Every spy novel ever written has a femme fatale extracting classified info from a drunken diplomat after humping his brains out in a casino’s hotel room, but according to a new study, that’s as unlikely as James Bond’s invisible car.
After studying more than 250 sex diaries, researchers from the University of Connecticut and University of Iowa concluded that alcohol definitely makes you say things in bed you don’t intend — but (to the researchers’ surprise) they’re mostly blurts of “low magnitude,” because drunks perceive less of a benefit to spilling their innermost feelings. You might accidentally insult your girlfriend, but you probably won’t admit to hooking up with her sister last Christmas Eve.
“[P]eople…disclose information they would not otherwise disclose because they are intoxicated,” the researchers write, except that it’s “information of less depth and less positive.” It’s especially negative if one partner doesn’t reach orgasm…y’know, because of your whiskey dick flaccidly floppin’ in the wind.
Conversely, the researchers found that sober pillow talk — fueled by euphoria from the post-coital hormone oxytocin – leads people to share constructive innermost feelings that “potentially strengthen their sexual and/or romantic relationship,” such as fantasies they’d like to try. Alcohol seems to counteract those oxytocin-created “perceptions of a safe space for sharing information.”
