A new study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B Journal on Wednesday revealed that after years of scientists studying the genitalia of male snakes and incorrectly identifying the females' sex organ, researchers proved that the female genitalia not only exists, but could play an important role in longer and more frequent mating.
"Across the animal kingdom female genitalia are overlooked in comparison to their male counterparts," Megan Folwell, a Ph.D. candidate at Australia's University of Adelaide and the study's lead author said. "Our study counters the long-standing assumption that the clitoris (hemiclitores) is either absent or non-functional in snakes."
woman has sex with snake
But ever since the snake penises were discovered, female snake genitalia has been "conspicuously overlooked," the new study says, with many assuming for years that the visible organs were underdeveloped hemipenes or scent glands. Even when the clitoris was identified in lizards, the study says, it was assumed that their purpose was to help stimulate males.
To paint a more accurate picture of the female snake's anatomy, Folwell and a group of international scientists analyzed adult females of nine snake species from different areas of the world, including Australia, Central America and South America.
"I know it [the clitoris] is in a lot of animals and it doesn't make sense that it wouldn't be in all snakes," Folwell told the BBC. "I just had to have a look, to see if this structure was there or if it's just been missed."
And they found that the animals have not one, but two individual hemiclitores separated by connective tissue, providing the first complete description of the animal's clitoris, known as hemiclitores in squamates. Unlike lizard clitorises, the study says, the snake sex organs don't have spines or retractor muscles, but come in all kinds of sizes and in slightly varying locations.
They also discovered that the snakes' clitorises have nerve bundles and fibers that could indicate tactile sensitivity, "similar to the mammalian clitoris," the study says. If male snakes were to provide sensory stimulation to the organs, it could "elicit female receptivity" and even help promote longer and more frequent mating, as well as better rates of fertilization, researchers said.
In a finding that upends decades of scientific theory on reptile reproduction, researchers at North Carolina State University have discovered that female boa constrictors can squeeze out babies without mating.
This is the first time asexual reproduction, known in the scientific world as parthenogenesis, has been attributed to boa constrictors, says Dr. Warren Booth, an NC State postdoctoral researcher in entomology and the lead author of a paper describing the study. He adds that the results may force scientists to re-examine reptile reproduction, especially among more primitive snake species like boa constrictors.
Abstract: Parthenogenesis in vertebrates is considered an evolutionary novelty. In snakes, all of which exhibit genetic sex determination with ZZ:ZW sex chromosomes, this rare form of asexual reproduction has failed to yield viable female WW offspring. Only through complex experimental manipulations have WW females been produced, and only in fish and amphibians. Through microsatellite DNA fingerprinting, we provide the first evidence of facultative parthenogenesis in a Boa constrictor, identifying multiple, viable, non-experimentally induced females for the first time in any vertebrate lineage. Although the elevated homozygosity of the offspring in relation to the mother suggests that the mechanism responsible may be terminal fusion automixis, no males were produced, potentially indicating maternal sex chromosome hemizygosity (WO). These findings provide the first evidence of parthenogenesis in the family Boidae (Boas), and suggest that WW females may be more common within basal reptilian lineages than previously assumed.
A lot of the GOOPASTURA and the GOOP Sex Issue is about the feminine. Apparently, being masculine is earning your own money and having opinions and being feminine is giggling about your hard day at the spa over the martinis with organic olives (natch) you lovingly hand crafted for your man.
But back to trouser snakes. I mean snakes, real snakes most definitely not the one-eyed ones. Apparently, if you let them crawl all over you and dance with them they will awaken your inner feminine, which is totally not destructively Freudian in any way.
I was curious about some of the comments made by GOOP and Winters about snakes, so I asked David Steen, Ph.D., Research Ecologist at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island. Here is our e-mail exchange:
DS: Snakes can sense vibrations with their ears, although the anatomy of these structures differs significantly from ours. They can use any part of their body to engage in the sense of touch, so I think they would easily perceive whether the surface below them was vibrating.
JG: During the session, which can be $350 for 90 minutes but up to 3 hours you appear to have snakes on your body and you dance with them. Do snakes enjoy being handled in this way or do you think they just tolerate it because they have been trained to expect a meal afterwards?
