Our finding that female mice, too, show pain-inhibited sexual desire suggests there may be an evolutionary biology explanation for these effects in humans - and not simply a sociocultural one, he added.
To reach this conclusion, the researchers placed mice in a mating chamber divided by a barrier with openings too small for male mice to squeeze through.
This enabled the females to decide whether, and for how long, to spend time with a male partner.
Female mice in pain spent less time on the "male side" of the testing chamber, and, as a result, less sexual behaviour occurred.
