Sexual Relationships
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Did you know that men actually aren’t “more visual” creatures?

This is just another common myth and excuse for men to dehumanize women. Studies show men and women respond similarly to visual stimuli

The paper, just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, analyzed 61 past scientific studies that in total collected data on nearly 2,000 adults of different sexual orientations. Each study conducted virtually the exact same experiment: They showed men and women a series of erotic images and videos while their brains were hooked up to an fMRI machine. These neuroimaging scans showed the various regions of the brain that were activated in response to the visual stimuli, including the "insula, middle and inferior occipital and fusiform gyrus, amygdala, caudate, claustrum, globus pallidus, pulvinar, and substantia nigra." The researchers referred to this as the "arousal network.

"Following a thorough statistical review of all significant neuroimaging studies, we offer strong quantitative evidence that the neuronal response to visual sexual stimuli, contrary to the widely accepted view, is independent of biological sex," the researchers write. "Our analysis demonstrates that there is no functional dimorphism in response to visual sexual stimuli between men and women."

www.mindbodygreen.com/.../men-not-more-visual-or-easily-aroused-than-women-research-shows
Did you know that men actually aren’t “more visual” creatures?
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Superb Opinion

  • "2,000 adults of different sexual orientations." So the study wasn't just comparing men and women but also included males who "identified" as women and females who "identified" as men and mixed them in both categories? In other words, there were biological women in the men's category and biological men in the women's category? That's not a fair representation of men and women.

    There seem to be other flaws with the study's conclusions, too. For instance, how can they be sure that it was eroticism that was causing brain activation? I mean, the subjects were obviously reacting to seeing something, but were their reactions erotic?

    I agree that men and woman are obviously equally visual when it comes to observing things around them. Women are probably MORE visual in some respects. But I question if they are equally visual when it comes to sex.

    Sure women appreciate the looks of strong, handsome men. But from the dawn of time, women wanted men who could provide for and protect their offspring. It was more about ability than looks. Men, on the other hand, were evolutionarily programmed 1) propagate their genes and 2) to assess women's figures (wide hips, boobs and healthy body fat) for their ability to bear and nurture offspring. Men aren't even conscious of the reason they are attracted to female figures.

    And when it comes to sex, men are in a position to see much more and get more visual input. During the act of sex, women have less opportunity to see as much. They tend to focus more on thrills and sensations. So women are certainly capable of getting turned on by visuals, but I think it is more so the case for men. My opinion isn't scientific, though. It's just based on observation and logic.

Most Helpful Guy

  • The biggest issue with this research is, they were mostly studying the salient stimuli responses in the insula and anterior cingulate, which doesn't denote sexual desire, it just denotes visual acuity to something that catches their attention, and they drew their own conclusions. Just because the items that being shown were of a sexual nature doesn't nean that is why the insula and anterior cingulate areas of the brain were stimulated. Salient stimuli can be affected by colours, movement, patterns etc, this is a prime example of how you can take data and manipulate it towards your preferred findings. It's a common issue in research where fellow scientists can interpret the data how they see fit to meet their hypotheses. Also interpretation of brain function is often misused in studies, as multiple areas of the brain have multiple different functions, but the study will focus on one function to neet their requirements.

Most Helpful Girl

  • Did you know that you can find something on the internet to support any agenda you want to push?



    The emotion control center of the brain, the amygdala, shows significantly higher levels of activation in males viewing sexual visual stimuli than females viewing the same images, according to a Center for Behavioral Neuroscience study led by Emory University psychologists Stephan Hamann and Kim Wallen. The finding, which appears in the April edition of "Nature Neuroscience," demonstrates how men and women process visual sexual stimuli differently, and it may explain gender variations in reproductive behavior.

    • I guess GAG won't let me post links for some reason.

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What Girls & Guys Said

2 16

  • If it's science, it MUST be right! You have been well indoctrinated.

    • If it's good science it can be proved. How long have you been watching Faux News?

