The
South America
Spain
Spaulding, Jean
specific-tree burial
sperm; masturbation and; motility; premature ejaculation; retention, and female orgasm; semen chemistry and; semen displacement theory; temperature; testicles and; viability
spontaneous nocturnal emissions
sports; contact vs. solitary; testicular injury
squirrel monkeys, cannibalism in
Starin, E. D.
starvation cannibalism
Stekel, Wilhelm
stirpiculture
stress
suicide; adaptive; behavioral disinhibition and; brain and; cognitive deconstruction and; escape theory; evolution and; in gay teens; genetics and; high self-awareness and; homosexuality and; low self-esteem and; methods; negative affect and; nonhuman animal; in primitive cultures; prison; unreasonable standards and
Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior
Sulzberger, Marion
Sunday Effect
supernatural monitoring hypothesis
Sweden
Swerdlow, Russell
S
witzerland
symbolic immortality
Symons, Donald
syphilis
Szameitat, Diana
Taoism
teenagers; bitchiness; female; gay teen suicides; homosexual; male; masturbation; sex with; sex-typed behavior
teleiophilia
television; fag hags on
Temerlin, Maurice, Lucy: Growing Up Human
temperature; sperm; testicles
temporal lobe
temporal-lobe epileptics
testicles; activation hypothesis; asymmetries; cremasteric reflex and; descended; evolution; injuries; pain; retraction during sexual arousal; temperature
testosterone
Thornhill, Randy
thyrotropin-releasing hormone
Tiggemann, Marika
transvestism
Trivers, Robert
Trust for Natural Legacies
Turner’s syndrome
twins; ejaculation; fraternal; identical
2D:4D effect
University College, London
urination play
urophagia
uterus; female orgasm and
vagina; drug delivery via; female ejaculation; lubrication; penetrated by penis; semen chemistry and; semen displacement theory
Vallacher, Robin
van Diemerbroeck, Isbrand
Van Orden, Kimberly
ventricles
View, The
virginity
vitiligo
Vohs, Kathleen
voyeurism
vulva
vulva cerebri
Walsh, Seth
Warhol, Andy
Warner, Dan
wealth, and female orgasm
Wegner, Daniel
Weinberg, Martin
Weiss, Robin
wet dreams
Wilde, Oscar
Will & Grace
Williams, Colin
Willis, Thomas
Winslow, Jacques-Bénigne
women: acne; aggression; antidepressant effects of semen; asexual; autocunnilingus; fag hags; female ejaculation; masturbation fantasies; menstrual synchrony; nocturnal genitals; orgasm; postmenopausal; pubic hair removal; semen chemistry and; sexsomnia
World War II
Wright, Lester, Jr.
yoga
Zaidens, Sadie
Zander, Thomas
zoophilia; evolution and; homosexual
Zucker, Kenneth
Also by Jesse Bering, Ph.D.
The Belief Instinct
JESSE BERING, PH.D.
Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That?
Jesse Bering, Ph.D., is a frequent contributor to Scientific American and Slate. His writing has also appeared in New York magazine, The Guardian, and The New Republic, among other publications, and has been featured by NPR, Playboy Radio, the BBC, and more. The author of The Belief Instinct, Bering is the former director of the Institute of Cognition and Culture at Queen’s University, Belfast, and began his career as a professor at the University of Arkansas. He lives in Ithaca, New York. His website is www.jessebering.com.
Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux
18 West 18th Street, New York 10011
Copyright © 2012 by Jesse Bering
All rights reserved
First edition, 2012
The majority of the essays in this book first appeared, in different form and as online columns, on Scientific American. The essays “So Close, and Yet So Far Away: The Contorted History of Autofellatio,” “Bite Me: The Natural History of Cannibalism,” “Naughty by Nature: When Brain Damage Makes People Very, Very Randy,” and “How the Brain Got Its Buttocks: Medieval Mischief in Neuroanatomy” originally appeared, in different form, on Slate.
Content published 2010–present: Copyright © Scientific American, a Division of Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved.
Content published 2009 and earlier: Copyright © Scientific American, Inc. All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bering, Jesse.
Why is the penis shaped like that? : and other reflections on being human / Jesse Bering.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-374-53292-5 (pbk.)
1. Sex (Biology)—Popular works. 2. Sex (Psychology)—Popular works. 3. Human evolution—Popular works. 4. Evolutionary psychology—Popular works. I. Title.
QP251 .B495 2012
612.6—dc23
2011045962
www.fsgbooks.com
www.books.scientificamerican.com
eISBN 978-1-4299-5510-2
