Episode

Why neurodivergent women can’t stop reading smut and romantasy

Podcast
Sorry, I Missed This: The Everything Guide to ADHD and Relationships with Cate Osborn
Published
Jun 2, 2026
Duration seconds
1134
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://www.understood.org/en/podcasts/sorry-i-missed-this/neurodivergence-romantasy-smut
Audio
https://mgln.ai/e/1245/afp-935247-injected.calisto.simplecastaudio.com/b69e7ae3-6261-4441-847d-84b122839136/episodes/609484e2-13a2-48a8-9328-7767a88b3a23/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=b69e7ae3-6261-4441-847d-84b122839136&awEpisodeId=609484e2-13a2-48a8-9328-7767a88b3a23&feed=xF5Cl7lM
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/sorry-i-missed-this-the-everything-guide-to-adhd-and-relationships-with-cate-osborn-6934483/episodes/why-neurodivergent-women-can-t-stop-reading-smut-and-romantasy
Markdown
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Summary

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.