  • You know I've always felt this way that we were about equal when looking at things when we visualize things I've always felt that

  • Not that suprsing that individual opinion would be the factor over gender

  • That study doesn't change things. It deals with reactions to stimulating pictures. The statement "men are visual creatures" refers to the way men learn and communicate with others, in contrast to women, which are more textual and verbal.

    The best example is ask a random man and a random woman for directions. The man will draw you a map, while the woman will write out a list of instructions and talk to you about them.

  • Then why do we look at AV far more than women do?

  • Yeah, it definitely makes sense because any time that I've ever been hooked up to a brain scan I've definitely felt like being in the mood. I highly doubt that anyone from any gender or sexual orientation was having sexual feelings while looking at erotic images in front of a person taking notes while they're hooked up to a brain scan. Therefore, I say the study was flawed from the start.

    • This is a really dumb critique: how else do you expect an ethical study to take place

    • I think it's a valid critique. I don't know how else an ethical study would take place but that doesn't mean that the results for this study aren't skewed.

    • You’re the one that didn’t give a valid critique. What you’re saying is just speculation. Did you even read the full paper to find out the method they used to gather data?

    • Show All

  • Yes they are lol.

    • You get it

  • if you know tinder statistics, women are actually more visual and more superficial than men xD but really there's big differences. for example men focus more on shapes and movement, while women focus more on colors. so yeah we're all very visual. but specially in a sexual conext women are more than men focused on feelings and emotions. not saying that visual stimuli don't turn them on but less so than men.

    • There’s a video on yt that debunks this - I suggest you give it a watch it’s very informative https://youtu.be/bhALIgyS4Ic

    • But to make the video short - tinder doesn’t reveal anything useful about men or women because tinder is a dating app that profits off of dating. Tinder was always made to be extremely unfair, it was made to prioritize wealthy people and good looking people. Tinder is made unfair because it wants the average user to waste money on buying stuff in the app to try and get more matches. Tinder commodifies dating just like any other dating application.

    • i lived all through my teen years without tinder. that shit was true before tinder already so really nothing changed. i just used tinder as an example, cause everyone can easily to observe what's hapening in tinders gender response behavior statistics. that doesn't have anything to do with women leaving the platform. that's a different topic and i'm not denying that this is also true. but fact is that women and men are visual in different ways. i don't really why people these days are so hellbent on denying each and every difference that demonstrably exists between men and women xD

    • Show All

  • This meta study seems to have missed the many, often far larger, studies that showed the opposite. Besides, if there were only 2000 people spread over 61 studies, they couldn't have been doing proper science experiments because the sample sizes would be too small.

  • I dunno what's true or not about men but speaking for myself I know I care a lot about a girls physical appearance n not so much for a person's personality

  • The brain stimulation was the same, or the parts stimulated were the same? Because I could have told you the second part is true.

  • Ah, so this officaly mean that topless men are just as bad as topless women and anyone who dare to claim otherwise are 100% wrong. And the types who complain about "boys club rethoric" should also start complaining about girls club rethoric. Got it. You know, since there are so little difference it obviously could never be even a iota less problematic to sexualize men in such horrble ways.

  • I already knew that, but I'm curious as to why you think it's an excuse to dehumanize women.

  • I disagree with this. Read posts on here and it proves the point that men are more stimulated by visual then women are.

  • You're only 16? Stop trying to cause a divide between men and women. Are you a young feminist?

  • So the study concluded that men "dehumanize" women?

  • I always knew that men weren't more visual than women because women definitely check out hot guys in public, and make comments.
    The concept that it's used to dehumanize women is actually backwards.
    This myth is used by some people to claim that men are more visual, sexual and basically horny, whilst women are supposed to be more emotionally driven and need love to have sex, which we all know is false. Especially these days with more women than ever looking for friends with benefits, Tinder Dates, or having affairs and open relationships strictly for their own sexual gratification. Women are just as sexually driven.

  • None sense.

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