Marina Murashev
Marina Murashev is currently a consultant at OpenBI. She has a Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University with majors in Psychology and Integrated Science. She has experience with research in the following fields:
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- Apr 22, 11
Women regard cunnilingus “as among the most pleasurable heterosexual behaviors,” and some women are receiving and enjoying it more than others, research suggests. Studies of cunnilingus have provided great insight into what is different about these women and why they get more out of sex.
When you hear “oral sex,” who do you automatically imagine is performing the oral sex? Most likely, you will imagine a woman performing oral sex on a man. The media deserve a great part of the blame for this; fellatio is shown much more often than cunnilingus, and when cunnilingus is shown, it is usually only in the context of sexual intercourse or comedic scenarios (Bay-Cheng & Fava, 2010).
“Many youth are influenced by and view television and movies as sources of sexual education (Bay-Cheng & Fava);” therefore we end up associating oral sex with fellatio, specifically. Women themselves tend to say that fellatio is expected, but it would be weird if cunnilingus were expected.
In reality, the prevalence of cunnilingus has increased to levels almost equaling those of fellatio since oral sex has become extremely popular among adolescents and young adults (Bay-Cheng & Fava). Then why is cunnilingus still not as expected by women as fellatio is?
The prevalence of douches, scented pads/tampons, bikini waxes, and even “cosmetic genital surgery” (Reinholtz & Muehlenhard, 1995) are indicative of the “stigmatization of female genitalia” that women face. Even the star of the movie Twilight, idolized by many adolescent girls, had said, “I really hate vaginas. I’m allergic to vagina” (Bay-Cheng & Fava). No wonder women are worried about the taste, smell, and look of their genitalia.
Cunnilingus requires the woman’s partner to be up-close and personal with her genitalia, more so than during intercourse. In order to get the utmost pleasure from receiving oral sex, she should not be worrying about the appearance, smell, and taste of her genitalia.
Although it is easier said than done, this is extremely important because women who perceive their genitals negatively get less pleasure out of cunnilingus. The study even suggests that improvement of “genital perceptions” should be used in Sex/Couple Therapy (Reinholtz & Muehlenhard).
Some questionnaire and survey studies about cunnilingus provide strong evidence for the following:
- Women worry most about their genitalia during oral sex than any other sexual activity (Reinholtz & Muehlenhard)
- Women who have positive feelings about their genitalia tend to engage in more sexual activity, and get more pleasure out of it (Reinholtz & Muehlenhard)
- Young women who subjectively (they need not be perceived as attractive by others) have more attractive bodies are more likely to have ever received oral sex (Wiedermann & Hurst, 1998).
- Young women who subjectively have more attractive faces tend to have a greater number of sexual partners (Wiedermann & Hurst).
- Young women with greater “sexual esteem” believe themselves to be more attractive (Wiedermann & Hurst).
- The women “with greater sexual openness, self-awareness, and assertiveness” are associated with both earlier cunnilingus experience and more cunnilingus partners (Bay-Cheng & Fava).
Women who are comfortable with themselves and their bodies and are not afraid to ask for what they want get the cunnilingus. Although these are correlation studies and it is possible that receiving oral sex causes the woman to become sexually assertive, the findings provide strong evidence that a woman’s self-esteem and sexual esteem play significant roles in her sex life and how much she enjoys it.
If there really is a “deep-seated cultural disdain for female genitalia,” as Bay-Cheng and Fava state in their article, how should we help young women become more confident about their genitalia so that they can have more healthy and pleasurable sex lives?
Article Image via www.360nobs.com
- Mar 10, 11
You may have noticed that during debates and arguments, some people tend to get loud. A recent study suggests that the loud ones are less secure in their arguments. The article explores whether shaking a belief would make a person more likely to advocate and proselytize—and not less likely to do so, as one would intuitively conclude. The findings are surprising.
David Gal and Derek D. Rucker tested the following paradox: people advocate their beliefs more after those beliefs have been shaken.
