A Las Vegas woman has revealed her 75-year-old father’s death had a surprising result – it turned her on.
Shanna Christmas, 41, said she goes months without sex, feels good about it and often has trouble getting aroused. In her last relationship, she described the time under the covers as “stagnant” at best.
So it came as a bit of a surprise that after the death of Father Christmas, who was suffering from dementia, her sexual appetite experienced a renaissance – She told strangers she had new “panties”, asked male colleagues for hugs and spent hours locked in public toilets taking photos of her butt.
“I was horny. Turned on. “Thirsty, as the kids would say,” she admitted. ‘[But] I couldn’t understand. “It wasn’t an appropriate response to the death of someone I loved.”
Experts say the death of a loved one can trigger sexual desire, known as the “liberating effect,” which is a sudden sense of adventure or opportunity after a loss.
Shanna Christmas, 41, of Las Vegas, said she felt a sudden burst of sexual desire after the death of her father Charles, who had dementia
To counteract the urge, she said she would tell strangers she was wearing new “panties,” hug male co-workers, and spend hours in the bathroom taking pictures of her butt
The death of Charles, Mrs Christmas’s father, did not come as a complete surprise.
He was suffering from a form of rapid dementia, a rare form of the disease that escalates rapidly over several weeks to months, robbing sufferers of their memory, memory, and judgment.
At the end, he was described as having forgotten how to eat and rarely opening his eyes.
When Mrs. Christmas, a comedian, received the news that he was nearing the end, she was on tour in Los Angeles.
“I didn’t have any family around. “My college roommate, who I was living with at the time, was at work, so I couldn’t even hug someone else when I got the call,” she wrote in Insider.
“And I had been single for ten months, which meant I didn’t have a man around either,” she said.
Although she got the news, she decided to stay in Los Angeles and continue with her shows.
But while she was coping with the grief and loss, her sex drive suddenly increased.
During one of her shows, just two days after his death, she got the crowd going by shouting, ‘I have new panties!’ And my father is dead!’
On other shows, Christmas went to male colleagues to break the bad news and then asked them for a hug.
She even admitted to being locked in a stall in public restrooms almost every night, taking pictures of her butt while wearing new panties that “exposed a large part of my lower abdomen.”
“My level of thirst could only be explained by this new feeling of emptiness, I just wanted to connect with someone,” she said.
“Well, with a man. A big, strong man.’
“My ex was 6’1” and was the best at holding me and making me feel small. That’s what I really wanted.’
There’s little research into why people can be horny after the death of a loved one — although some experts say it’s not uncommon. It has even been featured on popular TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy.
Psychologists say the phenomenon may be a “liberation effect,” or a sense of relief after an anticipated death.
“There’s an excitement about the unknown,” said Dr. Patti Britton, a California-based clinical sexologist.
“I think excitement is part of what ‘wakes someone up’.”
Her father Charles (pictured) suffered from a form of rapid dementia that gradually robs people of their memory and ability to live independently
Other theories suggest that the sudden burst of sexual desire could be due to a will to avoid grief and to fill the void created by the loss.
dr Britton added, “The grieving process is about a loss of closeness — a loss of intimacy.” That’s why our libido kicks in: to fill that void.”
dr Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist at the Kinsey Institute Indiana, added to VICE, “The body gets pretty wrecked.” [after a death] and sex – decent sex – fuels the dopamine system.
“Any stimulation of the genitals stimulates the dopamine system in the brain, leading to optimism, energy, focus and motivation.”
In her case, Ms. Christmas said that within a few weeks, the urge to have sex began to subside. During her renaissance, she did not have sex.
Then she got to a point where “no one” was attractive and said she couldn’t even get aroused enough to pleasure herself.
“It’s like being slingshotted back to what I was before,” she said. ‘Alone again. “I’m trying to manage the feelings of emptiness and isolation.”
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