Spin-orbit effects on the photoabsorption of a quantum well are discussed by means of a sum rules approach. We show that while the strength of the excitation is zero when the spin-orbit coupling is neglected, the inclusion of the spin-orbit interaction gives rise to a nonzero strength and mean excitation energy in the far-infrared region. A simple expression for these quantities up to the second order in the Rashba interaction is derived. Modifications of the results due to the Dresselhaus spin-orbit term are discussed. The effect of two-body Coulomb interaction is then studied by means of a Quantum Monte Carlo calculation, showing that electron-electron correlations induce only a small deviation from the independent particle model result.