The Truth About What Turns People On

The thing about turn-ons is that many people assume they’re deep, dark secrets. In reality, though, most turn-ons have already been imagined, fantasized about, and even enacted by someone else — often someone completely unexpected.

Where does sexual arousal come from? It might be entirely chemical. In 1995, the famous sweaty T-shirt experiment led by Claus Wedekind, PhD, demonstrated that women are most attracted to the pheromonal smell of men with immune systems that are the most different from their own — and, therefore, those who will supposedly produce the most genetically viable babies. Think sweat is a weird turn-on? In 2008, a study showed that women listening to car engines revving experienced an enormous spike in testosterone, the hormone most associated with arousal.

Whether sweat or sounds, whether hardwired or not, it's clear that turn-ons are a wide and varied garden of delights. So, let’s take a look at some of the most glorious.