Horror Films and Sexual Arousal

If perchance you still go out on dates, you will be happy to know that our social psychologists have some news you can use. If you want to improve your chances of having sex on said date, one good way is: go see a horror movie. It is cheaper than tickets to a Broadway play, dinner at a fancy restaurant and the finest designer duds. 

Better yet, dread produces erotic feelings in both men and women. The New York Post has the story:

Experts say shriek-inducing horror-film scenes — like Clarice (Jodie Foster) unknowingly coming face-to-face with serial killer Buffalo Bill in a dark room in “Silence of the Lambs” — can make you feel horny.

According to Lia Holmgren, a Manhattan-based intimacy and relationship coach, it’s a matter of simple human instinct to want to be close to another person when you’re scared.

“This phenomenon is [from] prehistoric times, when we needed to bond especially in dangerous situations and increase the chances for survival,” she tells The Post.

Holmgren cites a study conducted in Canada in the 1970s, in which men crossing a precarious, 450-foot suspension bridge in British Columbia showed greater attraction to a woman standing nearby than did men who had traversed a more sturdy bridge. The researchers’ conclusion: a misattribution of arousal.

“So when we’re watching horror movies, we have a state of fear and anxiety and it makes us have stronger feelings of sexual attraction towards other people,” says Holmgren.

Any time you feel frightened, there’s an increase in the hormones adrenaline and cortisol, and blood is pumped more forcefully to muscles and extremities — just like it is when you’re feeling randy.

“When we’re scared, our blood naturally is pulled to our extremities, so that we can run faster,” Holly Richmond, Ph.D., a somatic psychologist and sex therapist, told Refinery29. “When we’re turned on, the blood flows to our genitals . . . Cortisol levels go up both when we’re scared, and when we’re aroused, specifically in situations with new partners or when there’s a novel aspect to sex.”

And if you’ve had enough of the fright fest, Holmgren adds, sex can help undo the sensations of fear.

“It’s a good stress release as well,” she says.

I thought you might want to know.