What Having A Cat Says About Your Sexual Preferences: Cat Owners May Be More Into Bondage And Sexual Submission (BDSM) Than The Rest Of Us
If you are into bondage and have a cat, the two may be more closely connected than you’re comfortable admitting. According to a new study,a symptom of toxoplasmosis, a condition humans catch from their feline friends pets, is sexual arousal by fear, violence and danger. This means your love for all things painful could be due to Mr. Fluffy.
The study published online in the Journal of Evolutionary Psychology found that individuals with toxoplasmosis are are more often sexually aroused by danger and sexual submission, suggesting that the sexual preference may be a symptoms of the parasitic infection. In addition to a desire for sexual submission, toxoplasmosis infections were also linked to higher attraction to bondage, violence and, in men, to masochism and rape, The Independent reported.
Read: Parasite In Cat Feces, Linked To Schizophrenia And Other Mental Illness
The results are based on an analysis of 6,564 people in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, consisting of subjects who had toxoplasmosis and those who were parasite-free. While lead author Jaroslav Flegr explained that there will always be some relationship between fear and sex in humans, the heightened relationship in those infected with toxoplasmosis may be related to the effect of the parasite on the brain and human behavior.
Toxoplasmosis results from infection with the Toxoplasma gondii parasite, which is usually found in cat feces. According to The Independent, around one third of the world’s population is infected with this parasite, and it rarely causes any symptoms. When it does cause symptoms though, they may appear to be flu-like such as headaches, fever, and fatigue. However, in some individuals the parasite has been linked to behavior change and several studies have found connections between toxoplasmosis and schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, OCD, and aggression.
Source: Flegr J, Kuba R. The Relation of Toxoplasma Infection and Sexual Attraction to Fear, Danger, Pain, and Submissiveness. Evolutionary Psychology. 2016
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