Sex Is Good for Women's Brains, Says Science

Back in a different but probably not so distant time, a study suggesting that the sex part of women’s brains gets bigger with more sex probably would’ve been cause for widespread moral panic claiming sex turns women into lascivious heathens who present a danger to society. Fortunately, in most circles today, such a study just means that sex is good for our little lady brains and we should have more of it.

The study, published last week in the Journal of Neuroscience, examined the connection between touch and cerebral development in 20 adult women, finding the part of the brain associated with genital stimulation is better developed in more sexually active women.

In the study, the 20 female volunteers between the ages of 18 and 45 had their clitoral area stimulated with a vibrating device while their brains were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The device was vibrated eight times, for 10 seconds each time, with 10 seconds of rest in between. The results of the imaging showed that the somatosensory cortex region of the brain was activated in each woman when the device vibrated.

Researchers also asked the participants how much sex they had had over the past year, and found that the thickness of the brain area activated by genital touch was more developed among women who reported more frequent sex.

“We found an association between the frequency of genital intercourse and the thickness of the individually mapped genital field,” said study co-author Dr. Christine Heim, a professor of medical psychology at Charité University Hospital in Berlin. Essentially, more sex, more brain.

While the research was not able to determine whether a bigger somatosensory cortex region led to more sex or more sex expands that brain region, the researchers suggest it could be the latter, a form of brain plasticity that has been observed in other parts of the brain that expand with increased activation.

Still, the researchers say more research is needed, as the relationship between sexual stimulation and brain activity and development in women is gravely understudied. In the meantime, however, the main takeaway seems to be that more sex means more brain, and more brain means more sex, which seems like a win-win for everyone involved.