Weird experiments on teens

[DropsOfJupiter]

A way back I did a school research project on medical studies and research using human subjects. For that I signed up an email to get notices of clinical research studies from a medical college nearby. Some of the stuff was super weird and some of it paid super well and I never closed the mail account as I rather like checking on the studies from time to time.

A bit ago I saw one that sounded like it was about experimenting on teens and how their brains process sex. The summary said that selected subjects would have their brains monitored during...uhhhh.....physical pleasure. Once that got recorded they would put little magnets on your head in specific spots and then monitor your brain during more...uhhhh....physical pleasure.....to see if you could still experience it and how your brain activity altered compared to the first set of recordings.

I don't really know how to think of this other than they're literally testing teens and their reactions to sex, then maybe using magnets to block your ability to enjoy it? Maybe? If so does that mean one day there will be a thing you can buy and have them implant it in your teen child to prevent them from hooking up? That is mega creepy if so.

But then how do they test that? Like you receive physical pleasure.....does that mean someone there provides it to you? Like you get it personally delivered by a doctor or a scientist or something? Isn't that illegal? Or is it totally fine if it's a medical research study? But also like parents sign their teens up for this? Like oh yea let me sign this form, you give my 13yo daughter her dose of physical pleasure, then give me my test subject money? That for sure seems like it should be illegal?

[zergrush111]

Did it specifically state it was sexual pleasure? Theres other physical pleasures other than sex.

[FlyingFood]

If so does that mean one day there will be a thing you can buy and have them implant it in your teen child to prevent them from hooking up?

Whoa, immediate flashbacks to the "Arkangel" episode of Black Mirror. Pretty terrifying if society is headed in a direction to accept such a premise.

[Matthew1914]

But then how do they test that? Like you receive physical pleasure.....does that mean someone there provides it to you? Like you get it personally delivered by a doctor or a scientist or something? Isn't that illegal? Or is it totally fine if it's a medical research study? But also like parents sign their teens up for this? Like oh yea let me sign this form, you give my 13yo daughter her dose of physical pleasure, then give me my test subject money? That for sure seems like it should be illegal?

Clinical research can be...interesting. I am personally gratified that someone is taking the incentive to try and find out something about sexuality of younger people. But, for legal and ethical reasons, these things must always be implemented very academicaly. It is likely that the "stimulation" is something fairly innocuous. Maybe the test subject sits on a vibrating saddle or something similar. It is hard to say. But I doubt someone says, "OK, drop your drawers so I can finger you." The stimulation would have to be administered in a measurable and consistent way. Due to the nature of scientific studies they cannot share too much beforehand in order to avoid skewing the results. But, I guarantee there are people who would be willing, even enthusiastic, about allowing their children to participate. It is for science. Right.?

I find it frustrating that researchers often have their hands tied when it comes to testing methods, materials, and processes. For example, it has historically been difficult to acquire substantial scientific data on recreational drugs like marijuana, psychedelics, and other harder drugs because they are illegal to obtain or manufacture. So, the politicians say "BAD!", and the scientists are hamstrung so there is no way to research and discover if, maybe, there are benefits to those substances. There is very little hard data to understand what these things do, how they do it, and if they could have benefits for anyone. Luckily this is changing. But it is very slow.

Similarly, sexuality is taboo. To say nothing of youth sexuality. I have heard that fetus have been observed masturbating in the uterus. Yet, there is incessant fear in suggesting that anyone under the AOC has any interest in sex and studying sexuality involving anyone under 18 is forbidden. Everyone is interested in sex. I mean everyone. Every one of us had our start in this world by traveling out of a vagina. Yet, from that point on, we are not allowed to think about it or touch it.

Furthermore, studies into attraction to minors is pitiful. Clinical scientists are not permitted access to sexual media involving young people (aka. CP). Just like with drugs. How the hell is one supposed to study something without the substance being studied!? Of course, there was a time when it was considered unethical to autopsy a human body. Thankfully, that has changed. So, progress is being made. But it is soooo slow.

As far as the application of the results of such studies. Of course, some nefarious actors may take it upon themselves to try and implement coercive behavioral modification. That is the nature of scientific discovery, unfortunately. But, I feel that the general trend is towards progress. The common metaphor is nuclear power. It is a force that can destroy. But, the benefits are immeasurable and the research must be done. Sure, the technology could be used to inhibit. But, turn the dial the other way Imagine the possibilities.

[on the rocks]

The studies says "teens" but 18 and 19 are still teens, so unless it says otherwise, I'd assume they're rounding up freshmen and sophomores at the local university as test subjects.

Were these the published results of the studies or the request for volunteers for whatever the experiment it was?  Because if it's the latter, often times the true nature of this type of study isn't disclosed to the participants beforehand because it might affect how they respond to the test.

Even though the implications seem to evoke images of 1984 (wasn't a quest to eliminate orgasm one of the things Big Brother was up to in that story?), I'm not overly worried they'd find any success if they really are just putting magnets on the skull.  In fact, I doubt it's actually magnets, but rather electrodes that would attempt to stimulate certain synapses to see if that affects the subject's experience.  Magnetism is too weak to have any real effect on the body, despite what some unscrupulous charlatans hawking magnetic bracelets and shit would have you believe.  But an actual electrical impulse could hypothetically do "something".  Whether or not they can stop you from cumming is over my head. 

Hell maybe they're sniffing around the exact opposite and want to figure out a way to make people cum just by wearing a goofy hat that zaps your brain with little electric pulses.

Every one of us had our start in this world by traveling out of a vagina. Yet, from that point on, we are not allowed to think about it or touch it.

Some folks take a shortcut via the ol' C-section.

[DropsOfJupiter]

The studies says "teens" but 18 and 19 are still teens, so unless it says otherwise, I'd assume they're rounding up freshmen and sophomores at the local university as test subjects.

Were these the published results of the studies or the request for volunteers for whatever the experiment it was?  Because if it's the latter, often times the true nature of this type of study isn't disclosed to the participants beforehand because it might affect how they respond to the test.

It was the application to volunteer. Also it was a paid one but doesn't say what the pay is. The most exciting possibility is a bunch of young girls getting their bits serviced in a lab for money, though I might be rather prejudiced there. Though even if it were I almost feel there would be a way to make it seem lame with science stuff.

[LikelyHuman]

A lot of research like this is done in an outpatient style. Basically the subjects are given monitoring equipment, shown how to attach it and set it up for proper readings, and then told to do what they do. Kind of alleviates the researchers from any kind of question of, "Well, you're condoning this?" kind of questions since the idea is that they're engaging in this behavior anyway, and the researchers are merely providing monitoring equipment. In some respects, it's actually the only accurate way to measure things because if you were to ask someone to have sex in a clinical setting, the experience would be so influenced by the setting that it would be inaccurate. Though, I have to say that I suspect wearing a big set of head-gear on your head while doing it is probably a little awkward too.

[on the rocks]

Or one discovers a very specific kink they didn't know they had.

[ijp]

I wouldn't get too worried about their intentions. There's plenty of studies that are just done because it's the one the grad student got a grant for it, or because it will help someone get a job in their field. Any reasonable hypothesis can be tested even if the confidence that it will do anything is very low. It could even be the case that the whole point of the study is to disprove something stupid they heard rather than an idea that it could actually be effective. A proof by counter-example basically.

In this case it's also a very low-risk study. If someone wants to do studies that involve administering medicines, or other treatments, it requires all sorts of extra approvals. The selection of teens might even be out of laziness, since they tend to be easy to come by in college campuses or high schools and might need volunteering hours for whatever. Adults are much harder to get a representative sample of.