Like most young adults, Hopkins students get riled up at the mention of sex and free food. Therefore, it should be no surprise that Monday night undergraduates spilled into Remsen Hall for the One Night Stand event, hosted by Psi Chi, the psychology honors society.
Despite the travesty of the free pizza running out within minutes, students stuck around to hear three professors speak about their expertise in sex and sexuality.
First up was Dr. Gregory Ball, who studies animal behavior. Consequently, his talk revolved around comparing sex between humans with sex between animals, mainly birds.
From Ball's lecture, the audience learned that male birds will do anything to attract a mate ?- even walk across electrified grids. Females are impressed when males exhibit excessive behavior, as demonstrated in a video clip of a bird imitating sounds incessantly.
Ball also showed the audience a video of a quail's sex organs. He ended his talk by stating that, although quails may not have the same apparatus as humans, they can still "fall in love."
After a single session of coitus, the male will stare into the compartment where the female is kept for hours, without eating, waiting for her to come back.
After Ball's talk, Psi Chi introduced the fraternity brothers who had been chosen as the "most attractive" members of their respective fraternities.
Representing BETA was Ian McCue ('10), representing PIKE was Nick Gilson ('11), representing Sigma Chi was Jonathan Smalletz ('09), representing Phi Psi was Jonathan Charny ('11), representing AEPi was Justin Silverman ('11) and representing Sig Ep was Adam Reiffen ('11). After introductions, all the women in the audience got to jot down their vote for "most attractive." Votes were handed in, and the lectures proceeded once more.
Next up was sexologist Dr. Christopher Kraft. Kraft's lecture centered on the sexual problems that most commonly occur, including men who claim to suffer from rapid ejaculation, otherwise known as premature ejaculation. Audience members seemed surprised to learn that the average male only lasts two minutes before ejaculation during intercourse, and therefore rapid ejaculation is actually less of a problem than it may appear to be.
As for women, Kraft informed the audience that there is much debate about the actual existence of a G-spot and that common belief is that only some women may have one, and therefore it isn't something to concentrate on. He then showed a historical video concerning masturbation. From this clip, we learned that Kellogg (of Kellogg's cereal) condemned masturbation and suggested that sex, even within marriage, should only be performed once a month, at most.
The audience also learned that the vibrator was first used in America as a tool in the doctor's office. Doctors would allow women to masturbate in order to free them of unladylike sexual fantasies. Kraft ended his discussion by discussing some more humorous problems he has encountered in his therapy session, such as a man who was aroused by cars.
Following Kraft's lecture, about 30 women were chosen from the audience to step outside and sniff the shirts of the fraternity brothers before voting on the best-smelling participant.
While the women sniffed and Psi Chi tallied, Dr. Linda Gorman spoke about the neuroscience of love. She began by stating that love is not an emotion, but rather a drive or motivation. She defined love as "one of three primary mating drives which has evolved to direct aspects of reproductive behaviors." She then discussed how the brain is affected when one is "in love."
Thanks to new advances in science and technology (including functional MRIs and PET scans) scientists can now view people's brains when they are under the influence of love. The first finding is that, when in love, there are actual changes in brain chemistry.
There is an increase in dopamine, as well as a decrease in serotonin. This is much like an obsessive compulsive person's brain, and according to Gorman, we do feel the same distractedness. Once these neurological changes have occurred once, we are then predisposed to fall in love again.
Gorman also spoke of pheromones and whether or not they really exist. According to her, if a female is fertile and not on oral contraceptives, she can respond to pheromones.
She therefore predicted that Psi Chi's experiment may not work, due to the fact that many college-aged females take oral contraceptives.
She added that women tend to respond more to men who have same pheromone signature as their fathers, a fact that received many vocalizations from the audience.
Gorman ended with the assertion that people in love reach the same "happy place" in their brains as is activated by food and sex and that love feels the same to brain as chocolate.
After all three professors were done speaking, the results of the experiment were revealed. The hypothesis was that the student who was named the most attractive fraternity brother would also be chosen as having the best smelling odor.
Through both physical appearances and a pheromone-shirt-smell test, Jonathan Charny, representing Phi Psi, was named most all-around attractive fraternity brother.
According to the President of Psi Chi, junior Samantha Pou, the event was considered a huge success.
"[One Night Stand] turned one of the undergraduate community's favorite topics into an interactive event with some amazing professors . . . and no exams, no performance anxiety, right? We all win," she said.
