Rape Sperm

Rape Sperm

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August 06, 2008

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Fig. 3: Stereo fluorescent microscope view of SPERM HY-LITER™ stained slide illustrating both the increased field of view and signal-to-noise of SPERM HY-LITER™ stained preparation. Photomicrograph taken on an Olympus MVX at 120X final magnification with a dual DAPI/ FITC cube. Light source: 100 W mercury lamp. Image collected with a PAX-IT 2 CCD camera.

The impact of modern scientific methods on the analysis of crime scene evidence has dramatically changed many forensic sub-specialties. Arguably one of the most dramatic examples is the impact of molecular biology on the analysis of biological evidence. The techniques required to process biological evidence and generate a DNA profile are beyond the scope of this article, but require several impressive looking pieces of equipment with flashing lights, computer interfaces, and robotized arms. Somewhat obscured by all this technology is the fact that the methods and procedures for screening biological evidence, a necessary precursor to finding the best item of evidence to process for DNA analysis, are essentially unchanged for the past forty years.
Forensic laboratory personnel are well aware that the entire structure of DNA profiling begins with the identification of a questioned stain from an article of evidence or from the analysis of an evidence swab. There are both criminalistic and laboratory procedural reasons to identify the source of the biological material that will be processed for DNA, as coming from blood, saliva, semen or sperm. As fully half of all forensic biology laboratory analysis involves sexual assault evidence, the identification of semen and sperm are particularly important. Recall that sperm is a specialized cell with distinctive morphology that is also the source of the overwhelming majority of DNA-containing cells in human ejaculate.

Once seminal fluid has been identified on sexual assault evidence, the DNA analyst must attempt to determine not only whether sperm are present, but which item of evidence or swab has the most sperm, in order to identify the sample most likely to provide a DNA profile. Here again, the forensic methods involved are unchanged for forty years, and current forensic identification of sperm uses a generalized cell staining method coupled with brightfield microscopy. In theory, this should be sufficient to identify sperm, in practice sperm isolated from sexual assault evidence has lost many, if not all, of its distinctive sub-cellular organelles upon which morphological identification depends. Hence, DNA analysts spend many hours searching for sperm using a less than optimal microscopic technique.

In order to provide a more scientifically and procedurally robust sperm searching technique, Independent Forensics has developed a fluorescent monoclonal antibody-based kit, SPERM HY-LITER™, for the microscopic identification of sperm from sexual assault evidence. SPERM HY-LITER™ is designed to provide positive identification of sperm using a unique monoclonal antibody that has been chemically tagged with an Alexa 488 fluorophore. The kit incorporates a second fluorescent dye, 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) that will stain all cell nuclei; this is a fluorescent analogue of the KPIC stain currently used in most DNA forensic laboratories. By combining both fluorescent dyes, SPERM HY-LITER™ provides several visually confirmatory steps for the identification of sperm. Sperm can be visualized in the fluorescein channel (the fluorescent spectra of Alexa 488 falls conveniently within the emission maximum for fluorescein); all cell nuclei can be seen in the DAPI channel; and using specialized dual filter ‘cubes,’ epithelial nuclei and sperm can be visualized simultaneously.

The monoclonal antibody used in SPERM HY-LITER™ provides an unprecedented degree of specificity that allows the identification of human sperm from previously unsearchable samples. Furthermore, while the signal-to-noise advantage of fluorescent microscopy (and the very low background seen with the fully optimized SPERM HYLITER™ kit) increases the sensitivity of sperm detection by orders of magnitude compared to current brightfield microscopic techniques. The incorporation of both DAPI and Alexa dyes was designed for image processing software such that sperm recognition could be essentially automated. By using computer-aided image analysis software, SPERM HY-LITER™ stained preparations can first be scanned for "features",i.e., fluorescent signals above background – and second, these features can then be analyzed further for the color (or hue) of the observed fluorescence. Only those features that have both DAPI (from the DNA) and the Alexa 488 (from the monoclonal antibody) fluorescence would be scored by the software as sperm.

SPERM HY-LITER™ provides all required solutions for slide staining in pre-calibrated dropper bottles – two slightly different version allow staining of smear slides (often included in sexual assault evidence kits, "rape kits") or of extracts made from evidence swabs or identified stains. The addition of phase contrast to the method, although not required, gives less experienced crime laboratory personnel the ability to visualize cells, nuclei, and sperm in one image.

