Nipples as erogenous zone

Can anyone verify for me what I think I once read - that there is a direct nerve-path from the nipples (including male nipples) to the genitalia, which helps to explain why nipple-play can be arousing. It's not just psychological, is it?! 😃

- Ken

There is NOT a direct connection, neurologic or otherwise, BETWEEN the nipples and the genitals.

Stimulation of the nipples and genitalia affect the same areas of the brain.

The "connection" is physiological.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3186818/

There is NOT a direct connection, neurologic or otherwise, BETWEEN the nipples and the genitals.

[...]

The "connection" is physiological.

Thanks as always, Switchable. You're a constant fount of information, which it seems you have at your fingertips. (Forgive the mixed metaphor!)

I read the Abstract of the article you recommended, and in particular its Conclusion. Hmm. Here's the salient part of that:

Activation of the genital sensory cortex by nipple self-stimulation was unexpected, but suggests a neurological basis for women’s reports of its erotogenic quality.

Doesn't that somewhat go against what you say above? You say that the connection is 'physiological' (i.e., of the body or organism) but the article finds a likely 'neurological' (i.e., of the nerves and nervous system) connection or basis.

I think I'm a little confused. 😳

- Ken

"Neurological"means "nerves." That does not mean psychological. "psychological" has to do with what you think of something, but that does NOT mean you think about everything that nerves do to keep a body alive.

Stimulation of the nipples and genitalia affects the same area of the brain. (physiology)

Nerves are a piece of anatomy that performs physiological functions. For example, "brain physiology."

Just because something is under neural control does NOT mean it is psychological.

Just because something is under neural control does NOT mean it is psychological.

That's what I thought (I think!). As I wrote in post #1, '[Nipples as erogenous zone] isn't just psychological, is it?' By 'psychological' I meant 'all in the mind, imagined'. Maybe it isn't psychological at all, but surely it can become that - in a secondary way - by association and expectation and memory?

I take the point that the neural connection isn't direct - nipples to genitals - but indirect (nipples to cortex to genitals). Is that a fair way of putting it?

Thanks as ever, Switchable.

- Ken

I take the point that the neural connection isn't direct - nipples to genitals - but indirect (nipples to cortex to genitals). Is that a fair way of putting it?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say, NO or possibly maybe, but a very UNenthusiastic maybe. They are connected to the same thing (part of the brain) but they are not connected to each other. This could become a semantic discussion that I don't want to get into.

Just because the electric line from your bedroom lights and your kitchen lights both go to the circuit breaker panel, doesn't mean they are directly or indirectly connected to each other. They are separate and they both just go to the same place.

They are connected to the same thing (part of the brain) but they are not connected to each other.

In which case, I remain puzzled about how - seemingly - nipple stimulation is genital-arousing. To say (Switchable's post #2) that 'The "connection" is physiological' seems to claim, merely, that the connection is of the body. How and/or why does the body make the connection? We've already ruled out a direct nerve-transmission, and now we seem inclined to rule out a transmission via the brain's cortex.

Maybe my hypothesis about it all being imaginary is the right one after all? 😃

- Ken

They are both connected to the same part OF THE BRAIN.

The brain is where the "connection" occurs.

I am not going to get into a mental masturbation/semantic discussion on this, so you can think about it however you like.

Dear Switchable ...

Name-calling ('mental masturbation') is unfair and unhelpful, given my - perhaps our - honest confusion. 😃

In post #1, I asked: 'Can anyone verify for me what I think I once read - that there is a direct nerve-path from the nipples (including male nipples) to the genitalia'.

In post #7 I summarised: 'We have ruled out a direct nerve-transmission [from nipples to genitals], and now we [meaning you] seem inclined to rule out a transmission via the brain's cortex.'

In truth, the site you referred me to (in post #2) indicates that there is a nerve-connection ('a neurological basis') but via the 'genital sensory cortex'.

I think I see where the confusion arose: my supplementary observation that there could also be a psychological connection (because people want to believe it). That surely still stands. See my post #5.

- Ken

Dear Switchable ...

Name-calling ('mental masturbation') is unfair and unhelpful, given my - perhaps our - honest confusion. 😃

In post #1, I asked: 'Can anyone verify for me what I think I once read - that there is a direct nerve-path from the nipples (including male nipples) to the genitalia'.

In post #7 I summarised: 'We have ruled out a direct nerve-transmission [from nipples to genitals], and now we [meaning you] seem inclined to rule out a transmission via the brain's cortex.'

In truth, the site you referred me to (in post #2) indicates that there is a nerve-connection ('a neurological basis') but via the 'genital sensory cortex'.

I think I see where the confusion arose: my supplementary observation that there could also be a psychological connection (because people want to believe it). That surely still stands. See my post #5.

- Ken

Let's not play the victim and get all excited over my calling this semantic topic one of mental masturbation. COUNTLESS posts here are nothing more than mental masturbation and that's OK. I sometimes read or post in them and If you want to read and or post in them, that's fine too.

EVERY single political discussion you had in your life has been one of mental masturbation. There is nothing wrong with mental masturbation. I do it frequently. Discussions with most people in daily life amount to absolutely nothing and are mental masturbation. (You recall I am a cynic) The point here is that I know the anatomy and for a question of anatomy and physiology, I do not wish to be in a semantic discussion. Perhaps other people are, but I am not.

If you want to call the nipples and genitalia having an indirect (or direct) connection like your eyes and your foot when you step barefoot on a sharp stone and your brain makes you lift your foot and tilt your head down so your eye can see what you just stepped on, OK, there is a connectiion.

@kenneth177

I love SOME topics of mental masturbation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJzSzGbfc0k

Perhaps, strange sounds, but even the word "nipples" excites me, and their kind of all the more

Can anyone verify for me what I think I once read - that there is a direct nerve-path from the nipples (including male nipples) to the genitalia,

I can't prove it, being just a stay-at-home mom. But I can say that when my sub suckles or in any way plays with my nipples I get horny and wet. What ever the cause, that is not my concern. I'm just happy with the results.

When I get my nipples sucked on in a certain way, I feel a tingling inside my vagina, it’s very nice. I also think it’s interesting how my nipples will get hard on their own just from being mentally aroused.

For me, there is a direct connection between my nipples and groin. i immediately get arroused when they are pulled, clamped, or pinched. Maybe it is psychological but i enjoy it. That's the important part. Not who's right or wrong. Why does everything have to be so right?

I don't like a woman playing with my nipples (don't know why, though) but LOVE everything to do with pleasing her nipples.