Why MDMA Makes You Horny

MDMA makes you want to do a lot of things: Dance for hours on end while doing literally nothing else. Grind your jaw down to a piece of dust (what’s that all about?). And, for a lot of people, have sex. In fact, one early study suggested that “desire and satisfaction were increased by MDMA in more than 90 percent of subjects”. It is, arguably, the horniest recreational drug. 

But why is this? Why does MDMA make some people horny, while other drugs like ketamine, for example, just make you want to melt into the ground? 

“MDMA is quite a unique drug,” says neuroscientist Dr Jack Lewis. Without giving an entire science lesson, it increases the activity of at least three neurotransmitters: serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. However, unlike other amphetamines, MDMA mainly enhances serotonin and norepinephrine rather than dopamine. Serotonin is largely responsible for mood. So on MDMA, our mood hits the roof. 

Harry Sumnall, a professor of substance use at Liverpool John Moores University, says that by flooding our synapses with serotonin, MDMA amplifies how we experience both physical and emotional pleasure – it is prolonged and intensified, which may account for the horniness. We feel “increased sensations of pleasurable touch, and increased pleasure associated with social interactions,” he says. 

To add to that, Professor Sumnall says, “emerging evidence suggests there might be an interaction with the oxytocin systems while we’re on MDMA”. Oxytocin – often nicknamed “the love hormone” – plays a role in social bonding and can be released during hugging and orgasm, so it makes sense that MDMA might get us in a more romantic and sexual mood. 

It’s not just the intense mood-elevating properties of MDMA that can make people horny. It’s also the environment: the fact you’re likely to be at a party, surrounded and socialising with a bunch of new people. As Lewis explains, MDMA “has a disinhibiting effect on our behaviour, dampening down all of those inhibitory controls that we usually listen to”. Pair that with alcohol, and your desire to shag isn’t going to be diminished by logic or impulse control (or even the fact that studies routinely find “MDMA impairs sexual performance”).

Of course, all of the above can make the question of consent a bit thorny. Can you truly consent while on MDMA? Can you respect your own boundaries in the moment? And are they the same as they would be when sober? 

“Whereas in a healthy adult consensual relationship, it's quite easy for the most part to say stop – if we are under the influence, that becomes quite blurry,” says Ruth Micallef, a BACP registered counsellor who specialises in trauma. “Space, time, concept, feelings, all become very distorted, very confused.” With that in mind, consenting while out of your mind on MDMA is definitely a grey area. 

“We know that MDMA impairs reasoning, planning behaviours and decision-making,” Sumnall adds, while Lewis points out that “MDMA has been used as a spiking agent, though not as often as other drugs”. Spiking – with any drug – is a criminal offence in the UK, with a sentence of up to ten years in prison.

Of course, a lot of people enjoy having sex while on MDMA and do so intentionally. It’s going to depend on the individual, scenario and context. In one very recent study investigating consent during drug-fuelled sex, one-fifth of interviewees argued that being high actually improved decision making when compared to other inebriants. “I'd say you have more control on E than if you were pissed," one claimed. "I think you're much more conscious of what you're doing."

Micallef says that, in any drug-related scenario, “harm reduction is very important”. That extends to the to the possible sexual effects of MDMA, too. “Consider that, while you want to take drugs, how can you do it in as safe a way as possible?” she says. This includes thinking about why you’re taking the drug, your tolerance and experience of taking it, where you’re going and who you’re with. 

While MDMA can definitely make some people horny, it doesn’t really make much difference for others. Everyone’s brain chemistry reacts differently to different substances, after all (people with ADHD, for example, react differently to medication like Adderall than those without). And a lot of people would rather sit and hold hands with their mates on MDMA than have a one-night stand.

Plus, all MDMA isn’t built the same. “It might be cut with something, or it could be MDA, which is very similar chemically, with very similar effects, but it's simply not the same chemical,” says Lewis. 

So yeah, MDMA isn’t known as the love drug for nothing. And while you can’t control whether or not you’ll end up trying to shag a bassline or kiss the entire smoking area, you can at least plan ahead. Bring protection, stay hydrated and please avoid buying pills off a stranger in a club toilet.

@_rhysthomas_