Why Neurodivergent Women Can’t Stop Reading Smut and Romantasy | Sorry, I Missed This

Why It Matters

Understanding this pattern informs clinicians, partners, and creators about how erotica functions as a pragmatic tool for attention, arousal, and relationship communication among neurodivergent women, with implications for therapy, sexual health education, and media targeting. Recognizing smut's role can reduce shame and improve sexual well-being and consent practices.

Summary

Licensed counselor and researcher Dr. Erica Miley discusses why neurodivergent women disproportionately consume literary erotica and romantasy, drawing on her large-sample research and clinical experience. She argues these genres provide the high sensory and emotional stimulation neurodivergent brains need, plus predictable narratives and user control that create a safe, low-pressure on-ramp to erotic feelings. Listeners report using smut to increase focus during mundane tasks, reduce initiation paralysis, and discover or communicate sexual desires. The format also mirrors consent structure and can help partners explore kinks and expand sexual vocabulary together.

Original Description

Did you know that women with ADHD consume explicit fiction at dramatically higher rates than neurotypical women — and there’s a neurological reason?

Dr. Erika Miley is a licensed mental health counselor, certified sex therapist, and author of the only dissertation published on ADHD and women’s sexuality. After surveying over 2,000 participants, one thing kept surfacing: smut. Romantasy, explicit romance, audio erotica — all of it.

In this episode, she explains why the ADHD brain is uniquely drawn to literary erotica, how smut raises the arousal threshold enough to sustain focus, and why neurodivergent women are using it for everything from processing emotional vulnerability to getting through household chores.

Find Dr. Miley at erikamiley.com.

For more on this topic

Watch: ADHD and sex https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnV2DMwfY3E&list=PL0Kjy0JtEbaQG26_d4num4Bh_VGY6b_RP&index=6

Watch: Too much or not enough: ADHD sensory challenges and sex https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7ayDcHnt-0&list=PL0Kjy0JtEbaQG26_d4num4Bh_VGY6b_RP&index=26

For a transcript and more resources, visit Sorry, I Missed This on Understood.org. https://www.understood.org/en/podcasts/sorry-i-missed-this/neurodivergence-romantasy-smut

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