As an illustration of the specificity and sensitivity of the SPERM HY-LITER™ method, we show a mixture of sperm from a variety of animal species, with and without human sperm, stained with SPERM HY-LITER™ (Figure 1).
Fig. 1: A mixture of canine, feline, bovine, equine, caprine, ovine, porcine, murine (left panels) and a mixture of canine, feline, bovine, equine, caprine, ovine, porcine, murine, and human sperm (right panels) were stained with SPERM HY-LITER™ and visualized using phase contrast, DAPI, fluorescein filters (top, middle, and bottom, respectively). Note that only the mixture containing human sperm is labeled in the fluorescein channel thus demonstrating species specificity of SPERM HY-LITER™ staining. Photomicrographs taken on a Leica DM2500 microscope fitted with A4 and L5 filters. Final magnification: 400X
The sensitivity and cell type specificity of SPERM HY-LITER™ is demonstrated from images provided by a crime laboratory case work validation study of SPERM HY-LITER™ (Figure 2). Here a smear slide made by a sexual assault nurse examiner from a vaginal swab collected from a sexual assault victim was stained using SPERM HY-LITER™. These types of slides are notoriously difficult for crime laboratory personnel to analyze for the presence of sperm, as the cell density, collection method, and storage conditions all conspire to destroy sperm cell morphology and inhibit KPIC staining, making standard sperm identification methods all but impossible. The series of images demonstrate the complexity of the original slides (see phase contrast image), the ability to detect sperm in the preparation (see combined phase and FITC image), as well as confirmatory steps in the process where both epithelial and sperm cells can be simultaneously identified (see combined dual cube and phase contrast image). SPERM HY-LITER™ stains sperm in all layers of the preparation.
Fig. 2: SPERM HY-LITER™ staining of a sexual assault smear slide performed by forensic DNA crime laboratory. Smear slide was stained according to SPERM HY-LITER™ supplied protocol. Photomicrographs taken with PAX-IT 2 camera using DAPI, FITC and dual DAPI/ FITC cubes. Note air bubble at top of image.
The job of the forensic analyst often involves screening many items of evidence in a case. Although current forensic laboratory protocols vary, screening for sperm is usually performed with 40X objectives (400X final magnification). Here again, SPERM HY-LITER™ provides an advantage over current methods as stained preparation can be easily visualized using 10X and 20X objectives (100X and 200X final magnification) greatly increasing the field of view and therefore decreasing the time needed to scan stained slides. In fact, the signal from SPERM HY-LITER™ stained slides is such that sperm can scanned using appropriately configured fluorescent-capable stereomicroscopes (Figure 3)! The stereomicroscope can be fitted with either a traditional mercury light source or newer fiber-optic metal arc lamps, and accept the same filter cubes as traditional fluorescent compound microscopes. Given the field of view and working distance of these instruments (and therefore the speed and ease of slide manipulation on the stereo microscope), this approach promises to dramatically change the way in which crime laboratories search for sperm from sexual assault evidence.

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Yes, orgasms can happen to rape victims.

