SEX, SYNESTHESIA, AND SEXUAL TRANCE

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Katie Lasson
Sex and Relationship Adviser

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Veronika Matutyte
Medical Doctor

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Barbara Santini
Psychologist and Sex and Relationships Advisor

Sex, synesthesia and sexual trance are related. Want to know more about them? Read this article. 

What is sex? Sex is the penetration of the penis into the vagina or anus. During sex, synesthesia is experienced. Synesthesia is when a person sees one sense through the other. One visualizes images connected with the excitement they feel during sex. Sexual synesthesia usually leads to sexual trance. Therefore trance is a state of unconsciousness. 

In the past, talking about sex was considered taboo. But times have changed. The media talks about it. Moreover, most schools include sex education in the curriculum to educate students. The greatest mystery now is, why do some people see images and feel tastes and scents during sex? This brings us to the descriptions of synesthesia and sexual trance. Read on;

What is Synesthesia?

According to Ward (2009), synesthesia is when you see images or shapes, flavors, and colors when you have a certain experience. People who experience sexual synesthesia feel visuals, smell, tastes, and scents when they have sex, especially when they get sexually excited. We may probably have experienced synesthesia in one form or the other. The notion that sex is sweet must have come from a synesthete. A synesthete is a person who suffers from synesthesia. Some say people see different colors during sex, but they may see an object bursting towards a climax. This phenomenon happens because the brain loses control over the senses, and therefore there is no filter on what the synesthete should perceive.

What Is Sex Like For Synesthetes?

According to Cytowic, R. E. (2002), people living with synesthesia see shapes and colors and taste flavors during sex. We may all claim to have the same perceptions when having sex, especially when we close our eyes, but for people with sexual synesthesia, the things they see are not related to the things around them. When other people visualize grass, they will see green because they know that grass is green in color. The things synesthetes see and feel are exclusively in their minds. 

Sexual Trance 

According to Valentine (2015), trance is a half-conscious moment when an experience absorbs you. People in a trance are absent from others for the moment, and they get into their little world. It is a state of relaxation. Great sex can move you into a sexual trance. The orgasm we have can spread into the brain and place you in a trance. Its connection with sexual synesthesia is that after you experience perceiving shapes, feeling scents, and tasting flavors through your mind, you wind up being in a sexual trance where all your perceptions converge into one. You sink into a sexual trance until your brain takes control of your senses. Sexual acts involve the brain too. Understanding sex is nothing extraordinary. Sex brings all sensations that help us strengthen our relationships by trying not to lose the excitement that sex is supposed to bring. Synesthesia does not involve colors, flavors, or physically present smells. The synesthetic phenomenon is seemingly mental imagery or a type of extra vision that arises during stimulation.

Sexual Synesthesia and Trance

According to Nielsen et al. (2013), sexual synesthesia can turn into a sexual trance. Sexual synesthesia that leads to a sexual trance has been likened to the experience of using hallucinogenic drugs. This usually causes half-consciousness, and the user experiences perceptions of changing colors, textures, and shapes while listening to music. Sexual synesthetes may seem as if they enjoy sex more than everyone else, but they do not. Psychologists have discovered that synesthetes experience more sexual desire during sex, but that does not relate to more sexual pleasure. They do not achieve the most pleasure after all the excitement they have experienced in visuals because they sink into a trance after their synesthetic journey. Therefore, they are not great sexual partners because they are subconsciously forced to indulge in sexual experiences. They cannot provide any support to their partner in attaining sexual satisfaction because of a lack of consciousness. Synesthesia creates the isolation effect where each partner has to cater to personal sexual needs, with one partner having sex with someone who is lost in their world. To the partner that does not have the synesthesia disorder, it feels like having sex with an object. Synesthetes are unable to share a real sexual experience. Sex with a synesthetic lacks partner engagement. 

Conclusion

Being a synesthete seems like an adventure most people would love to take. Imagine finally knowing what sex feels, tastes, smells, and looks like? That would answer the mystery in most people's minds when wondering how to describe sex. We all want to be able to describe the taste or shape of experiences while giving another example that resembles it. People want to share experiences by evoking similarities. It would be interesting if two synthetics could share what their sexual experience felt like, and they both understand the feeling. However, synesthesia is a personal experience. What one person visualizes is different from the other. Synesthesia gives every individual a different experience with each sexual encounter. Synesthesia may be a disorder, but it does not require treatment.  

References

Ward, J. (2009). The frog who croaked blue: Synesthesia and the mixing of the senses. Routledge.

Cytowic, R. E. (2002). Synesthesia: A union of the senses. MIT press.

Nielsen, J., Krüger, T. H., Hartmann, U., Passie, T., Fehr, T., & Zedler, M. (2013). Synaesthesia and sexuality: the influence of synaesthetic perceptions on sexual experience. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 751.

Valentine, C. W. (2015). The experimental psychology of beauty. Routledge.