It comes in many forms: exhibitionism, voyeurism, public sex, rape, incest, to name a few. Any johnny with a John Thomas and internet has noticed how prevalent the incest premise has become on porn sites. But why is taboo sex appealing? How does it tickle one's fancy? Is it evolutionary?
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2As I have helped men and women who are survivors of rape and sexual assault for many years I would find answers to this question interesting, but we have a strict policy that all questions should show evidence of prior research. Please help us to help you and [edit] your question to provide more information on what you have read on this subject, what made you ask this question, and any problems you are having understanding your research. If you found nothing, what did you Google? This helps to provide an answer which will be more helpful. – Chris Rogers Oct 17 '19 at 09:19
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After some thinking, this question may be a bit broad and won't necessarily be able to accurately provide a reason for rape porn being more erotic for example over public sex, exhibitionism and voyeurism. I think this should be split into 3 questions. 1 on rape, 1 on incest and 1 on public sex, exhibitionism and voyeurism. – Chris Rogers Oct 17 '19 at 09:47
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Maybe this question should contain a presumption about segmentation - maybe some types of people have stronger preferences for taboos (and only for some specific taboos), than other types. But the general appeal of taboo, does seem to me at least, to be universally appealing. – drabsv Jul 18 '22 at 08:16
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In a phenomenon known as excitation transfer, physiological arousal from one stimulus is transferred into a temporally proximate secondary stimulus. This transfer occurs because the brain's assessment of arousal relies primarily on reading physiological indicators, which naturally show the combined effect of any stressors present, whether eustressful or distressful. For example, a distressful fear response involves the release of epinephrine, whose physiological effect is then interpreted as eustress (pleasant arousal) as a result of a proximate eustressor.
From the Wikipedia:
Excitation transfer theory helps to explain the fickleness of emotional arousal (i.e., how it is possible for fear to be transferred into relief, anger into delight, etc.), and how the reaction to one stimulus can intensify the reaction to another.
Excitation transfer can result in a misattribution of arousal, from which a two-factor theory of emotion was developed. In an experiment by Dutton and Aron (1974), participants were made to cross a suspension bridge before meeting a woman:
They found that the men who walked across the scary bridge were more likely to call the woman to follow up on the study, and that their stories had more sexual content. The two-factor theory would say that this is because they had transferred (misattributed) their arousal from fear or anxiety on the suspension bridge to higher levels of sexual feeling towards the female experimenter.
Hypothetically, these phenomena explain part of the popularity for couples to take date in scary film or amusement park -- so as to maximise erotic appraisal.
As long as physiological arousal occurs, transfer should be possible. Simply thinking about danger should suffice, granted no emotionally disturbing thoughts interfere with the psychological aspect of the transfer.
Michael
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1Excitation transfer is talking about any kind of physiological arousal, not just sexual. In fact, the Wikipedia article has no mention of sexual arousal. So, have you found any reputable sources which talks of excitation transfer in a sexual context to tie the theory into the question? – Chris Rogers Dec 17 '21 at 08:11
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@ChrisRogers -- I have added the suspension bridge study, which I probably ought to have done in the first place, but I lacked a link. – Michael Dec 17 '21 at 10:07