🚀 go-pugleaf

ronald@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Ronald A. Amundson) writes:

>In article <1d1oc9INN3v5@agate.berkeley.edu> jhcooper@ocf.berkeley.edu (John Hutton Cooper) writes:
>>Does anyone know any survival advantage of involuntary erections of
>>the penis rather than voluntary control of erections?
>>

On similar lines there is the question as to why in humans the penis 
in males and the breasts in females are so emormous (compared to 
other apes).
The only explanations I have heard for penis size are:- 

  1. humans mate front to front, while other apes tend to mate
     front to back, so this requires a slighly longer penis

  2. Penis size is a product of sexual selection, with females
     long ago tending to prefer males with longer penises.  

  3. Penis size is a product of male-male competition.


>Better still, does anyone know of any survival advantange of _any_
>kind of erections, however caused?  Are they useful as weapons?  Do
>they enhance the speed of flight from predators?  Can one use one's
>erection to knock nutritious food items down from high branches of
>trees?

 I've read that male dolphins are able to use their penises to feel 
around the sea bed.
And maybe human males once used them in a similar manner to the 
way pea-cocks use their tails :-)
or maybe in days of old males used them to fight duels, just like
   reindeer with their horns or elephant seals with their noses :-)

>Perhaps the intended question was whether there was a _reproductive_
>advantage of involuntary erections.  I suppose that might be the same
>thing as the reproductive advantage of involuntary sexual arousal,
>assuming there was a reproductive advantage of tying sexual arousal
>(in males) to the having of erections.

  An obvious (though I might be mistaken) advantage is that without
the accompanying erection the sexual arousal will not be able to 
lead to a successful mating, so it would be a waste.  Not only that
but sexual arousal might cause the male to act in a manner which is
dangerous to itself.  

   so if the males do have involuntary arousal it would seem sensible 
if this was accompanied by erection.   This is not to say that males
do have involunatary arousal.