Essay on sex costs a top doctor.
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: ….In noting the therapeutic effects of semen, Greenfield cited research from the Archives of Sexual Behavior, which found that female college students practicing unprotected sex were less likely to suffer from depression than those whose partners used condoms or those who remained abstinent.
His closing line caused the controversy: “So there’s a deeper bond between men and women than St. Valentine would have suspected, and now we know there’s a better gift for that day than chocolates.” …
Speaking for the group,[Steven] Platek, editor-in-chief of Frontiers in Evolutionary Neuroscience and a coeditor of Evolutionary Psychology, offered this response:”Frankly, we think people are overreacting to the comments made by Dr. Lazar Greenfield. There is growing evidence that human semen has the potential to produce profound effects on women. We have replicated the effects showing female college students having sex without condoms are less depressed as measured by objective scores on the Beck Depression Inventory. We’ve also examined the data as a function of whether the students were using hormonal contraceptives, whether they were in committed relationships, and how long these relationships have lasted.
“The antidepressant properties of semen exposure do not vary as a function of any of these conditions. It is not a question of whether females are sexually active, since students having sex with condoms show the same level of depression as those who are not having sex at all. We have also received numerous semen testimonials from other women who attest to the antidepressant effects of semen exposure, and these accounts often include the use of control trials (i.e., comparisons generated by switching from condoms to unprotected sex, or vice versa)…. (more)
