Wow, who knew?
Eureka!
Funny! But the story and study is actually a bit more interesting than that. Bodies are fascinating things, they are.
:p, but there’s actually something here, as clumsily as it was expressed. They’re saying that even if conception doesn’t occur, sex causes biological changes that make future conception more likely.
In regards to:
Is this study based on unprotected PIV sex?
When they say ‘abstinent women,’ do they mean those who do not even masturbate?
They keep saying ‘sexually active,’ and to my understanding that means two folks engaging in intercourse.
Are the differences in the antibodies and helper T-Cells triggered by a foreign body entering the vagina? Pre-ejaculate from unprotected sex? Or something psychological? Is this a result of experiencing orgasms? Does it stem from the amygdala, pituitary gland, cerebellum, or the other parts of the brain involved in sexual arousal?
What is causing this to occur? The act of unprotected PIV sex, an orgasm, a part of the brain/sexual arousal in general, or having a foreign object/sheathed penis enter the vagina? Combination of some/all versus a lack of some/all for those who are abstinent?
A better definition of ‘abstinent’ is wanted, with a clarification regarding the part(s) of sexual activity that causes the boost in fertility/health. Mostly the frequency of sexual activity? Would really like to know if the abstinent participants do not even masturbate.
This seems to be frequency-based, so the ‘abstinent’ participants-- do they masturbate less frequently than the sexually actives have sex? Would that matter?
At least some of that is presumably covered under the obligatory “more research is needed” at the end of every research paper ever. They probably don’t know yet precisely what causes the effect… but now that they know that there is an effect, they can study it further to figure that out.
According to this:
Masturbation boosts the immune system in males.
So any type of sexual stimulation can be responsible for boosting the immune system in either males or females is what it looks like.
Which leads me back to the question of the definition of ‘abstinent’ regarding the OP. I saw somewhere I just Googled [kinseyinstitute.org] that the sample consisted of 20 females having sex with males and 20 females not having sex with males.
Are they accounting for masturbation at all? Lesbians? Where’s the actual study? I looked, can’t find it. It’s from 2013, should be easily available. I’ll keep looking then.
It will be interesting if they can eventually pin down the cause. Is it sexual activity alone (including solo activity)? Is it physical contact with a male? Is it physical contact with sperm? Fascinating questions!
Found it
Would love to read more about this.
Correction on the n=40 from the random Google, per the study, it is actually 32 participants, 80% White-- 17 ‘abstinent,’ and 15 sexually active with a male partner using condoms sometimes, never, or always.
Well, yeah. There may not be room for both.