# What body part is feeling this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 30, 2012, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-body-part-is-feeling-this/620392 "2012-04-30T05:49:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-body-part-is-feeling-this/620392/1 "2012-04-30T05:49:02Z")
You’ve probably felt this too. All of the sudden something exciting, either of a good or bad kind, happens and then there’s a…quiver? a spasm? a rush? a flutter? A sensation _somewhere_ in your body to accompany your emotional response. I know there’s the convention about “butterflies in the stomach” but it’s not my stomach and not the nausea I associate with excessive worry. It doesn’t orginate in the groin either, and seems to have nothing to do with sexual arousal. Instead this feeling seems to come from somewhere about halfway between belly button and groin. From what I recall of anatomy, the only things that low in the torso are the intestines, bladder, colon, and for those of us with girl parts, the uterus. OTOH, I seem to recall from learning about how we can feel gas pains in our chest that our bodies aren’t fantastic about letting us know where feelings orginate so maybe it has nothing to do with any of these body parts at all. Any ideas **where** we’re actually experiencing that brief twisting feeling when we’re enjoying a pirateship ride at the park, or have a near miss while driving? I conceed that it’s possibly psychosomatic, but it sure feels physiological… ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-body-part-is-feeling-this/620392/2 "2012-04-30T18:42:08Z")
I don’t think it’s psychosomatic. I think it’s adrenaline being released into the bloodstream, and the sympathetic nervous system going into overdrive. Those would affect multiple body parts. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-body-part-is-feeling-this/620392/3 "2012-04-30T18:48:04Z")
I know the feeling of which you speak. I have heard that it’s a female boner- blood rushes to somewhere? in the lower abdomen, creating that feeling. Ah, yes- I googled it, and it seems we’ve discussed this [before](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=575315). ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-body-part-is-feeling-this/620392/4 "2012-04-30T18:52:14Z")
Your adrenal glands sit atop your kidneys. That’s why they’re called that. Ad-renal. It’s probably what you’re feeling. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-body-part-is-feeling-this/620392/5 "2012-04-30T23:06:47Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > I know the feeling of which you speak. I have heard that it’s a female boner- blood rushes to somewhere? in the lower abdomen, creating that feeling. > > Ah, yes- I googled it, and it seems we’ve discussed this [before](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=575315). Arousal literally involves blood flowing to the groin, but this isn’t that. It feels pretty different from being turned on. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-body-part-is-feeling-this/620392/6 "2012-05-01T00:10:09Z")
No, what I linked to wasn’t about being turned on, either. Did you read the thread? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-body-part-is-feeling-this/620392/7 "2012-05-01T01:29:35Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > No, what I linked to wasn’t about being turned on, either. Did you read the thread? Yes, and "As a woman becomes sexually excited, blood pours into the vessels of the genitals and the general pelvic area. The nerve bundles begin to expand. The muscles around the clitoris, vaginal opening, and the anus begin to swell with blood. This pressure is knows as the “vaginal ache” doesn’t seem to be what I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-body-part-is-feeling-this/620392/8 "2012-05-01T01:36:02Z")
It’s not really in your groin, though- it’s in the lower abdomen, specifically where you described. If you don’t want to believe that this is what you’re referring to, that’s fine, but it does match up pretty perfectly with what you’re describing. You’ll notice in the thread I linked to, another doper even says that she gets it when she’s about to read a good book or something equally non-sexual. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-body-part-is-feeling-this/620392/9 "2012-05-01T01:37:08Z")
When adrenaline is released, the stomach stops actively digesting things. Having had gallbladder trouble, which I thought was either intestinal gas, or a heart attack at various points, I know it can be rather hard to localize abdominal feelings sometimes. Also having experienced butterflies in the stomach from nervousness, fear and stuff, and being male, I can say it’s not the female arousal response.