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Sexual arousal may decrease natural disgust response

Date:
September 12, 2012
Source:
Public Library of Science
Summary:
Sex can be messy, but most people don't seem to mind too much, and new results suggest that this phenomenon may result from sexual arousal actually dampening humans' natural disgust response.
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Sex can be messy, but most people don't seem to mind too much, and new results reported Sep. 12 in the open access journal PLOS ONE suggest that this phenomenon may result from sexual arousal actually dampening humans' natural disgust response.

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. (The participants were not aware of it, but the insect was made of plastic and the tissue was colored with ink to make it appear used.)

Sexually aroused subjects responded to the tasks with less disgust than subjects who were not sexually aroused, suggesting that the state of arousal has some effect on women's disgust response.


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Materials provided by Public Library of Science. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Charmaine Borg, Peter J. de Jong. Feelings of Disgust and Disgust-Induced Avoidance Weaken following Induced Sexual Arousal in Women. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (9): e44111 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0044111

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Public Library of Science. "Sexual arousal may decrease natural disgust response." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 12 September 2012. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120912184518.htm>.
Public Library of Science. (2012, September 12). Sexual arousal may decrease natural disgust response. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 29, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120912184518.htm
Public Library of Science. "Sexual arousal may decrease natural disgust response." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120912184518.htm (accessed March 29, 2024).

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