# Shared hazardous experience makes women sexually receptive? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 10, 2014, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shared-hazardous-experience-makes-women-sexually-receptive/706831 "2014-12-10T07:52:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shared-hazardous-experience-makes-women-sexually-receptive/706831/1 "2014-12-10T07:52:55Z")
It’s kind of a story trope that when people who aren’t necessarily in any kind of a (current) relationship with each other share a hazardous or emotionally wrenching experience the woman will spontaneously want to have sex or will be receptive to having sex. The common scenario in these setups is where the man rescues or protects the woman from some hazardous situation or they both have some kind of harrowing narrow escape. I’ve never done a real life heroic “rescue” of a woman other than maybe lending money a few times, helping them move on short notice, or using my trailer to pick up their kid in the middle of the night when their motorcycle broke down in the middle of nowhere and I never got any sex offered for these good deeds. Does this trope of White Knight action / shared hazardous experience scenario = spontaneous female sexual receptivity have any basis in real world behavior? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shared-hazardous-experience-makes-women-sexually-receptive/706831/2 "2014-12-10T15:23:46Z")
It makes sense to me that it would. Both because (A) shared hazardous experience makes a woman feel connected to a man, and feeling connected makes her more sexually receptive; and (B) hazardous experience causes physical arousal (e.g. increased pulse rate) which makes a woman more sexually receptive. That said, I’m sure the phenomenon isn’t as common or reliable in real life as in movies and novels. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shared-hazardous-experience-makes-women-sexually-receptive/706831/3 "2014-12-10T15:41:05Z")
I have known some very dangerous women in my life who would intentionally solicit remarks or confrontations with rough people in the hopes of having her date come to her rescue. If he comes to her rescue their is a good chance he gets laid if he can still walk afterward. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shared-hazardous-experience-makes-women-sexually-receptive/706831/4 "2014-12-10T15:53:46Z")
I had to jump off a cliff into a river once with a hot chick to avoid a herd of stampeding cows. As I jumped I consoled myself that I would certainly get laid if we survived the ordeal. Unfortunately she exploded into a giant fireball in mid air. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shared-hazardous-experience-makes-women-sexually-receptive/706831/5 "2014-12-10T16:03:47Z")
I’m sure it’s true. Many’s the time my wife has come to me to open a stuck jar lid, and we’ve had sex numerous times. ---
**Author:** ![CheshireKat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheshirekat/32/1207_2.png) [@CheshireKat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheshireKat)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shared-hazardous-experience-makes-women-sexually-receptive/706831/6 "2014-12-10T16:13:14Z")
I was rescued from certain death in the desert when my car broke down in the middle of a burning hot day. I rode back to town in the front seat of the tow truck with my hero, who stunk to high heaven. We did not have sex. Hmm, maybe the reason is that he did not _share_ the hazardous experience with me. If he had, it’s possible his adrenalin rush could have released pheromones that overpowered his body odor. There still wouldn’t have been any sex, though. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shared-hazardous-experience-makes-women-sexually-receptive/706831/7 "2014-12-10T16:14:10Z")
[http://gaius.fpce.uc.pt/niips/novoplano/ps1/documentos/dutton&aron1974.pdf](http://gaius.fpce.uc.pt/niips/novoplano/ps1/documentos/dutton&aron1974.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2014, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shared-hazardous-experience-makes-women-sexually-receptive/706831/8 "2014-12-11T06:05:25Z")
Just a guess, but it seems like a sensible survival trait to evolve. Having just narrowly avoided death, engaging in reproductive behavior would seem to me to increase chances for the species to survive. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2014, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shared-hazardous-experience-makes-women-sexually-receptive/706831/9 "2014-12-11T10:04:01Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I have known some very dangerous women in my life who would intentionally solicit remarks or confrontations with rough people in the hopes of having her date come to her rescue. If he comes to her rescue their is a good chance he gets laid if he can still walk afterward. I would run as fast as I could away from such a psycho. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2014, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shared-hazardous-experience-makes-women-sexually-receptive/706831/10 "2014-12-11T10:55:03Z")
[Misattribution of arousal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misattribution_of_arousal), was tested in a very famous experiment by Donald Dutton and Arthur Aron. The results would indicate that it is possible. **Surreal** has linked to a PDF of the study for those that want more than a summary. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2014, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shared-hazardous-experience-makes-women-sexually-receptive/706831/11 "2014-12-11T12:28:17Z")
I’ve certainly become friends with people after shared ordeals (nothing interesting, unfortunately), so it seems that if the ordeal was worse and I was sexier then this could certainly happen.