Sex can be messy, but most people
don't seem to mind too much, and new research suggests it may be because sexual
arousal makes us harder to disgust.
The authors of the study, led by
Charmaine Borg of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, asked female
participants to complete various disgusting-seeming actions, like drinking from
a cup with an insect in it or wiping their hands with a used tissue.
Sexually aroused subjects
responded to the tasks with less disgust than subjects who were not aroused,
suggesting that the state of arousal has some effect on women's disgust
response.
Borg said:
'Women [who] were sexually aroused were more willing to touch and do initially
disgusting tasks.
'These findings indicate that lack
of sexual arousal may interfere with functional sex, as it may prevent the
reduction of disgust and disgust-related avoidance tendencies.'
The researchers divided the female
participants into three groups, and asked each to watch a video before
performing tasks.
One of the groups watched 'female
friendly erotica', while another watched extreme sports and the third watched a
video of a train, which was meant to offer a neutral response.
The groups were then asked to use
the tissue or drink from the cup, and the researchers found that the 'sexually
aroused' group reported less feelings of disgust.
For the study, the insect was made
of plastic and the tissue was colored with ink to make it appear used.
The group who watched the erotica
also successfully completed most of the tasks assigned to them, compared to the
other groups.
The authors conclude that sexual
arousal has an effect on women's disgust response.
Source.MailOnline