By
Jenny Morber/ Double X Science
|

Published May 31, 2013 12:30 AM

Rape. Most of us don’t like to talk about it. We don’t like to think about it. But when we do think about it, or at least when I do, it is always violent. I am struggling and overpowered. I am screaming. And I am certainly not getting off.
Although in the United States, where I live, rape survivors are now more common than smokers , I am not currently among the nearly 20% of women or 3% of men (or more ) who are sexually assaulted in their lifetimes. I am not one of the 1 in 3 Native Americans who are raped. My mother has never felt the need to tell a doctor , as one Native American mother did, “I need to learn more about Plan B for when my daughter gets raped.”
And my lack of first-hand experience might be why my narrow definition of rape was completely wrong.
Rape is not always violent. Some survivors surrender to protect themselves or their loved ones. Some are intoxicated, drugged, physically or mentally incapacitated, or in a position without power. Some (doubly horribly) are children . Rape does not always include penile penetration. Some rapists are married to their victims. Some rapists are women. Some women rape men. And sometimes, in the middle of an act that is always a violation, a rape survivor will experience increasingly intense physical sensations leading to climax – an orgasm.
Of those who report their rapes, around 4–5% also describe experiencing orgasm. But the true numbers are likely much higher. In a 2004 review paper , a clinician reports, “I (have) met quite a lot of victims (males) who had the full sexual response during sexual abuse…I (have) met several female victims of incest and rape who had lubrication and orgasm.”
In February of this year, Reddit featured a child therapist in an ‘I Am A’ discussion to address orgasm during rape. She had previously participated in an ‘ask me anything’ (AMA) on the topic. It was so popular that she was invited to engage again . In the first post the therapist states,
“I’ve assisted more young women than I can count with this very issue…There have been very few studies on orgasm during rape, but the research so far shows numbers from 10% to over 50% having this experience. In my experience as a therapist, it has been somewhat less than half of the girls/women I’ve worked with. (For the record, I have worked with very few boys/men who reported this.) In professional discussions, colleagues report similar numbers.”
And though most of the half-dozen or so therapists and sex educators I spoke with said that they believed the phenomenon was uncommon, all of them had heard from or heard of at least a few rape victims who experienced sexual arousal.
Matthew Atkinson , a domestic and sexual violence–response professional and author of “Resurrection After Rape,” wrote to me that, “Of the 500–600 clients I ever saw, only a couple of dozen disclosed [it] to me. However, when the topic is brought up on internet discussion forums, there seems to be a great deal of interest in it. That suggests to me that it’s more common than we may be aware…”
The voices of the internet suggest he’s right. Read through the Reddit thread or blogs or comments to articles that discuss orgasm during rape and you find story after story : “ I was sexually abused at a young age and had an orgasm.” “… although I never stopped resisting I was horrified to find myself having a series of multiple orgasms…” “I thought I would never be able to tell – except here .” “Reading your post made me feel like maybe I am not such a freak.” One woman describes a violent and painful gang rape and recalls, “One of the most disturbing things that happened that night is that I had an orgasm. Despite years of marriage, it was my first orgasm ever.”
But how can this be? How can a victim’s experience of rape, especially violent rape, include an orgasm? If you are a blogger on one website (which I refuse to honor with a link) the explanation is simple: “You’ve suddenly realized that actually, in spite of what you thought before it happened, in reality you wanted to be raped and you’re… loving every minute of it… that fact alone makes ‘rape’ an act of consensual sex.”
No. This is not the explanation. Rape and arousal can happen simultaneously, and one does not exclude the other. As disgusting as they are, that blogger’s words illustrate a common error of conflating arousal and conscious intention. An orgasm , at least in popular understanding, represents a peak of sexual pleasure, a state of euphoria. In that perception, if someone is experiencing rape, shouldn’t pleasure be absent? Shouldn’t the body, you know, shut that whole thing down ?
We really need a better understanding of human sexuality and human physiology. Just as Todd Akin (and hundreds of years of science ) was so wrong in thinking that rape can’t lead to pregnancy, I and many others were entirely wrong about arousal and climax during rape. Despite what many rapists would like to believe , arousal does not mean that an assault was enjoyable or that a victim was asking for it. So what does it mean?
Quite simply, our bodies respond to sex. And our bodies respond to fear. Our bodies respond. They do so uniquely and often entirely without our permission or intention. Orgasm during rape isn’t an example of an expression of pleasure. It’s an example of a physical response whether the mind’s on board or not, like breathing, sweating, or an adrenaline rush. Therapists commonly use the analogy of tickling . While tickling can be pleasurable, when it is done against someone’s wishes it can be very unpleasant experience. And during that unpleasant experience, amid calls to stop, the one being tickled will continue laughing. They just can’t help it.
As the review paper referenced earlier states:
In other words, the mental and physical components of human sexuality often run in parallel and in agreement – but not always. In fact, sexual arousal and other forms of heightened sensation are so closely intertwined that as of 2010, psychologists were still arguing in the scientific journals about “the exact meaning of sexual arousal,” or what, exactly, we should call it. Super.
Examples of the mental/physical disconnect in sexual arousal:
– Some people can be brought to orgasm by having their eyebrows stroked. Others can orgasm when pressure is applied to their teeth.
-Some people can “think” themselves into orgasm without any physical stimulus at all. One woman has even done this inside an MRI.
-People with spinal cord injuries (a physical brain–body disconnection) can still experience orgasm. In an MRI .
-Women can become sexually aroused without their knowledge. By measuring changes in blood flow to female genitals, several studies have found that subliminal images, images of copulation in other species, and those that women report as disgusting, boring, or not arousing can cause physical arousal.
– This happens in men too, though men usually have a more … obvious … yardstick.
-Consciousness is not required for orgasm. Both men and women can experience orgasm during sleep.
Adding to the issue is that sexual arousal and orgasm appear to originate from the autonomic nervous system — the same reflex-driven system that underlies heart rate, digestion, and perspiration. Our control over sexual arousal is no better than our control over the dilation of our pupils or how much we sweat. The presence of sexual arousal during rape is about as relevant to consent as any of these other responses. In violent assaults, intense physical arousal from fear can heighten sexual sensations in a process called ‘ excitation transfer .’ In one laboratory study , anxiety from threat of electric shock enhanced male erectile responses to erotic images. The men in this study were not looking forward to the shock. They did not enjoy the shock. Their body’s heightened state of physical arousal – anxiety about the threat of pain – heightened sexual arousal as well. Sexual arousal is just one more component of the ‘ fight or flight ‘ state.
Some rape victims report ‘going somewhere else’ mentally, and then being pulled back into the moment by orgasm. Clearly these victims have no mental connection to their physical state. One woman who was drugged and then raped, recalls waking up during climax only to pass out again as the sensation abated. Recent experiments suggest that vaginal lubrication in women may be an adaptive response designed to reduce injury from penetration. The body is not enjoying itself – it is trying to protect itself.
Finally , horribly, some rapists enjoy making their victims’ bodies respond to the assault as a sign of dominance. These rapists work to get a physical response from their victims. They have learned how fear and anxiety can correspond to other forms of heightened arousal, and they exploit the connection.
Unsurprisingly, rape survivors who experience arousal and rape report confusion and shame thanks to this conflation of the physical response of arousal and its usual association with enjoyment. A survivor may ask, “Was this something I subconsciously wanted? Am I in some way guilty? If my body responded this way, does it mean I’m mentally disturbed?” The reality is that the body’s arousal response is no more
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