What thoughts go through your brain when you’re watching porn? I suspect that, for many women, the above “brain map” may hold true. Your arousal does battle with numerous theoretical issues about what you’re watching. Your nether regions may be moist (or hard) from what you’re seeing but your brain is thinking about something else. Research from 2003 showed that women can be turned on by any kind of porn but many times they will disavow that arousal.
I made this for a bit of fun after seeing this image about the “nerd brain” (lots of Monty Python quotes). I originally set out to show what I personally think about when watching porn. The map is a little different: there’s not much arousal, plenty of critique-ing and also a lot of filmmaker-based study: how did they do that shot, what are the lights doing, is this edited well? I don’t tend to worry about whether the door is locked or if I’m “normal” since, as a rusted-on pornographer, I know the answer is no in both cases. I thought I’d widen the appeal of the map and turn it into what a lot of people may be thinking when watching porn. It’s not in the least bit scientific, by the way, it’s just a bit of silliness.
