THE HUMAN SEXUAL RESPONSE – INDIVIDUAL RESPONDS
The excitement phase is explained by its name. The individual responds, sexually, to any stimulation which his (or her) brain interprets as a sexual invitation. The stimulus, in our culture, is usually visual or tactile, but may be, and often is, enhanced by smell or by sound. The stimulus must be of sufficient strength, or be reinforced by additional stimuli, to permit a sufficient increase in sexual desire to extend the phase into the second, or plateau, phase. The opposite can also happen. An advance by a man (or by a woman) may be rejected by the other, and unless the individual’s sexual desire is so heightened that he (or she) persists, the excitement phase will be terminated. On the other hand, an obvious response by the person approached, particularly if welcoming, will increase the intensity of the response and bring the individual more quickly into the plateau phase. In our culture, men, especially, are said to be stimulated erotically more by vision and women by touch; but this may not be true, as I have mentioned.
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