For Women, Sex Makes Disgusting Things Less Disgusting

So it turns out that disgust is in the eye of the beholder, and more significantly, in the state of sexual arousal of the beholder, at least if the beholder is a woman. Researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands are convinced that women are less likely to object to things they would normally find disgusting when they are sexually aroused. HealthDay reports that their study, which is published in PLOS One, placed 90 women into one of three groups. The researchers then did their best to arouse one group by showing them “female-friendly” erotica, while a less fortunate group watched outdoor activities such as rafting and sky diving, and an even less fortunate group watched a video of a train ride. The women were then asked to do several tasks with varying degrees of disgustingness: drinking a drink with a bug in it, wiping their hands with a used tissue, and putting their finger in a tray of used condoms. And? The researchers found that the women who were turned on were more likely to perform the disgusting tasks than were the other women. Researchers are reportedly wondering if men work the same way, or if men can even distinguish the disgusting from the not disgusting. Read more in HealthDay.