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Aphrodisiac
Ah, the
aphrodisiac. Is it a myth trumped up by the same ancients who
believed gods in chariots and punishing gods would sling arrows of
fate, striking down humans at whim? Is it a gimmick contrived
by the same money-mongering folks who blew Valentine’s Day up
into a multi-million dollar imperative? Or is it a natural
and inevitable instigator, in the form of the all-famous oyster,
bringing on inspired sensuality as powerful and potent as the Spanish
Fly brought bowel irritation in the guise of sexual stimulation?
Your guess is as good as the opinions of the experts. Some
will attest to the aphrodisiac that is chocolate, given its properties
that stimulate certain hormones, such as dopamine, in the hypothalamus
of the human brain. Others will aver that such natural herbs
and roots as Yohimbe (or Yohimbine) work to remedy problems such as
erectile dysfunction. And still others ascribe to decidedly
sexually potent animal parts, foods which have visually allusive
shapes, or plants, foodstuffs, or mythically charged animal parts that
have been rumored as aphrodisiacs to stimulate sexual arousal.
But as with any tradition, belief, or value that has the potential for
changing over time and through the variant translations, the item still
deemed an aphrodisiac might just be the aphrodisiac as we know it today
but the item serving different purposes in history. For
example, an aphrodisiac in ancient times and tribes was a tool for
reproduction. Another aphrodisiac was an implement for
assuaging fears of infertility. Still another was a way of
ensuring performance.
So chocolate, rhino horn, tiger’s penis, the oyster, the
potato, and the tomato may be the love fruit, the union key, the horny
pill, or the sex stimulator, but may not in fact be an
aphrodisiac. At the same time, the derivatives of the above
continue to be produced, manufactured, advertised, supplied, and
believed in. And the chemical equivalent of aphrodisiacs are
making their way and taking their place in line: according to a writer
at Wikipedia.com, the first actual aphrodisiac (with physically and
emotionally impacting properties, that is) has been
synthesized. It’s labeled PT-141, and is said to
actually “stimulate sexual desire in men as well as
women,” though it is still in the clinical trial phases for
future treatments of such disorders as sexual arousal disorder and
erectile dysfunction.
While Spanish Fly really was just an irritant to the urinary organs,
fooling the influenced one (who took a dose of the beetle powder) to
think she has insatiable sexual desire, and while the oyster was
originally rumored to be a sexual stimulant merely because it
replicates female genitalia, maybe what it comes down to is powers of
mind…or powers of suggestion: if you think it’s an
aphrodisiac, it will work as an aphrodisiac would ideally work.
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A Healthy Dose of Good Advice
