Don’t you love when science corroborates what you already know? It makes me feel so much more legitimate.
In any case, the Journal of Sex Research has a brand new article about how paying attention and focusing during sex can affect a person’s level of sexual arousal. The thesis is that sexual arousal is a feedback loop - the more we focus on our fantasies/partner/arousal, the more aroused we become and more pleasure is gotten from the experience. The more we find ourselves distracted and thinking about irrelevant tasks, the less aroused we become. The authors of the article link sexual dysfunction with the brain’s capacity to talk itself out of being aroused more than with actual physiology, much to the disdain of Big Pharma, I’m sure.
Mind Hacks gives a nice summary of the article, including my personal favorite analysis of Viagra’s marketing scheme:
Viagra promotes the line that erectile dysfunction is a problem with your cock, saying that “It happens when not enough blood flows to the penis.”
Which is a bit like saying poverty is when not enough money gets to poor people.
If you want to read the full journal article, you can find it here.
