ABSTRACT

Sexual problems are common complaints across countries and cultures, and behavioral immune system theory suggests disgust plays an essential role in sexual functioning. The current study investigated 1) if disgust induced by sexual body fluids would reduce sexual arousal, reduce the likelihood of sexual engagement, and enhance disgust toward subsequent erotic stimuli, and 2) if the administration of ginger would affect these reactions. We administered either ginger or placebo pills to a sample of 247 participants (M_age = 21.59, SD = 2.52; 122 women) and asked them to complete either behavioral approach tasks with sexual body fluids or with neutral fluids. Next, participants viewed and responded to questions concerning erotic stimuli (nude and seminude pictures of opposite-sex models). As expected, the sexual body fluids tasks induced disgust. The elevated disgust induced by sexual body fluids tasks resulted in lower sexual arousal in women, whereas ginger consumption counteracted this inhibiting effect of disgust on sexual arousal. Disgust elicited by sexual body fluids also increased disgust toward the subsequent erotic stimuli. Ginger increased sexual arousal toward the erotic stimuli in both men and women who had completed the neutral fluids tasks. Findings provide further evidence of the role of disgust in sexual problems, and, importantly, that ginger may improve the sexual function of individuals via its sexual arousal-enhancing effect.

摘要

性问题是各个国家和文化的普遍抱怨，行为免疫系统理论表明厌恶在性功能中起着至关重要的作用。目前的研究调查了 1) 性体液引起的厌恶是否会降低性唤起、降低性接触的可能性并增强对后续色情刺激的厌恶，以及 2) 服用生姜是否会影响这些反应。我们给 247 名参与者的样本服用生姜药或安慰剂药丸（M_年龄 = 21.59，SD = 2.52; 122 名女性）并要求她们用性体液或中性体液完成行为方法任务。接下来，参与者查看并回答有关色情刺激的问题（异性模特的裸体和半裸照片）。正如预期的那样，性体液任务引起了厌恶。性体液任务引起的厌恶感增加导致女性性唤起降低，而生姜的摄入抵消了厌恶感对性唤起的抑制作用。性体液引起的厌恶也增加了对随后的色情刺激的厌恶。生姜增加了完成中性液体任务的男性和女性对色情刺激的性唤起。调查结果提供了厌恶在性问题中的作用的进一步证据，而且重要的是，