Sensual Videos of Food Get You Hot For a Reason

This is why someone coined the phrase “food porn.”

Videos of deliciously sinful food are all over the internet, and it’s no secret they make us kind of horny. You know, a slow motion close-up of hot fudge being drizzled over a massive sundae…it’s pretty seductive. Don’t even deny it.

But if it’s food, why is it sexy? Is that weird? Well, according to Pamela Madsen, a sexuality and pleasure educator, food is a gateway to sexual arousal. So no, it’s definitely not weird that we get turned on by cookies.

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Madsen explains that food porn makes us feel aroused because “it’s all about obstacle plus prohibition plus yearning, which equals desire. It’s often full of guilt and conflicting messages like, ‘This is yummy!’ and ‘This is bad for you!’” she told Vice, implying that naughty is sexy. But we already knew that.

So yes, apparently we find it arousing to see something we really want, but know we shouldn’t indulge in, like eating triple layer caramel brownies with ice cream, or drunk texting an ex. You know you shouldn’t, but you still want to anyway. This conflict of interest results in desire, which is why videos of hot cheese makes us feel all warm and tingly inside.

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“You’re stimulating your inner pharmacy,” Madsen says. “You’re producing endorphins like dopamine. You may look at a chocolate chip cookie and think, ‘Oh God, I want that.’ But you know what? You don’t have to have it. You don’t have to have the climax. And in the sexuality world, we’re very busy teaching people that you don’t have to cum. You can just have arousal. So food is more than just a metaphor for sex—food is sex.”

You heard her, food is sex. But it goes without saying, it’s a lot more fun to eat a chocolate chip cookie than just look at it. The same goes for sex, too.