Researchers have come up with fascinating observations about semen absorption and mood in women. They found that women whose partners did not use condoms scored lower on tests for depression than women whose partners did use condoms. This has led them to believe that hormones in semen are absorbed into the women's bodies through the vagina, and that those hormones have an anti-depressive or a possible mood-elevating effect.
We know that hormones are absorbed through the walls of the vagina. This is what makes the birth control method NuvaRing work. We also know that components in semen can be found in a women's bloodstream hours after intercourse. But we didn't know that the hormones in semen might act as antidepressants. Semen contains estrogen, testosterone, follicular stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, prolactin and prostaglandins.
The authors of this study wisely looked for other factors that could explain the differences in depression, such as the length of the relationships, birth-control pill use, not being in a relationship vs. being in a relationship, and high-risk behavior vs. low-risk behavior. None of these could explain the differences in the women's depression. All roads led to semen in the vagina.
Could this be an unconscious factor in why so many women don't insist that their partners use condoms, when it would otherwise make sense?
In this study, women who were using condoms showed similar amounts of depression as women who weren't having intercourse at all. And women who were having intercourse without condoms had it more often than their safe-sex sisters. There were also differences in scores of depression among the condomless couples, with women who absorbed semen the most recently having the lowest levels of depression among all subjects who were studied.
The authors of this study were the first to caution that their findings were only preliminary and suggestive. However, if semen does have the ability to help a woman keep depression at bay, it could help offset the decline in raw sexual excitement that often happens as a relationship matures. Instead of being the exciting lover that he may have been in year one, by year ten,
a husband and his penis might be his wife's mood-elevating drug!
Other researchers who are studying how the brain processes sexual attraction have cautioned about the possible "dangers" of casual sex--that it might cause people who are hooking up for convenient sex to have unintended romantic feelings for each other. Perhaps the absorption of the man's sperm adds to the unexpected romantic feelings, in addition to what happens in our brains. This is yet another reason to use condoms during casual sex,
or not, depending on your intentions!
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