Hormones, behavior, and sexuality in women.

Many hormones are involved in the control of human sexuality. Clearly both androgens and estrogens are important parts of the picture. The physiologic role of prolactin, thyroid hormones and gonadotropins is not clear. The part played by neurotransmitters can only be guessed at. The neuroendocrine interaction governing female sexuality is far less understood than in the male. For example while there is a loss of tumescence in the vaginal tissue in diabetic females there is no loss of sexual function as in the male. The effects of deletion and addition of sex steroids in the female are far less predictable than in the male. Environmental and psychosocial factors are probably more important in the total picture. The role of hormones in the sexual function and psychological makeup of women is important. The exact role of the endocrine system in their psychosexual function is by no means clear. A great deal of research is required to ratify or disprove many of the speculative assertions found in today's literature. Studies of female sexuality would seem to have acquired a new urgency. Too often attempts at such serious study is met with a snicker and little or no funding is forthcoming. Unfortunately we know more about the sexuality of most animal species than our own. We have to take the study of female sexuality far more seriously to solve these problems.