DS: There are several species of snakes that have been bred in captivity for so long that they are practically domesticated. Unfortunately it is difficult to assess what individual snakes might enjoy because they do not often respond to stimuli in ways that we can easily recognize. Most animals would perceive three hours of dancing as a relatively stressful experience.
I loved your approach to this but I also want to thank you for the third last paragraph. As someone with a whole host of gynae issues (just had laparoscopy, removal of polyps/cervical erosion and insertion of a mirena coil to hopefully reduce my thickened endometrium which is causing prolonged (15 days) periods and severe pain) I can actually see how desperate women get sucked into this. This is a more extreme version of some of the nonsense that floats around the interwebs.
I know many doctors dismiss women with your exact symptoms. It is hard to give guidance in a post, that is exactly why I am writing a book. So you can look at your symptoms and know what exam and tests to ask for. For example, no one should be given the diagnosis of chronic yeast with out a culture which goes to the lab and sensitivities to say what the yeast is sensitive too, 70% of women who are told they have chronic yeast do not have that. Chronic yeast is almost always easy to suppress (not treat) so if symptoms persist then another cause for pain must be sought. I am hoping I can walk women though that when I have 300 pages! I hear you. I really do.
I have a friend who has several exotic reptiles (she has special licensing) and teaches classes about them. I cannot wait to share this blog with her, because I will be able to hear her laughing about the Goopasutra all the way from Schenectady.
Black Snake Moan is a 2006 American film written and directed by Craig Brewer and starring Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci, and Justin Timberlake. The film focuses on a Mississippi bluesman who holds a troubled local woman captive in his house in an attempt to cure her of nymphomania after finding her severely beaten on the side of a road. The title of the film derives from the 1927 Blind Lemon Jefferson song. The film draws numerous references to the Mississippi Blues movement, particularly in its title and soundtrack. Black Snake Moan garnered mixed to positive reviews from critics, and was a box-office bomb, grossing only $10.9 million against a $15 million budget.
The film centers on two main characters: Lazarus Redd, a deeply religious farmer and former blues guitarist, and Rae Doole, a young sex addict. Lazarus' wife and his brother were having an affair, which has left him bitter and angry. Rae's boyfriend Ronnie Morgan leaves for deployment with the 196th Field Artillery Brigade, Tennessee National Guard, and in his absence, she indulges in bouts of promiscuity and drug use. During one of Rae's binges, Ronnie's friend Gill Morton tries to take advantage of her. She laughs at his advances, comparing him unfavorably with another man, and he severely beats her. Believing she's dead, Gill dumps Rae and leaves her by the side of the road wearing only a shirt and underwear and drives away.
She eventually comes to tolerate her position. Lazarus buys her a conservative dress to wear, plays the guitar for her, and feeds her home-cooked meals. Lazarus' pastor and close friend, R.L., visits Lazarus at his house and discovers that Lazarus is imprisoning Rae. The pastor tries to reason with Lazarus and the group shares a meal.
In the morning, Lazarus frees Rae, having decided that he has no authority to pass judgment on her. Rae chooses to stay with Lazarus of her own will. That night during a thunderstorm, at Rae's request, Lazarus sings a song for her, "Black Snake Moan" by Blind Lemon Jefferson. Later, Rae and Lazarus take a trip into town, where Rae confronts her mother about the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother's partner. Meanwhile, Lazarus has formed a budding romance with the local pharmacist, Angela. He plays a blues concert at a local bar, which Rae attends. Ronnie spots Rae and follows her to Lazarus' house. He confronts the pair with a pistol, but Lazarus talks him down and summons the pastor. Ronnie and Rae decide they are stronger together than apart and get married. While driving away, Ronnie suffers from a panic attack again and Rae begins to have one of her spells, but then they pull themselves together, and resolve to take care of each other.
Christina Ricci said the rough sex scenes were painful, partly because one of her fellow cast members, rap producer David Banner, had no previous acting experience. In one scene with Banner, Ricci said: "I was being hurt. It kind of felt like being raped. It was hard. I felt terrible, but it wasn't Dave's fault at all."[8] 2ff7e9595c
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