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Sex,
Ecstasy
and the
Psychedelic Drugs
By R.E.L. Masters
much retarded and takes place only after prolonged copulation. This
anesthetic effect is also produced in the nerves of the vulva, the vagina and
the rectum of the woman, and the 'psychological moment' arives slowly. The
constrictor muscles of the vagina, and especially those of the rectum,
undergo a kind of relaxation." He goes on to say that, with larger doses,
more than 15 or 20 pipes, erection becomes incomplete; and with 30 or 40
pipes, it is absent altogether.
Jacobus' remarks also apply to peyote, to the LSD-type synthetics and, to
a lesser degree marijuana. Those under the influence of these drugs describe
the mild surface anesthesia, if that is what it is, as a feeling of
'rubberiness' that effects the penis, the female genitals and also sometimes
the mouth, the breasts, the fingers and other body areas. It is by no means
an unpleasent sensation; often it is descibed as heightened feelings of
voluptuousness. Along with the rubbery sensation, the genitals, if excited,
are felt to be engorged to an unusual degree.
At least as ancient as opium is the hemp plant (Cannibis sativa, or
Cannibis indica). When used as a drug, it is called marijuana, hashish and a
great deal of other names. Scientific reports on the sexual effects of
marijuana are conflicting. For example, the French toxicologist Erich Hesse
(Narcotics and Drug Addiction) tells us that marijuana and hashish provide no
sexual stimulation whatever; but another physician-author Bernard Finch
(Passport to Paradise), declares that "After several inhalatios, a feeling
of sexual excitement develops and the smoker is able to improve his sexual
performance, in that erection is stronger and more persistant, but orgasm is
depressed and usually does not take place."
I could provide a great many more conflicting 'authoratative' statements
on this matter, although Finch is the only writer I know who suggests that
marijuana by itself produces a condition of sexual excitation. He also is
the only one to say that orgasm "usually" does not take place.
From many other times and places, we also have claims that hemp is an
aphrodisiac - and other claims that it is an anaphrodisiac, an inhibitor of
sexual desire or of potency. But whichever way they lean, the authors of
these claims are relying on personal predeliction, on very limited interview
data or on the verdict of some favorite 'authority' who has already made
similar errors. We find the same conflicting evidence from "experts" writing
about the sexual effect of peyote or LSD.
Anyone who has carefully studied psychoactive drugs should know that many
different effects are possible, depending on personal, cultural or immediate
situational factors - which are often crucial in determining drug-state
behavior. With marijuana and other psychedelics, people who are sexually
stimulated may find that their stimulation is greater than usual and that
their capacity to respond has been heightened. Others may find themselves
totally indifferent such as the writer Theophile Gautier, who took some
hashish and generalized that "a hashish user would not lift a finger for the
most beautiful woman in Verona." The same individual may find that he is
greatly aroused on one occasion and unexcited on the next. Or his mind may
experience desire while is body is unable to act in concert with it.
Some cultures place great faith in the aphrodisiacal effects of hemp; and
in those cultures the drug often does function as an aphrodisiac - producing
sexual excitation, enhancing potency and pleasure, and prolonging sexual
intercourse. Amoung Arabs, there is a vast lore of the effectiveness of hemp
in maintaining an erection - the prolongation of the sex act being almost an
obsession with some Moslems. A famous poem on this subject begins:
awareness of the whole process from beginning to end, in far greater detail.
Men very often report sensations of gathering tension, concentration of
energy and then an extremely acute awareness of the spasmodic propulsion of
the ejaculate, which is plainly and pleasurably felt as it travels along the
urethra and is ejected into the vagina of the partner. At the same time,
there is a greatly intensified awareness of the genital organs of the
partner: Their texture, temperature and movement. Some women for the first
time become keenly aware of the pulsations of the male organ as climax begins
- and of the ejaculate as they receive it.
Orgasm is often experienced upon two levels. It is the most intensely
erotic aspect of the act, as consciousness seems totally absorbed in the
orgasmic sensations. And yet there seems also to be another consciousness,
which does not dilute but rather reinforces the genital consciousness. This
is the sense of attaining the beautiful climax of a beautiful experience.
Remarkably, in view of the richness of the experience, throughout these
unions there is an undiminished and sometimes greatly intensified awareness
of the partner. One does not lapse into a selfish and exclusive
preoccupation with the components of ecstasy.
In almost 25 percent of the sexual acts I recorded, one or both partners
did not reach orgasm. This was nothing new for most of the women; but for
some of the men, it was a novel experience. Typically, however, the absence
of orgasm was not a disappointment. The act itself was so fulfilling that
the attitude was: Who cares whether there was an orgasm? This, too, can be a
valuable experience for those women who sledom climax in their ordinary
lovemaking. It teaches them that even without orgasm, sex can provide
remarkable fulfillment.
