Sexually-aroused women are more likely to complete tasks which they might otherwise find off-putting, leading researchers to speculate low sexual arousal may be behind sexual dysfunction.
Scientists at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, lead by Dr. Charmaine Borg, split 90 European women into three groups. The first group was exposed to erotica, the second to video of activities such as rafting and sky diving and a third to non-stimulating video featuring a train-ride.
The women were then asked to engage in sex-related (e.g. lubricating a vibrator) and non sex-related activities (e.g. taking a sip of juice with a bug in it) in order to determine whether feelings of sexual arousal would help them overcome typically repulsive activities.
Researchers discovered the women who were exposed to erotica were more eager to engage in both the sex related and non-sex related activities than their peers in the other two groups.
The report concluded sexual arousal affected the womens' "approach to disgusting stimuli. Hence, this could explain how we still manage to engage in pleasurable sexual activity. Moreover, these findings suggest that low sexual arousal might be a key feature in the maintenance of particular sexual dysfunctions."
The study was published in the September 12 issue of the online peer review journal PlosONE.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.