A new study has revealed that pain curbs sex drive in female mice, however it was found that it had no effect on male mice.
Researchers from McGill University and Concordia University in Montreal revealed that pain from inflammation greatly reduced sexual motivation in female mice in heat, but didn't have an impact on the males.
Jeffrey Mogil, a psychology professor at McGill and corresponding author of the new study, said that they know from other studies that women's sexual desire is far more dependent on context than men's, but whether this is due to biological or social/cultural factors, such as upbringing and media influence, isn't known.
He added that their study has found that female mice, too, show pain-inhibited sexual desire suggests there may be an evolutionary biology explanation for these effects in humans.
The study was published in the April 23 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.