Under the influence of psychedelics, the anorgasmic woman can experience
great joy in intercourse and derive gratification from conferring just as
much joy on her partner. If this lesson were learned and applied to all
intercourse, many people - both male and female - would be better off for it.
It is worth noting that at least some have learned it through psychedelic
experimentation.
The foregoing description was of a maximal drug-state sexual experience.
Slightly more than half of my heterosexual subjects reported extraordinary
unions resembling or approaching this at least once. The frequency probably
would have been lower with younger or with less intelligent individuals,
because richness of personality is a key factor in determining the richness
of the psychedelic experience. An earned capacity for appreciating the
complex and profound must already exist.
My intention here is not to promote the haphazard and now illegal use of
psychedelic drugs - with or without sexual intercourse. But it is only
realistic to admit that many thousands of people are taking psychochemicals
without screening or adequate guidance. Of these, a good many are also
experimenting with sex. It seems best that they be informed about
possibilites beyond 'kicks' and trivia, so that they can explore the many
valuable aspects of an experience that might otherwise be wasted.
My research indicates that homosexuals in psychedelic states enjoy
profound, ecstatic sexual experiences with less frequency - and less
intensity - than their heterosexual counterparts. Female homosexuals seem
more likely to have profound sexual experiences than male homosexuals. The
very practical matter of the positioning of the bodies appears to provide a
partial explanation. The ecstatic experience seems more likely to occur when
one faces the partner while the act is being performed. Social attitude
less lovely than any of the others and appreciated very much her part in
providing such a great experience."
There are a host of similar erotic phenomena that sometimes occur in the
psychedelic state. These might seem trivial and self-indulgent compared with
the transcendence of the ecstatic union, but they are intereting,
nonetheless. For many people, for instance, it is possible to 'genitalize'
almost any part of the body, by consciously transferring the response
capacity from the sexual organs to some other part, such as a finer. Rubbing
one's finger against a fabric can provide sensations akin to those
experienced in masturbation. A couple might even genitalize the lips and the
mouth, so taht kissing affords sensations very much like those usually
experienced in mouth-genital contacts or in sexual intercourse.
One man, who had taken a large dose of LSD (about 500 micrograms), found
himself unable to obtain an erection, despite much assistance from his
partner. Abandoning the effort, they lay side by side. Suddenly, he became
aware of his entire body as "one great, erect penis. The World," he said,
"was my vagina and I had a sense of moving in and out of it, with intense
sexual sensations."
A few research subjects have reported similar erotic sensations from
listening to music. One man reported "the sexualization of my entire body as
I listened to Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony. The music washed over every
inch of my body, giving sexual sensations like those of a very intense
orgasm. The pleasure became so intense as to be unendurable. I had to shut
off the phonograph. I wondered at every instant if I would not have a real
ejaculation." In a subsequent LSD experience, he responded to the same
recording in the same way. No other music produced the phenomenon, and he
never learned why the Pastoral should have such an effect. With another
subject, any symphonic music produced strong sexual sensations.
When males see vivid images or visions, they almost always include
beautiful nudes, with Balinese dancing girls and other Orientals appearing
frequently. Drug-state visions in America are shot through with this
predilection for the East - in archetectural and religious imagery as well as
in nudes. But just as women are less interested in erotic art, so do they
have less erotic imagery.
The aftereffects of drug-state sex can be of very great value, though
often the results don't last. As an immediate aftermath of a good sexual
experience under LSD, some couples report an over-all improvement in their
relationship - and a specific improvement in their sex life. Frequently, a
portion of the drug-state perception of the womans greatly heightened beauty
carries over, so that she continues to appear more attractive. Sometimes,
with psychedelics, inhabitions fall away, allowing people to engage in sexual
practices that are normal and that had been desired, but which inhabition
prevented. Extensive caressing of the genitals and mouth-genital stimulation
are frequent examples. Breaking through such blocks can be permanent.
Especially amoung married couples, who had largely ceased to attract each
other sexually, there can be a reactivation of old desires and emotions.
Most of these beneficial aftereffects are lost in days, weeks or months, but
they can be retained - or possibly reactivated by another LSD session - if
they are regarded as important enough to be worth preserving.
Because ecstatic union is so rich an experience and may have very
positive effects on a relationship, it is obviously desirable that it occur
and be repeated. This is possible without psychedelics, but the necessary
changes in consciousness occur more readily when they have first been
experienced in LSD-type states. After LSD, memories and pathways in the
nervous system have been strongly established and can be explored again more
easily.
To take some terminology from the theologians, we have been busy for a
long while 'demythologizing' sexual intercourse - divesting it of a sense of
sin and a necessary connection with procreation. But a totally
demythologized sex can be mechanical, vapid and banal if it remains without
larger significance. Ecstatic sexual experience may be the new and valuable
'remythologizing' agent. With and without psychedelic drugs, we may be able
to invest the sexual union with new beauty and meaning.
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