Shame and Pride by Donald L. Nathanson

Author:Donald L. Nathanson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

THE GENERATIVE SYSTEM

It is possible to study the development of gender identity, the nature of courtship, sexual intercourse, the sequences involved in pregnancy and delivery, or any one of the many other processes linked to human reproduction, without recognizing how they are linked. I prefer to view each of these important and complex systems of behavior as subroutines of a far more complex overarching program that I call the generative system. In this regard I suggest that it functions in a manner analogous to the affect system, with sites of action located all over the body, structural effectors running from the central nervous system throughout the body, chemical mediators manufactured at locations such as the endocrine glands and within the brain itself, and organizers of innate programs that are responsible for conduct known to us as specifically sexual, which are stored in the hypothalamus.

Thus, the menstrual cycle would be seen as a specific form of organized innate program, the script for which is stored within the hypothalamus, utilizing hormonal messengers manufactured there and in the ovaries, causing effects at such widely separated sites of action as the lining of the uterus, the breasts, and the gastrointestinal system. The cyclic process by which, from infancy through senescence, erections are triggered during the cerebral activity associated with dreams is the result of another innate program. Further examples of such subroutines include the processes of pregnancy and nursing, in which specific bodily sites are transformed from their normal state of quiet preparedness into the active loci of the work for which they have evolved.

The affect system evolved much more recently than the generative system and differs from it in several aspects. The nine innate affects are each triggered by a specific stimulus, and each affect is an analogue of that stimulus. An affect is an analogue that acts to amplify this stimulus and bring it into consciousness with what becomes a characteristic sort of urgency. In contrast to the affect system, the subroutines of the generative system appear to be set in motion not by analogic triggers but by built-in biological clocks. All of the functions associated with sexual reproduction seem to be derived from mechanisms that have an inherent time constant. Unless intentionally initiated, all the generative programs start and stop under the control of their own timekeepers.

The menstrual cycle provides for the female a regular routine by which the system is guaranteed one fresh egg every month and provides for that egg a freshly made bed of uterine lining. Thus, a biological clock makes women fertile for a couple of days each month. But the generative system also makes sure that the male is always ready with a supply of freshly made sperm. Soon after puberty, when the male reproductive system moves into high gear, innate programs organize the manufacture of sperm, seminal fluid, and all the other components that eventually will be needed to guarantee male fertility. These fluids and cellular components are produced at such a pace that they must be expelled at a frequency determined by that rate of production.

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