The Science of Arousal: This Couple Had Sex in an MRI Machine

Let us take you back almost thirty years in time, through the archives of sexy news, to when Dutch couple Ida Sabelis and her boyfriend Jupp made history by agreeing to have sex in an MRI machine. The experiment and its results are now going viral again.

Photo credit: British Medical Journal

Ida, an professor, anthropologist and women’s rights activist, was presented with an idea from best friend's partner, Menko Victor “Pek” van Andel, to create an image of the female reproductive tract during penetration.

Choosing to take the spooning position, after Ida noted that the missionary position the researchers had planned for was not going to offer her any arousal, Ida and Jupp clambered into the machine and got to it.

Ida described the experience as sweaty and warm but was infatuated with the final result stating, “awww that’s how we fit together.”

Thirteen couples would go on to participate in the study producing results never before studied by the medical community.

As of 2019, Ida says she is, “incredibly proud of the small contribution she made towards gender equality in the science of arousal.”

The images from the MRI debunked the long-term belief that a penis went straight in and came straight out as shown in Leonardo da Vinci's drawing "The Copulation", pictured below.