Does It Really Matter if ASMR Is a Sex Thing?

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Crinkly paper, rustling leaves, a clacky keyboard, someone puttering around the kitchen. The feeling of someone running their fingers through your hair. For some people, including me, these sensations provoke a response almost like floating, one that makes the skin prickle, an electric feeling often described as “the tingles.” Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR), a term to describe the phenomenon, burst into the public eye in the 2010s. There are a few studies on ASMR, including one that’s been tremendously influential in the conversation: the 2018 paper “More Than a Feeling” about the emotional and physiological effects of ASMR. But there’s still considerable dispute over what, exactly, is going on here and if it should be considered a sex thing—a question that has big implications for ASMR content creators.

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