To investigate whether this actually occurs and why, they asked whether advocating would be a way to support the person’s self-concept and identity, which may have also been shaken in the process since a person’s beliefs are a part of his/her self-concept (Experiment 1). They also tested whether persuasion efforts are higher if the belief is more important (Experiment 2), and whether advocating a belief would be more likely to reinforce the belief in an advocating individual when it is effective (Experiment 3).
In the first experiment, participants were primed to write either about what they themselves liked or what their parents liked, and then induced to feel either confident or doubtful. They were asked to write about their views on animal testing.
The participants that were uncertain in their views put forth more persuasion effort than those that were confident. However, there was no difference in persuasion effort between the uncertain and the confident if they got to write about themselves beforehand. This shows that when people have already affirmed their self, there is no need to affirm it more through persuasion of their beliefs.
The second experiment was a survey in which participants were initially primed to feel either confident or uncertain. They rated their confidence about the correctness of their diet, and then they rated the importance of their diet choice. Finally, they had to write about why their own diet is advantageous.
Those that were uncertain put forth more effort than those that were confident. But there was no difference in persuasion effort between the doubtful and the confident when the correctness of their diet was not important.
And finally, in the third experiment, after being induced to feel either certain or uncertain, the participants, who were all Mac users, were asked whether they believed Macs to be superior to PCs and then to rate their confidence about that. A group of the participants were told to imagine talking about their Mac to a PC user who would be open-minded about switching, and another group to imagine talking to a closed-minded PC user instead. They then rated the likelihood that they would attempt to convince the PC user to switch.
When believing their audience to be open-minded, the uncertain were more likely to attempt to persuade than the confident. However, when the audience was believed to be close-minded, there was no difference in the likelihood of persuasion attempt between the confident and the uncertain. This provides evidence for the effectiveness of persuasion being a factor in determining whether a person will attempt to persuade/advocate.
Consistent with finding in all three experiments, being in doubt made one more likely to put effort into persuasion. Why? Because important beliefs are part of one’s identity, and persuasion is a way to affirm that identity. Also consistent with persuasion as a way to affirm the belief of the self, one would be more likely to persuade a person whom would be more receptive.
Should you suspect the beliefs of the next person who seems to be putting a lot of effort into persuading others?
Article image via: www.homeschoolent.com
- Feb 17, 11
We’ve all heard that hooking up usually leads to only negative outcomes. New research, however, says otherwise. Hooking up can be psychologically good for you in certain situations, when it can alleviate depressive symptoms and loneliness.
Hooking up is defined here as any physical sexual interaction—at least kissing—with another person, where there are mutually no expectations of future interactions. It is very popular among young adults, especially college students.
Previous research has shown that especially for women, and sometimes for men, “psychological distress” predicts hooking up behavior. And that, despite the negativity associated with hooking up in the media, it has been found that “young adults report having more positive than negative emotional reactions after hooking up.” And even after a bad hook-up experience, people continue hooking up.
Jesse Owen, Frank D. Fincham, and Jon Moore of The Florida State University studied factors that could predict whether a person would hook up in the future. They had university students fill out two on-line surveys, the second being four months after the first. The surveys asked about their hook-up experiences in the last 12 months: how many times, types (i.e. kissing, touching, oral sex, etc.), and satisfaction. The surveys also assessed depressive symptoms, extent of feelings of loneliness, religiosity, and alcohol-use.
They found that the best predictors for hooking up in the future was if a person had engaged in hooking up previously, especially if those hook-ups were perceived as positive. Alcohol consumption predicted hooking up, more so in women than in men. And those that were feeling lonely were more likely to hook up.
Interestingly, those that showed depressive symptoms and loneliness at first, and then later had penetrative hook-ups (oral sex , vaginal sex, and/or, anal sex), later had less depressive symptoms and feelings of loneliness. However, those that were not depressed or lonely to begin with and who then engaged in hooking up, had the opposite happen to them: they had more depressive symptoms and feelings of loneliness later. Please note that this study looked only at short-term effects (over a 4-month period).
Hooking up sounds like a good idea specifically for those that are feeling a bit sad and lonely these days, the results suggest. Perhaps hooking up is a way for a person to feel good about himself/herself. It gives a person a chance to form an intimate connection, even if it is a short-lasting one.
