[lit-ideas] Re: Dissecting Love
- From: "Andy Amago" <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 08:17:28 -0500
I have in my old computer somewhere a discussion that "falling in love" is
very similar to being on drugs (or being mentally ill (seriously), I don't
remember now). The below article talks only about pheromones as the reason
for falling in love, important no doubt. Personally, I think that as
important or more important than pheromones are psychological reasons,
specifically, but not limited to, the re-creation of the infant's
experience with the mother. Believe it or not, unresolved anger has a lot
to do with it too. I once heard someone on the radio say that it's ironic
that pheromones are a reason for sexual attraction, yet we take daily
showers, wash the pheromones off, and replace them with things like musk
fragrances. Napoleon allegedly would write to Josephine, don't bathe, I'm
coming home. The role of smell in attraction underscores that humans are
really just animals. The big brains are an afterthought, useful for making
nice big guns and melting ice caps and little more.
I was in the supermarket recently and one of the check-out magazines
(Celebrity Living I think, never heard of it) said that (celebrity) Nick
Somebody was rejecting (celebrity) Jessica Somebody (a stunning 20
something blonde) for someone really sexy, which it turns out is Miss
Kentucky. Nick Somebody obviously has high standards when it comes to
sexy. Sex is so out of control, obsessed over whether by glorifying it or
demonizing it. Nothing in the middle. Maybe because we're afraid of our
animal sides? We like to think we're not animals? If we're animals and
we eat animals, then we're cannibals, right? Can't help it, it's Friday.
> [Original Message]
> From: <JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx>
> To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 2/24/2006 7:13:07 AM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Dissecting Love
>
>
> _http://women.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,17909-2032519,00.html_
> (http://women.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,17909-2032519,00.html)
>
> What makes Cupid's arrows stick?
> Dr Thomas Stuttaford
>
> Scans reveal how the brain changes when we fall in love
>
> One major advance in medicine, rarely given the credit that it deserves,
is
> the introduction of sterile, sharp, disposable needles. Forty years ago
my
> partner and I filled in the time before morning surgery by sharpening
much-used
> old needles on an oiled grindstone, before sterilising them.
> Cupid, the son of Venus, sharpened his arrows, too â?? in a similar way
to
> that employed at the Fleggburgh surgery, though he used blood rather
than oil on
> his grindstone. There is a legend, followed up by Shakespeare, that
Cupid
> had two types of arrow: one gave rise to long-lasting, committed,
so-called
> virtuous love, the other to lust. The arrows that led to lasting love
were gold,
> which would have needed careful sharpening to penetrate and stay
embedded.
>
>
> The lovestruck person hit by a golden arrow would pass through the three
> stages leading to lasting commitment â?? lust, acceptance and
attachment, and deep
> friendship. What could be more virtuous? Cupidâ??s other arrows were
leaden:
> although they might strike their victim, they were unlikely to
penetrate, let
> alone to remain embedded. Cupidâ??s leaden arrow gave rise to
short-lived,
> lustful, sensual passion.
> That there are different types of love, the virtuous and the lustful,
the
> one lasting and the other transient, is accepted by neurophysiologists
and
> psychologists. The brain and the hormonal endocrine system have been
studied, as
> has the biochemical and radiological effect of the two types of arrow.
Cupidâ??
> s arrows now are made neither of gold nor of lead, but by visual images
and,
> above all, by a whiff of pheromones or scent.
> We are attracted by those in whom we can see something of ourselves, or
of
> our opposite parent, or of some other role-forming adult figure of our
> childhood. It may be that only one part of the womanâ??s body (in the
case of a man)
> can sharpen the arrow so that it penetrates. Nearly all people of both
sexes,
> even if they donâ??t admit it, suffer from a degree of partialism â?? a
sexual
> preference for a particular part of the body of a future mate.
> The pheromones are produced by the modified sweat glands around the
nipples,
> groin, genitalia and under the arm. They are also present in the cheeks,
> eyelids, ears, temple and scalp, where they secrete a less obvious
smell.
> Recent research indicates that tears also contain pheromones. The
romantic
> novelistâ??s idea of the tough heroâ??s resolve melting when the woman
cries may
> not have represented any change in his hard heart: perhaps the smell of
the
> tears merely stimulated those parts of the brain â?? the ventral
tegmental area
> (VTA), the dorsal caudate body and caudate tail â?? that, according to
the
> science writer Michael Gross, are activated during those first lustful
stages of
> love in someone genetically or environmentally conditioned to succumb.
> These changes in the brain, demonstrated in MRI studies, disappear once
the
> lustful, romantic stage has waned. Indeed, a rejected ex-lover has a
quite
> different batch of brain responses â?? areas associated with obsessive
compulsive
> behaviour, controlled anger and pain are activated, hence the
observation
> that rejection can superficially heighten love and alter its nature.
> When people fall in love, the MRI changes are accompanied by changes in
> blood serotonin levels that mirror those found in people with
obsessional states.
> At the same time, levels of the hormones cortisol FSH and testosterone
rise.
> Surprisingly, the rate at which testosterone rises in lovestruck women
is
> greater than in men, in whom there may even be a slight fall. The level
of
> another chemical messenger, nerve growth factor (NGF), also rises in the
blood of
> those who are â??in loveâ??.
> The biochemical results suggest that a leaden arrow falls out between 12
and
> 24 months after Cupid has struck. The hormonal changes and increase in
NGF
> disappear and levels return to normal.
> Luckily for those hit by a golden arrow, the second stage of attachment
is
> tipped with oxytocin, the so-called â??cuddle hormoneâ?? associated with
female
> orgasms, delivery and lactation. This stays at a higher level so long as
the
> second stage of partnership lasts.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
> digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
