They don’t want an unsolicited d–k pic — but women do enjoy sexting.
A new study published in the journal Sexes revealed why young women are up to doing it — and what kind of messages get them the most fired up.
Researchers at the University of Guadalajara in Mexico analyzed the brains of 27 heterosexual women between the ages of 20 and 30 while they read both Sexually Explicit Texts (SET) and Sexually Explicit Texts with Aggression (SETA).
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They discovered that racy texts evoked a response in the prefrontal and temporal parts of the brain — which are responsible for processing emotions.
“This is perhaps because, unlike men, women often find more ‘humanity’ in stories or novels,” the study noted. “The characters have names, stories and their own desires.”
Women want more than just to watch people get it on — they want to understand the build-up of emotions connected to a sexual encounter to get them hot and bothered.
“Literature provides guidelines that highlight the important relationships developing between participants in a sexual relationship,” the study noted.
“Unlike erotic videos, reading allows you to add or remove elements based on your preferences, creating a personalized fantasy.”
Women are also just generally less visually stimulated than men. That aligns with the fact that men are much more likely to watch porn while women are more likely to read romance novels or listen to erotic audio.
But what kind of sexts do women want you to come with? The study found that while women do enjoy aggressive messages, they prefer racy but sweet messages.
“Both texts were classified for the women as generators of general activation and sexual arousal,” the study concluded, but aggressive sexts “likely induce a state of arousal and heightened alertness” as women are seemingly overlooking the threatening parts of the message to get to the good stuff.
Sexting has also been found to release dopamine and oxytocin, triggering flirting pleasure and sexual impulses.
“Sexting is an act of sexual empowerment because it’s a part of sexual communication,” Dr. Tara Suwinyattichaiporn, a relationship coach and sex educator at California State University, Fullerton, told the Daily Mail.
“When you engage in healthy sexual communication, you’re giving yourself the permission to express your sexual self and that’s great for your sexual self-esteem.”
The prevalence of online dating has led to an increased desire for virtual intimacy — sexting, sending nudes including “d–k pics,” online sex and meeting for in-person sex, to name a few.
But with lust come some rules for love.
“Living in a digital-first world means that it is important to have the same safety conversations online as you would IRL,” Alanna Lauren Greco, Bumble’s director of editorial content, previously told The Post. “Making assumptions can lead to overstepping boundaries.”
Unfortunately, the increased use of online dating — and online use, in general — has led to a slew of online violence and harassment against women.
As with any sexual request, the first step is seeking consent — and the best way to make sure that you’re practicing safe and respectful digital dating etiquette is simply to ask.
“It takes two seconds,” Grace Lee, a New York City-based dating coach, previously told The Post. “The point of virtual intimacy is to have fun and be sexy, and it’s so much hotter when you know both people are really into it.”