What could be some reasons that hooking up had negative effects on those that were not initially feeling sad and lonely?
Article image via www.holycrossadvocate.com
- Jan 29, 11
Even though the statistics say that men are using and abusing drugs more than women, women are actually more likely to get addicted, studies show (Carroll et al., 2004). And the sex hormone, estrogen, is partly to blame. Because of it, women need less alcohol then men to get its rewarding feelings. Find out why women get addicted faster.
A recent study by Ash Levitt and M. Lynne Cooper showed that “alcohol effects were generally stronger and more numerous for women.” They had couples write down diary reports every day for three weeks. Each person wrote about his/her experiences with alcohol, relationship, and partner.
Analysis of the diaries showed that “women (but not men) were more likely to drink, to drink with their partner, and to drink heavily when they felt disconnected from him earlier in the day.”
To understand the reasons, it is first necessary to look at some of the physiological effects alcohol has. Alcohol affects the central nervous system by modifying actions of your neurons, “thereby [producing] intoxication, memory impairment, reinforcement, and dependence” (Chastain, 2006). The following neurotransmitters’ actions are modified, and are associated with the positive reinforcement of alcohol consumption:
• Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that has to do with reward and pleasure. Its release is increased due to alcohol consumption (Witt, 2007), producing positive reinforcement (Chastain, 2006).
• Seretonin is a neurotransmitter whose concentration is increased by alcohol consumption. Setertonin leads to more production of dopamine (Chastain, 2006).How much the concentrations of these change after a person drinks alcohol depends on the sex of the person (Witt, 2007); specifically, a woman’s concentrations are more altered compared to a man’s due to the same increase in blood alcohol.
The female sex hormone estrogen, which is at much higher levels in women than in men, is to blame for this sex difference; estrogen affects the actions of neurons in the “alcohol reinforcement and consumption” part of the brain, especially those that act with…serotonin…and dopamine” (Witt, 2007). Therefore, women are “more sensitive to the rewarding effects of drugs than males” (Carroll et al., 2004).
It turns out, alcohol also raises estrogen levels in both men and women, and that is why “alcohol may relieve the symptoms of depression” (Hilakivi-Clarke, 1995). Since women tend to be more sensitive to “interpersonal stressors,” like a feeling of low intimacy and “negative relationship experiences,” that may cause such symptoms, they are more likely to drink (Levitt & Cooper, 2010).
In general, there are sex differences in behaviors that are reinforcement-induced. As demonstrated, this is because “biological mechanisms of reward might differ in males and females” (Carroll et al., 2004). But if a woman’s biology makes her more prone to alcoholism, then why do there seem to be more male alcoholics? One explanation is that it may be due to societal pressures; it is not considered attractive for a female to drink heavily, for example (Levitt & Cooper, 2010). What else do you think could explain this?
Article image via www.infoniac.com
- Jan 10, 11
“From the first touch to the height of orgasm,” the hormone involved is powerful and addictive, according to Theresa L. Crenshaw, M.D. It is so important, that its stimulation through touch is necessary for a newborn to grow into a healthy adult. Find out how touching those you care about more frequently can lead to a life with “more tenderness, closeness, and intimacy than ever before.”
The hormone responsible? Oxytocin.
It makes us feel good, that everything is going to be all right. It is one reason that when somebody is holding you, you feel so safe, relaxed, and calm. Touch “can soothe you better than a Valium or a drink, and lower your blood pressure as well as a diuretic…” Crenshaw writes in her book The Alchemy of Love and Lust (1996).
Through touch, you become dependent on each other, accompanied by a sense of submission.
“If you are having a fight with someone whom you usually love, the hardest thing to do is to hold them, but if you manage to hang on tight for a few moments, it helps the conflict dissolve of its own accord.” (Crenshaw)
A possible explanation for why women seem to want more cuddling than men is that females tend to get more physical contact from their friends and parents during their upbringing than males do; men may simply not know the pleasure that they’re missing. Also, high oxytocin levels are so pleasing, that they are addictive. Woman may just want more of this ‘drug’ that they have become so accustomed to at younger ages. And, yes, just like with any other drug, there are withdrawal symptoms, depression, for example, when suddenly deprived of it (Crenshaw).
