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5 Turn-Ons That Sound Strange Until You Know the Psychology Behind Them

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Human sexuality is strange and always has been. The things that get people hot are usually the last things they’d admit to, and “I have no idea why this does it for me” is a more common internal monologue than anyone lets on.

Psychology has been catching up, though. Much of what seems “strange” on the surface has a pretty logical explanation underneath. Here are five of them.

Scarousal: Being Turned On by Fear

There’s a reason horror movie dates became a cliché. Research going back to a 1974 study by Dutton and Aron showed that men who crossed a terrifying suspension bridge were significantly more likely to call an attractive woman they’d met there afterward—compared to men who crossed a stable, boring bridge. The explanation is the misattribution of arousal: fear and sexual excitement produce nearly identical physiological states.

“This physiological state has a lot of parallels to the way our bodies feel when we’re sexually excited,” Dr. Justin Lehmiller of the Kinsey Institute explained. “It’s therefore possible that our brains are sometimes misinterpreting fear as sexual arousal.” A 2024 Grindr survey found 82% of users reported horror........

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