THE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM: THE TESTES

The testes are a man’s reproductive organs. There are two of them, each less than two inches long and about an inch wide. Each testis lies protected in the scrotum, attached like a pocket watch on a chain to a spermatic cord, which, among other things, is responsible for supplying blood to the testis.

The testes are divided into hundreds of minuscule compartments, each of which contains at least one pair of threadlike, highly convoluted tubules. If these tubules were straightened out, each would stretch to two feet in length. These tiny tubules are joined, like plumbing pipes, to straighter tubes that are the body’s factories for sperm; the sperm-making process, called spermatogenesis, happens here. The testes are also the main source of the male hormone testosterone, which is responsible for fertility and for secondary sexual characteristics such as post-pubertal body hair and deepening of the voice.

Inside the scrotum are the testes, a man’s reproductive organs. Sperm are made here, in hundreds of threadlike, convoluted tubules. The tubules in each testis converge like a series of streams at the mouth of a river to form the head of the epididymis—a twisting, winding “greenhouse” where sperm mature and are stored until orgasm. During orgasm, two-thirds of ejaculated sperm are rocketed from the tail of the epididymis during a series of powerful muscle contractions.

The epididymis melts into still another tube, called the vas deferens—a hard, muscular cord, designed to pump sperm to the prostatic segment of the urethra. The vas deferens eventually meets with the duct of the seminal vesicle to form the ejaculatory duct.

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GROWING OLD – SOCIETY AND OLD PEOPLE

The arbitrary determination that at the age of 65 a man ceases to be an economically ‘useful’ citizen and becomes a ‘useless’ pensioner, living off others, is strange. The evidence that a man ceases to be able to perform most tasks when he is categorized as old is insubstantial. Nearly forty years ago, with the pressures of war, the Nuffield Foundation in Britain found that although older workers had less physical strength and suppleness, reduced hearing and less precise sight, they were able to carry on their earlier occupations just as efficiently after the age of 65 as before. They compensated for their defects by being more reliable, more punctual, and more conscientious. They worked to a better rhythm and had greater self-discipline. Although they were slower in production line jobs, their output was not much reduced and the quality of their work was higher than that of younger workers.

The effect of the decision by society to make nearly all people retire at a specific age, whether they want to or not and without considering if they are competent to continue working, has created a sub-class of society which is exploited, discriminated against, and partially dehumanized. The retired person rapidly learns to play the role of being old.

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MIDDLE AGE – SUGGESTIONS

Doris Odium’s views suggest that women should accept the man’s affair, at whatever cost to their own emotional health. Some women have been conditioned by their upbringing to do this, and accept the double standard of sexuality. Others are as ‘mature’ as the hypothetical woman in the quotation, but see no reason why they should be the victim. They fail to see why the man should not be sufficiently ‘mature’ to appreciate that his wife may also be in an

emotionally unstable state, and that his actions may be aggravating her distress. Most men in this type of relationship would be horrified if the wife had a lover, but see no contradiction that they have a lover themselves.

In these circumstances, the woman should show her distress and anger, not only because she feels angry and humiliated, but to avoid repressing the anger which may damage her own emotional well-being. But she must also be aware that by over-reacting, she may put herself in a position from which she cannot withdraw. If the couple want to continue living together, to rediscover the depth of their relationship, they have to be able to talk with each other. The first conversations may be heated and destructive, but if they persist they may well find that they have not been communicating for years, and may be able to become reacquainted.

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SYPHILIS – SYMPTOMS

When a man is infected, 1000 or more of the tiny organisms enter his body through an invisible break in the pink surface of the mucous membrane of his penis. Within 30 minutes of being infected, the organism has spread to the lymph glands in his groins, where they are held up for a short time. They then invade his bloodstream and are carried throughout his body.

The organisms multiply at a tremendous rate, doubling every 30 hours, so that by three weeks after being infected, at least 10,000 million treponemes are circulating through his body, and during this time he has few or no symptoms to show that he has been infected.

However, the organisms do not have it all their own way. The Treponema pallidum has a fatty shell but, inside, it contains protein. When a ‘foreign’ protein is injected into, or inoculated into, the body (as is the case of infection by syphilis), the body reacts. The foreign protein stimulates certain blood cells to multiply, and these cells are sensitized to the particular protein, so that should a further infection occur, they mobilize to attack the invader at its point of entry, rather in the way in which a country attacked by a foreign invader tries to immobilize the invading army on the beaches. Unfortunately, in the first, or primary, infection by syphilis the body’s defences are inadequate, and the treponemes are not contained, so that they get into the bloodstream and multiply rapidly.

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EJACULATORY INCOMPETENCE OR RETARDED EJACULATION – THERAPY

Any of these conflicts can cause a suppressed anxiety about the man’s ability to perform sexually which, in turn, stimulates the brain sex centre to send messages which damp down, or inhibit, the ejaculatory reflex in the spine.

Most of the men can ejaculate when they masturbate and some do this to obtain release from sexual tension. This ability is the basis of therapy.

The aim of therapy is for the man’s sexual partner to pleasure him and, by masturbation, bring him to orgasm and ejaculation. In this way, with a helpful partner, he is able to escape from his psychological ‘fix’.

The first step in correcting the sexual dysfunction is for the couple to learn about normal sexuality. As with premature ejaculators, this is done in joint discussions with trained therapists and by the exercise programme described earlier.

Usually the therapist suggests to the couple that they have sexual intercourse so that the wife reaches orgasm, if she so wishes. Then the couple are instructed that the wife is to pleasure the man, stimulating him sexually, until he wants to be masturbated. She then stimulates his penis and genital area in whichever way pleases him most, either with her hand or mouth or with a vibrator. In this way he is able to reach orgasm and ejaculate in a way which is neither threatening nor causes anxiety.

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THE FATHER IN CHILDBIRTH 2

Many hospitals now realize that their attitude to a woman in childbirth was too authoritarian and are beginning to review their procedures to make sure that their staff are less officious and that childbirth is made more pleasant for the expectant mother. Most now agree that the child’s father (or some other close relative) has a right to be with the expectant mother during labour if she wishes. Increasingly nursing staff are talking with mothers during childbirth, explaining what they are doing and why. Some hospitals have begun to pay attention to their physical surroundings. They have reduced the ‘clinical’ appearance of the delivery room. A few have introduced ‘birthing rooms’. These rooms are furnished like a bedroom in a house, and contain a double bed. The woman stays in this room and, if everything progresses normally, delivers her baby in it; but should a threat to the baby’s health or life arise, the room can be converted rapidly into a traditional delivery room, or the woman can be moved to a delivery room.

One of the most important changes is the realization by hospital staff that the child’s father (or some close friend) plays an important role in supporting the expectant mother during childbirth. Most women fear being left alone during childbirth, and the presence of a loved one reduces the anxiety of being in a relatively impersonal institution, where the staff seem to be constantly hurried and change often.

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