Now let’s talk about sex, because oxytocin is involved in many facets of your sex life. For example, “Just before orgasm and ejaculation, oxytocin spikes to levels three to five times higher than usual” (Crenshaw). As soon as the genitals or nipples are stimulated, oxytocin levels increase and aid in sexual arousal and receptivity. Too high a dose though, has the opposite effect; it’s associated with sexual satisfaction—as one feels after an orgasm. Oxytocin, acting on your nervous system, could be the reason for the “altered states of consciousness” during orgasm (Carter, 1992). To be better satisfied with their sex lives, women may require more touching and tactile stimulation before penetration (Crenshaw).
If oxytocin is so wonderful, why aren’t we just injecting ourselves with it? Because it impairs memory and learning (Lee et al., 2009). “Oxytocin just wants to hold you and not think about it anymore” (Crenshaw). The hormone relaxes you, and lowers your “response to threatening stimuli” (Lee et al.), which could potentially cause some dangerous situations.
There is no need to take oxytocin in the form of a drug. It’s free. Just touch somebody you care about, or somebody who cares about you. Don’t hesitate at the next opportunity you get to be physically close, because it will make both of you feel better, forget about your problems, and form a more intimate bond.
Article image via howtodothings.com
- Dec 10, 10
To use or not to use a condom: that is the question. One study shows that more than just health-related factors, such as STD/STI-prevention, are considered when making decisions about whether to use condoms during sex. Condom use—or its disuse—can also be a form of sexual compliance.
Gaynor L. Edwards and Bonnie L. Barber specifically looked at whether being rejection-sensitive, meaning having high expectations of being rejected, made you more likely to comply with what you think your partner wants, in terms of condom use, in order to “prevent rejection.” They did so by surveying students of an Australian university online. The survey determined how rejection-sensitive a subject is and whether the subject is answering about a romantic or casual relationship. The questionnaire then asked about condom-use preference, whether the subject wants to use a condom and whether the subject’s partner wants to use a condom, and about how often condoms are actually used when the subject has sex with his/her partner.
Interesting results ensued. As Edwards and Barber had predicted, those that were more rejection-sensitive actually used condoms less frequently than they wanted to because they thought their partner did not want to. And, as expected, when both wanted to use a condom they actually did so almost every time, and when both did not want to use a condom they almost never did.
In summary, “rejection sensitivity predicted sexually compliant condom use behavior when there was a discrepancy between participants’ condom use preference and their partner’s condom use preference.” And such sexual compliance applied to both casual and romantic relationship contexts. It was also found that more women than men fell into the category of assuming that their partner did not prefer to use a condom when they themselves did, but this study provides another piece of evidence that men actually do prefer to use condoms as often as women.
If interpersonal issues seem to be important in making a decision about condom use, then perhaps ads advocating condom use should vary in targeting different people in different contexts, acknowledging condom use as a form of sexual compliance.
Edwards and Barber suggest that when neither person in a relationship wants to use a condom, they should be taught more about the importance of “STI and HIV tests before making the decision to have unprotected sex,” and that when both persons in a couple do prefer condom-use, they should be taught about the “maintenance of condom use.”
Most importantly, when there is dissonance in preference of condom use within a relationship, emphasis should be placed on “respecting one’s partner’s preferences to use condoms or in working towards building communication skills about negotiating safer sex with one’s partner.”
How else can education about condom use be improved?
Article image via www.eurthisnthat.com.
- Aug 25, 10
Does watching lots of porn, masturbating often, hiring hookers, etc., mean that you are a sex addict? Where does a clinician draw the line between a patient’s use of sex as enjoyment and use of sex as a ‘drug?’ For example, a sexual addiction cannot be compared to, say, a heroine addiction. A recent study investigates the definition of ‘sex addiction,’ what it is and what it is not.
