A recent study has shown that people most often experience disgust for the following items: unusual appearance, visible damage, sex, hygiene, food, animals. Dislike for intimacy is explained by getting into unpleasant situations – for example, when you are not sure that your partner has no diseases, or when sex occurs immediately after meeting. That is, unpleasant feelings are a way of self-defense.

Scientists explain that disgust is a technique by which the brain makes us give up or avoid something that our ancestors suffered from. Most people will not be able to eat expired foods, touch open wounds without protection, or have sex with apparently unhealthy partners.

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine interviewed more than 2,500 people to get the results. They answered 75 questions, ranging from “no disgust” to “maximum disgust.” It turned out that women are more likely to dislike intimacy than men: risky sex and animal diseases are their main triggers. In men, the maximum dislike was caused by people with a repulsive appearance and stale food.