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Suggested Evidence for Hypoactive sexual desire disorder in BBC article


Senwyn1

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Apparently they've found evidence to suggest there is a difference in brain functioning in women with diagnosed HSDD (hypoactive sexual desire disorder). It's based on a small sample but they're suggesting that this will provide evidence for HSDD being a true disorder, which doesn't bode well for us asexuals. Apparently there are differences in the areas of the brain that activate to erotic stimuli in women with HSDD and women without the disorder, suggesting that it could be related to brain functioning.

BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11620971

Times:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8086836/Women-with-low-libidos-have-different-brains.html

They do say that it's too early to jump to conclusions on the evidence, but I still think it's problematic for those of us that are cisgendered female asexuals.

I'm interested in other people's comments on this topic.

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Given that HSDD as it currently stands is being phased out of the DSM, and also that some kinds of HSDD are situational and probably don't have much to do with permanent brain functioning... meh.

I'm actually not very worried about this, because my stance with respect to HSDD has always been not that the issue itself doesn't exist, but that the framing of persistent lack of sexual attraction as a disorder is the problematic thing. The study could as easily be interpreted as positive biological evidence for the existence of asexuality.

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I wouldn't worry too much. This study is being done on a small pool of people. It doesn't mean that all asexuals fall under the same umbrella and we must remember that many asexuals still experience sexual arousal. The fact that many of us do can serve as a defense if people try to throw this our way. Also I believe that when psychologists speak of disorders it is based on the assumption that what a patient is experiencing is not the norm and is therefore labeled as such. If it turns out that these people have different brain functioning then I'd say, "okay so they have different brain functioning". It doesn't automatically make it a disorder unless you start comparing it to the "norm". Ya get me?

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I only skimmed the article, but wasn't this about libido not attraction? So doesn't it just show what I've thought all along, that libido is a matter of physiological biology, and not the same as the mental state of attraction? And it shows that HSDD isn't understood, since no one seems to know if it refers to arousal or attraction.

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i wouldn't worry to much

with every study that is paid for by a pharmacutical company..another working on a different sexual enabling drug will superced or disrespect it

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Lord Happy Toast

The results of brain imaging studies are very difficult to interpret. Also, the fact that there is some differences in brain functioning in a certain condition between the two groups in no way "proves" that it is a disorder. At best, it shows that the brain is somehow involved in arousal when watching porn, and not being interested in sex is somehow correlated with something different happening. If for instance, the women not interested in sex found the porn less interesting/arousing/exciting that the women who were interested in sex, then presumably there is some kind of neural difference as well.

Yet if you said that "women who are interested in sex tend to be more interested in porn than women not interested in sex," does that somehow "prove" that not being interested in sex is a disorder? Basically, here's the difference between that and this study: this study had super-cool hightech (really expensive!) brain imaging stuff to generate cool pictures.

Also, studies like this seem to be on the rise right around the time that a pharmaceutical company was wanting to get the FDA to approve a drug for "treatment" of HSDD that affects neurotransmitters. As part of their marketing campaign, the company pressed hard the idea that neurotransmitters and brain whatever problem thingies were what is "really going on."

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This study could actually be used to prove that asexuality is "hardwired" as other sexual orientation. If you see the article below, the results of the MRI scans were used to suggest that "neural circuitry" "proved" sexual orientation was non-chemical or social/lifestyle. If that line of thinking was good enough to support Gay and Lesbian people, and do not see why the same line of thinking was not used for us - and ther eis similar MRI data in support of Transgendered people too. There seems to be a double standard being applied here...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/jun/16/neuroscience.psychology

Striking similarities between the brains of gay men and straight women have been discovered by neuroscientists, offering fresh evidence that sexual orientation is hardwired into our neural circuitry.

Scans reveal homosexual men and heterosexual women have symmetrical brains, with the right and left hemispheres almost exactly the same size. Conversely, lesbians and straight men have asymmetrical brains, with the right hemisphere significantly larger than the left.

Scientists at the prestigious Stockholm Brain Institute in Sweden also found certain brain circuits linked to emotional responses were the same in gay men and straight women.

The findings, published tomorrow in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest the biological factors that influence sexual orientation - such as exposure to testosterone in the womb - may also shape the brain's anatomy.

The study, led by the neurobiologist Ivanka Savic, builds on previous research that has identified differences in spatial and verbal abilities related to sex and sexual orientation. Tests have found gay men and straight women fare better at certain language tasks, while heterosexual men and lesbians tend to have better spatial awareness.

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Despite the wording of the BBC article, this study seems to do nothing to demonstrate that low libido (let alone asexuality) should be considered a problem or a disorder. Rather, they start by assuming it's a problem and then go on to argue it has a physical basis. How they get from having a physical basis to being a "genuine physical problem" is beyond me.

If it's a problem it's a problem, whether its basis is physical or something else. If it's not a problem then it's not a problem, again whether its basis is physical or otherwise. As far as I can see, there's nothing in the study to argue for the former as opposed to the latter.

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  • 1 month later...

Asexuality being caused by something to do with the brain is to be expected. That does not make it a disorder (hell, I seem to recall that there's research suggesting that homosexuality has an obvious [relatively speaking] physical cause in the brain too).

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