Note: This entry is a response to theories posted in the article. Nothing written here has been scientifically validated. The purpose here is to open the stream of consciousness and perhaps raise possible hypotheses that can be tested, or at least encourage a look into correlational studies.
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This article discusses several research projects done by sexologists in an attempt to answer what Freud could not. What do women want?
Chivers' research seems to suggest that there is a mind-body disconnect with women, at least in the realm of their sexuality. She is not the only scientist seeing this phenomenon. Women are capable of physical (objective) sexual responses without conscious awareness of desire or arousal. Evolutionary theory would see this as adaptive. Women have faced sexual violence throughout history, particularly rape. It is suggested that women evolved to have physical arousal without conscious awareness of want as a defense to these unwanted advances - a physical response provides her body protection from tearing and infection.
Moreover, it may be possible to hypothesize that the mind-body disconnect in women serve an adaptive purpose for the psyche as well. Physical assault, while horrifically traumatizing, may produce more serious psychological damage is woman had the same strong mind-body (objective-subjective) connection that their male counterparts do. That is, women may hold the capacity to defend their psyche by disconnecting their subjective experience from what their body is going through (the objective experience). This may produce inability to recall certain details, entire parts, or perhaps even the majority of the assault itself. When a womans conscious is separated from what is happening to her body, she may later in subsequent therapy be able to separate herself from the experience; her body has been victimized, but she does not have to be a victim.
I discussed this topic with a friend of mine who has her MA in Psychology. She had suggested that there may be additional consequences of this mind body disconnect. She expressed interest in seeing if there are any possible links between this disconnect and certain mental disorders, specifically Disassociative Identity Disorder, or DID (formerly multiple personality disorder). DID more prevalent in women than men, and the number of patients meeting the criteria is swiftly rising. Although controversial for a number of reasons, it may not be all that unreasonable to speculate that DID can arise as an individual response to sexual trauma. The characteristics of DID, in a way, offer another degree of separation from the experience. For those who are unable to resolve psychological issues related to sexual trauma or for those who feel subjectively victimized, an "alter ego" so to speak may offer their conscious a break from a world where they feel like a victim.
This is, of course, entirely speculation. The amount of testing that would have to go into a research project like this far outweighs this authors abilities at this time. First, correlational studies would have to be performed to even see if there is a link between DID patients and any history of sexual violence. The problem with this is the controversy that comes from each of these, particularly surrounding the therapist. There have been several incidences in history where therapists have brought out problems in patients, such as DID or a history of sexual assault when neither existed in the first place. Doing a correlational study would be a delicate task, and would need to be done by some very careful, intelligent researchers. Furthermore, if a study like this made it into the experimental phase, some very large ethical issues may arise. I'd imagine at one point in a study like this, it would be important to measure the objective and subjective sexual responses of rape victims, but doing so much as connecting the patient to a plethysmograph may prove to be detrimental to the patient's psychological well being. Beyond that, obtaining consent for such a study may prove to be a very difficult manner.
(TBC)
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