Stephen B. Levine of the Center for Marital and Sexual Health studied 30 individual cases in which men have been labeled ‘sexual addicts’ by their clinicians. Levine examined each individual’s reason for seeking help in the first place and looked more into their past behaviors, traumatic experiences, home/family situations, the status of their romantic relationships, etc. The men were then separated into 6 categories to describe their sexual behaviors, with only the last one coming the closest to a describing a ‘sexual addiction’:
Subdivision 1. No sexual excess beyond breaking the spouse’s restrictive rules
Subdivision 2. Discovery of husband’s longstanding sexual secrets
Subdivision 3. New discovery of the joys of commercial or chat room sex
Subdivision 4. The bizarre or paraphilic
Subdivision 5. A different concept of masculinity
Subdivision 6. Spiraling deteriorating dependence of commercial or illegal sex.Levine concluded that 75% of the sample were not ‘sexual addicts,’ but rather fell into subdivisions 1-5. Only 25% of his sample was best described by subdivision 6, and “have been on a downward spiral manifested by a dramatic desperate pursuit of sexual arousal.” Most of the men just had a “strong narcissistic sense of entitlement to preferred outside pleasures” (especially subdivisions 2, 3, and 5). In summary, most of the men were mislabeled and misdiagnosed by their clinicians.
So next time you catch your partner engaging in a sexual activity you do not approve of, don’t jump to the conclusion that he/she is a sexual addict. According to Levine, the term ‘sexual addiction’ today is equivalent to the 19th Century terms “moral insanity, satyriasis, and nymphomania.” Just because a man breaks a “monogamy rule” does not mean he has a behavioral disorder; the label has a lot to do with moral judgment. It is healthy to think about sex and to engage in sexual activities, but if you think that it is too excessive or distructive, then you—or, better yet, a clinician—might want to consider whether the problem is due to a an actual “behavioral disorder, a symptom of an underlying problem, or a choice reflecting personal sensibilities.” One must be cautious in labeling somebody a ‘sex addict’ because that could just deter attention away from the real problem.
Should ‘Sexual Addiction’ be the official name of a behavioral disorder?
Article image via: www. all4women.co.za
- Aug 15, 10
Men who use pornography actually have and crave more closeness and intimacy with others compared to those who do not watch porn, as evidenced in a recent study. Contrary to popular belief, male porn users are not loners who like being emotionally detached. Perhaps it is those who do not use porn that fear intimacy.
The study, conducted by Miodrag Popovic, involved 164 psychologically healthy males, both porn users and nonusers, between the ages of 18 and 64. They filled out questionnaires that used the Perceived Interpersonal Closeness Scale to assess their interpersonal closeness to their significant others (partner, best friend, mother, and father), as well as their backgrounds, sex lives, and frequency of porn use. Popovic’s definition of “closeness” is “the sharing of privileged knowledge, emotional experiences and social networks, experiencing feelings of closeness, of being listened to, understood, and free in expressing oneself.” The data analyzed was that involving the men’s actual and ideal (what they wish it would be) closeness to those that are significant to them.
Porn users scored significantly higher in both actual and ideal closeness categories when considering all of the significant figures in their lives. There was no difference between porn users and non-users in terms of closeness when looking at specific significant individuals in their lives. Also, porn use was not a factor in relationship status of the participants.
The ideal closeness was greater for porn users, meaning that they desire even more closeness and intimacy than they already have, which is already greater than those men who do not use porn. Then why is it that we hear about relationships being ruined due to porn-use? Those relationship problems are usually a result of partner disapproval, secrecy, and porn addiction/over-use. This study provides evidence that porn itself does no harm to relationships or makes men fear intimacy.
Would the results of this study be any different if the participants were female?
Article image via www.idiva.com.
- Aug 10, 10
As the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally demonstrates, women are capable of faking orgasm through screams of pleasure, leaving their partners clueless and proud of themselves. A recent study looked at when a woman is most likely to be faking her vocalization of pleasure, depending on whether she achieves her orgasm during foreplay, intercourse, or afterplay.
