Forum - View topicThe science of arousal and nosebleeds.
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fstony
Posts: 10 |
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While reading Bonk, I encountered something that reminded me of anime: a description of the nose's erectile tissue. A brief summary can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeymoon_rhinitis
Basically, certain part of the nasal passages engorge with blood during sexual arousal. This happens to males and females, so hopefully we don't have to worry about whether it's a malady typical of Japanese schoolgirls. Of course, to get a sanguinary flood typical of anime, you'd probably have to jab your engorged membranes with a penknife several times. PS I would have tacked this onto the end of the appropriate thread, but a forum search for "nosebleed" gave me ten pages of results. What have we done with our lives? |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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"Nasal congestion" does not mean "nosebleed".
Nosebleeds from sexual arousal is just a silly Japanese old wives' tale that is used in Anime as a running gag or a crutch for humour. It has no scientific basis. It is no better than "getting wet equals getting a cold", (sometimes instantly), which is also highly prevalent in Anime and also completely unscientific. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18518 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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You do see female characters suffer from this from time to time in anime, though. The most notorious is the title character from Maria Holic, but it's also been not that unusual in otaku girl characters who have popped up over the past few years. Then there's the title character of Karin, but her nosebleeds have to do with an entirely different kind of arousal.
Nosebleeds get mentioned commonly because they're one of anime's most frequently-used cliches, but threads actually devoted to discussing them are few and far between. Starting up a new one for this is fine. |
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Errinundra
Moderator
Posts: 6593 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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The theory isn't just Japanese. A colleague of Freud's, Wilhelm Fliess, believed that a woman's nose was intimately connected with her genitals and that sexual disorders could be cured by operating on her nose. Freud referrred a patient, Emma Eckstein, to him and he almost killed her. You can read more about it from this transcript of an episode of the Science Show: here.
This is the most pertinent section.
She almost bled to death because of Fliess's incompetent surgerry and, to top it off, Freud blamed her "hysteria" for the the bleeding, not the incompetence of his friend. |
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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I've been very curious about the connection myself, though I am familiar with Freud's concepts. Is it true, however, that this cliché in anime and manga stems originally from the aforementioned old wives' tale? I suppose that's quite believable, since the idea connecting sneezing and being spoken about comes from a similar story.
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18518 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Actually, ANN had a feature piece on this very topic last year which I'd totally forgotten about.
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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I'm actually sort of shocked that I missed this a year ago. Thank you for that; it pretty much answers the entire question of the thread! So it was a folk tale after all, then? If it is fair to respond to that link, though, in the original Dragon Ball series, elderly Master Roshi is the one with the nose bleeds as opposed to young and innocent characters.
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