Påverkar antal sexuella partners ens förmåga att bonda?

As people became familiar with Oxytocin, a neurochemical that is critically involved with bonding, a common erroneous theme emerged that Oxytocin production decreased with repeated sexual intercourse and thus people who had repeated sex or multiple sexual partners no longer had the ability to bond with partners due to a lack of Oxytocin. The truth is that people can damage their ability to bond, but it is not because of a decrease in Oxytocin production. It is a much more complicated process involving brain molding, other neurochemicals and higher brain functions.

In 2014 another prairie vole study dealt with broken pair-bonds. The loss of a partner resulted in anxiety-like and depression-like behaviors, disrupted bond-related behaviors and altered neuropeptide systems that regulate such behaviors. The authors state that the prairie vole may well provide a model for us to better understand partner loss and grief.3 In 2016, a study on separation of pair-bonded titi monkeys also showed similar neural pathways and neurochemicals to be altered.4 So, again we see that newer research has continued to show that breaking partner bonds is not only a painful emotional experience, but that it also alters brain function and neurochemicals such as Oxytocin.

However, when an individual choses to engage in casual sex, breaking bond after bond with each new sexual partner, the brain forms a new synaptic map of one-night –stands. This pattern becomes the “new normal” for the individual. When and if the individual later desires to find a more permanent partner, the brain mapping will have to be overcome, making a permanent bond more difficult to achieve. Often the individual is not aware that the brain has adapted to the behavior pattern and he/she begins to think, “That’s just the way I am”, further reinforcing the pattern. In conclusion, research on bonding continues to support previous research showing that the brain is strongly influenced by sexual behaviors. Dopamine pathways as well as oxytocin and vasopressin and other neural systems are important factors in the formation of pair-bonds. When a person engages in sexual behavior there are consequences above and beyond the possibility of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Bonding with a sexual partner is one of those results.

Breaking these bonds can cause depression and make it harder to bond with someone else in the future.

The Medical Institute for Sexual Health renamed itself "The Medical Institute," as part of an attempt "to legitimize its message by rebranding itself as science-based," according to Jessica Valenti. The group "touts itself as being founded to 'confront the global epidemics of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.... We identify and evaluate scientific information on sexual health and promote healthy sexual decisions and behaviors by communicating credible scientific information,'" Valenti wrote. "Sounds innocuous, but the Medical Institute is a hard-core abstinence-only organization. Its advisory board reads like a Who's Who of purity pushers," including W. David Hager, "a former Bush appointee to the FDA's advisory board on reproductive health, who suggested prayer as a cure for PMS and whose ex-wife alleged in The Nation that he had repeatedly raped her.

The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a liberal nonprofit watchdog and advocacy organization based in Madison, Wisconsin.[4][5][6][7][8] CMD publishes ExposedbyCMD.org, SourceWatch.org (formerly Disinfopedia), and ALECexposed.org.