Gayle Brewer of the University of Central Lancashire and Colin A. Hendrie of the University of Leeds conducted a study on 71 sexually active and orgasmic heterosexual women between the ages of 18 and 48. Participants filled out questionnaires with a range of questions and visual analog scales in order to assess things like methods and frequency of orgasm achievement, frequency of vocalization during sex, intensity of vocalization during sex, reasons for consciously producing sounds during sex, etc.
Brewer and Hendrie found that there tended to be a synchrony of the vocalization of pleasure and the achievement of orgasm during both foreplay and afterplay, but no synchrony during intercourse itself. The vocalizations tend to increase in intensity to coincide with the male orgasm. This shows that sometimes women do consciously control their sounds of pleasure, but they do so during penetrative sex: “80% of females reported making copulatory vocalizations even when they knew they were not going to orgasm themselves.” Some reasons they gave for this is to be relieved of discomfort and/or boredom, “because of time limitations,” and to make their partners feel good about themselves.
What do women get out of this? Perhaps women use conscious vocalization during intercourse to control the timing of the male orgasm and ejaculation. Evolutionarily speaking, it speeds up the process of receiving the male’s semen while ending the female’s discomfort and risks of injury and infection. Also, boosting the male’s self-esteem can be used as a strategy to “strengthen the pair bond,” making it less likely that the male will cheat.
Do both men and women win in this situation?
Article image via blogs.mirror.co.uk.
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Info
- Consultant at OpenBI, LLCInformation Technology and Services | Greater Chicago Area, USExperience
- Jan 2012 - PresentConsultant / OpenBI, LLC
- Feb 2011 - Dec 2011Undergraduate Research at Neurobiology Laboratory / Northwestern University•Develop hypotheses based on research of primary literature in Neuroscience to predict the results of experiments involving psychoactive substances and their effects on brain anatomy and behavior. •Extract relevant information from rat brain images and behavioral videos, convert data into an organized numerical data set for statistical analysis and used to reach conclusions about the experiments. •Collaborate with lab members about best ways to analyze, quantify, and determine significance of experimental data.
- Jun 2011 - Aug 2011Web Application Development Intern / Holler, Inc.•Independently developed computer programming skill set via books and online research. •Completed the backend development of a website application. •Managed the database associated with website application: wrote software to aggregate information from different websites and insert it into an organized database table. •Contributed to the start-up’s team discussions about user interface design for the product.
- Jan 2011 - Apr 2011Research Aide / NorthShore University HealthSystem•Coordinated laparoscopic suturing sessions with Obstetrics and Gynecology residents. •Demonstrated the techniques and provided assistance in one-on-one settings.
- Aug 2010 - Apr 2011Writer / PsychWorld•Summarized primary research articles to increase understanding of subject by a non-scientific audience. •Published the most viewed articles on the website, generating 3000+ views.
- Aug 2010 - Nov 2010Research Assistant at Behavior and Evolution Lab / University of New South Wales•Extracted relevant information from animal behavior videos and converted it into a usable numerical data set.
- Oct 2009 - Jun 2010Research Assistant at Human Sexuality Lab / Northwestern University•Corresponded with participants by email and phone to set up meetings, answer questions, and explain the experiment. •Decreased the response time and uncertainty from potential participants by calling instead of emailing them. •Instructed study participants throughout various steps of the experiment, including under pressure due to safety concerns during an MRI component. •Analyzed experimental data using statistical tests, reaching the same conclusion as was published.
- Jun 2009 - Oct 2009Research Intern in Astrophysics Lab / Northwestern University•Wrote and used custom software to organize and interpret large data sets. •Learned independently to use relevant third-party software and to convert files for compatibility.
Education-
2008 - 2011Northwestern UniversityBA in Integrated Science, Psychology
Activities: Campus Outreach Chair of Russian Student Association (Fall 2009-Winter 2010): •Worked with professors to develop lecture topics and organized and promoted campus-wide lectures to educate students about Russian culture. •Influenced change of association’s status from temporary group to permanent group on campus. -
2010 - 2010University of New South Wales
Additional Information-
Websites:
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Honors:Society of Women Engineers Honor Award, Spring 2008
