She can't put her jeans on safely

August 24, 2006 4:35 AM

Multiple orgasms trap benefit cheat is one Times headline that I wish I had written myself. The story is so far as I can tell quite true; The Daily Mail has it too, under a much duller headline. On the other hand, it does have readers grumbling at the end: "The more benefit cheats they find - the better. I have two slipped discs, have to sleep sitting up and am entitled to, yes, you've guessed - nothing." writes one, as if Ms Byron were being subsidised for her orgasms.
posted by alloneword (17 comments total)

“She cannot wear tight clothes, like jeans, because that sends her off too. I can’t deny it, at first I felt like a stud. But as the weeks go by I sometimes wish it would end.”

Attn: Levi's marketing personnel. Opportunity knocking.
posted by itchylick at 4:44 AM on August 24, 2006

Ouch, priapism .... word for the day.
posted by R. Mutt at 4:45 AM on August 24, 2006

Actually, word of the day is clitorism.
posted by rxrfrx at 4:58 AM on August 24, 2006

The woman has got ten kids. Cut her some slack, you blood-sucking Department of Work and Pensions.
After all, who is going to pay for *your* pensions in 30 years?
posted by sour cream at 5:00 AM on August 24, 2006

Yes rxrfrx, forgive my phallocentrism.
posted by R. Mutt at 5:13 AM on August 24, 2006

oh, come on - live in a state of constant arousal AND live off the dole? there has to be some balance here. all is well with the universe.
posted by taocow at 5:28 AM on August 24, 2006

Finally, a practical use for the Quantum Leap machine!
posted by cowbellemoo at 6:14 AM on August 24, 2006

I've read about this condition before and current neurological thinking is it has to do with crossed wired in the brain - the part f the brain responsible for arousal and triggering orgasm has nerves growing into it from other parts of the brain - so for example, touching her leg is the same as touching her elsewhere, as far as the brain is concerned, and it reacts accordingly.
posted by stbalbach at 6:21 AM on August 24, 2006

I guess technically the multiple orgasms didn't trap the benefit cheat. It was publicising her lodger/husband. But 'Lodger confession traps benefit cheat' isn't such a good headline.

An area that I'd like explored (if that's not an unfortunate turn of phrase) is the fact that the taxman monitors the media to see if people claim anything different publically to what they tell the government. I've heard of quite a few bands getting nobbled by HMG because of interviews they've given with the media.
posted by randomination at 6:56 AM on August 24, 2006

Not so much multiple as constant
posted by A189Nut at 7:40 AM on August 24, 2006

Seems like the kind of ailment people would pay to GET rather than get rid of.

Doesn't this fly in the face of the what I thought was the pretty-well accepted psychology and physiology behind female orgasms, that they are as much a function of mental state and mood as they are physical stimulation?

If it is indeed something that can be artificially induced reliably via brain stimulation, then I imagine someone will make a special kind of hat/visor with some electrical contacts on the temples and make approximately 1.7 bajillion dollars.
posted by Ynoxas at 8:18 AM on August 24, 2006

Seems like the kind of ailment people would pay to GET rather than get rid of.

I should think the novelty would wear off fairly quickly and exhaustion would be a problem.

Doesn't this fly in the face of the what I thought was the pretty-well accepted psychology and physiology behind female orgasms, that they are as much a function of mental state and mood as they are physical stimulation?

If it is indeed something that can be artificially induced reliably...

I'm thinking the vibrator market has this prettty much covered.
posted by Zinger at 8:36 AM on August 24, 2006

zinger: Vibrators cannot force someone who doesn't want to have an orgasm to have one. What we're talking about are involuntary orgasms. A woman can quite easily "defeat" a vibrator by simply being in a sour mood.
posted by Ynoxas at 9:14 AM on August 24, 2006

The male version of the condition is priapism

Isn't that wrong? Priapism is a constant state of erection, not arousal.

The male version of this syndrome may be "adolescence".
posted by hattifattener at 11:34 AM on August 24, 2006

I thought priapism was a medical condition that caused one's penis to become very swollen, but not like an ordinary erection. Then again there's no way in hell I'm going to google "priapism" from work...
posted by clevershark at 1:00 PM on August 24, 2006

I actually dated a woman who had this particular condition and, as stbalbach imputes, it is very much related to touch. In fact, nearly any remote physical sign of arousal set this woman off. She had experienced serious trouble and indeed had to wear loose clothing.

I'm surprised that this is so underreported or that the medical authorities fail to believe that it can exist. There seems to me an underlying sexism that prevents some doctors from treating these conditions seriously. It reminds me very much of the chronic headache disorder that a small percentage of women suffer from, explored at great length in Paula Kamen's book All In My Head.
posted by ed at 1:10 PM on August 24, 2006

chronic headache disorder

Small percentage? I think every woman I've ever been intimate with has suffered from that.

{rimshot}
posted by Ynoxas at 7:41 AM on August 25, 2006