Abstract
Most invertebrates are true hermaphrodites. Thus, transfer of sperm toward the egg does not require great propulsive power or ejaculation. In certain species of fish, breeding females can change into breeding males and by “redifferentiation,” thus ensuring fertilization, even in the presence of probable ejaculatory dysfunction (22). As mammals evolved, their reproductive processes became specialized resulting in the use of an accessory reproductive apparatus, the penis, to deposit sperm into a fertilization recepticle. With the specialization of the penis, ejaculation in humans is coordinated with dual local (genital-reflexogenic) and central (cerebral-regionalized) controls. However, in primates, ejaculation is still genital (tactile) or reflexogenic (primitive) in nature. Thus, nature designs humans to be unique among all animals and to function as a coordinated unit, unlike the segmented function of invertebrates. Is it possible that, following spinal cord trauma, a man’s ejaculatory power is lost because he reverts back to use of the primitive or reflexogenic unit and no longer uses the sophisticated centrally coordinated (corticospinal-somatic pathway) system? Is this nature’s way of saying that only the fittest (ablest) and strongest should procreate?
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© 1991 The Humana Press Inc.
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Leyson, J.F.J. (1991). Ejaculatory Dysfunction. In: Leyson, J.F.J. (eds) Sexual Rehabilitation of the Spinal-Cord-Injured Patient. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-0467-1_22
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-0467-1_22
Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ
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