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[–]snub-nosedmonkey 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

This is actually something I was looking into today! Anecdotally, I find that men are distinctly more visual when it comes to sex and sexual arousal. However, the science seems less clear and contradictory. I might come to a clearer conclusion if I read into it more but this is what I found out so far:

Generally, studies support the idea that men respond more to sexual visual stimuli than women [1]. Also, the type of visual stimuli that men and women respond to seems to be different. For example, a 2013 study found that men tended to be more stimulated by “physical type, directly exposing sexual intercourse and genitalia” whereas women were more stimulated by “mood type, erotic video clips with a concrete story”[2].

However, a more recent 2019 review contradicts the first review I referenced and came to the conclusion that “neuronal response to visual sexual stimuli, contrary to the widely accepted view, is independent of biological sex.” [3]

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2739403/ [2] https://www.nature.com/articles/ijir201247 [3] https://www.pnas.org/content/116/31/15671

As a side-note, I do wonder suspect such brain imaging studies are limited in terms of answering the question of whether men are more visually oriented when it comes to sex.

[–]Mencantbewomen[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Thanks for the detailed insight! I guess we're still having to rely on personal or external experiences only for the moment as we don't have concrete answers. We surely know that women are not the psychological prudes they're painting us to be. So frustrating! I really believe that the escalation of explicit content encourages men to believe this spiel of "men are visual", nowadays there's very little appreciation for mystery and eroticism. A teacher i have explained that eroticism is so much more powerful than pornography, because porn completely vulgarizes and objectifies, the other keeps you guessing and wanting to know and discover more. I guess women are much more appreciative of eroticism maybe.

[–]Realwoman 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Just because men are more visual, doesn't mean that they get a get out of jail free card when it comes to objectifying women or being sexually immature.

[–]Mencantbewomen[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Maybe you responded to the wrong comment?

[–]Realwoman 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I was just expanding on what you said, not arguing with it