Having a casual hookup seems to be more appealing to guys than to girls. It is fun, spontaneous, and can even boost confidence.
Scientists have also discovered some interesting new facts about this increasingly popular sex culture. Bustle shares six major ones below.
1. It’s in the Gene: Some people are born with a predestined interest in one-night stands. In a research, it was found that one’s DNA comes into play in relation to casual sex (and cheating). As WebMD reports, the study, concluded that a person’s brain chemistry is related to whether someone is down for casual sex (and other “sensation-seeking” behaviors) or not. Researchers found that those with the DRD4 gene, associated with behaviors that make you feel good (often for just a short period of time, like doing drugs), are way more likely to have a one-night stand than those who don’t have it.
2. Women are more into looks: The level of perceived attractiveness has a lot more to do with whether a woman will choose to go home with a man than vice versa. As YourTango reports, in a study, it was found that when men and women were given three possible options – “go out,” “come to apartment,” “go to bed” — they were much more likely to accept offers of bed and abode when they rated the men offering as “exceptionally” attractive (as opposed to “moderately” or “slightly” attractive). Men, however, would usually be down for a hookup regardless of the woman’s attractiveness.
3. Women feel used: One study on one-night stands found that women are much more likely to feel humiliated or degraded after a one-off fling. Of all survey participants, only 54 percent of women said they had positive feelings about their one-night stand experiences. Men? A staggering 80 percent. Psychologist Anne Campbell of Durham University in England found that women’s feedback on such experiences included sentiments including, “I felt cheap,” and “I felt degraded. Made myself look cheap and easy. Total regret.” Men’s takes included things like, “I believe that one-night stands are a good way of blowing off steam,” or using words like “euphoric” and “excitement” to describe their experiences.
4. Women do it for evolution: Todd Shackelford, an evolutionary psychologist at Florida Atlantic University, points out that one-night stand “risks are potentially greater for women.” But as Live Science Reports, “promiscuity does offer natural advantages for women from an evolutionary perspective,” according to Shackelford. So women who partake in one-night stands even though they feel awful after might just be responding to internal, evolutionary urges. If you feel the need to beat yourself up after a one-night stand, don’t: It was just your biology getting in the way. Flings provide women with the potential to snag the best genes for offspring. or they could be spurred by a chemical nudge at the peak of the menstrual cycle.
5. It’s all about the hips: Wide hips might be an indicator of predilection toward one-night stands. As the Huffington Post reports, researchers asked 148 women ages 18 through 26 to report their hip circumference and sexual history. The researchers determined that women with wider hips reported a higher frequency of casual sex. This was in a study that was trying to find out how people assess the chances of someone having a one-night stand, and also found that men who look particularly masculine and women who look particularly feminine are less likely to be perceived as on the prowl for an exclusive relationship.
6. Depression and casual sex are linked: According to researchers people who are depressed or have thoughts of suicide as teens are more likely to engage in casual sex as adults. The study, published in the Journal of Sex, looked at the sexual behaviors and mental health of 10,000 people and concluded that one-night stands and poor mental health are definitely linked, and reinforce one another.
Source: Pulse.ng
