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Sexual norms define perceptions of who is acceptable to partner with, how many partners are appropriate, and what sexual behaviors are acceptable to engage in. This shapes, in part, who has access to sexual pleasure and who is minoritized based on their sexuality. Though well theorized and researched for "in-person" sexuality, much less is known about sexual norms in other contexts/modalities, such as porn use and sexual fantasy, or how norms connect across these contexts. In the present study, we investigated sexual norms in porn, fantasy, and in-person sexuality, and similarities or differences between these. In an online study, gender/sex and sexually diverse participants (N = 706) manipulated digital circles representing porn use, sexual fantasy, and in-person sexuality. They used circle overlap to represent branchedness (i.e., distinction) and coincidence (i.e., similarity) in norm content, and circle size to indicate perceived norm strength. We found evidence that norm content was perceived to be more branched (i.e., distinct) than coincident (similar) and that norm strength for each context was high. This provides evidence that when people engage in each of these sexual contexts, they tend to do so through distinct normative lenses, rather than a singular lens that represents a universal set of norms applying across all sexual situations. This has implications for how we understand the associations between porn use, fantasy, and in-person sexuality, and highlights the importance of attending to sexuality in context., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Low sexual desire in women is usually studied as a problem, one that is located within women. However, other possibilities exist, including known gender inequities related to heteronormative gender roles. In this study, we provide the first test of the theory that heteronormativity is related to low sexual desire in women partnered with men, focusing specifically on inequities in the division of household labor. In two studies with women who were partnered with men and had children (Study 1, N = 677; Study 2, N = 396), performing a large proportion of household labor was associated with significantly lower sexual desire for a partner. Together, the results suggest that this association was mediated by both perceiving the partner as a dependent and perceiving the division of labor as unfair. These results support the heteronormativity theory of low sexual desire in women partnered with men, and show that gender inequities are important, though understudied, contributors to low desire in women partnered with men., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Gender/sex and sexual diversity are increasingly understood by the public as complex. But, scientific frameworks that address the complexity of gender/sex and sexual diversity are few and not well situated for the public. Sexual configurations theory (SCT; van Anders, 2015) is one approach that provides a visual framework for understanding and measuring gender/sex and sexual diversity. But how might knowledge users and creators actually use it? To make SCT more accessible to researchers, educators, clinicians, and the general public, we created three instructional videos (individual gender/sex, gender/sex sexuality, and partner number sexuality) that explained SCT and demonstrated how to use its diagrams. Participants (N = 242) of diverse gender/sex and sexual identities, including professionals who work in gender/sex- and sexuality-related fields, watched one of the three videos, filled out the diagrams, and evaluated the video and diagrams via scaled and open-ended questions. Results demonstrated that the SCT videos were sufficient for most participants to fill out the diagrams. Participants evaluated the video generally positively, with some variation by condition, identity group, and professional status. These results indicate that instructional videos are able to translate SCT, potentially facilitating uptake of SCT by clinicians, researchers, and educators as well as increasing awareness of gender/sex and sexual diversity more broadly within the public.

Orgasms during consensual sex are often assumed to be wholly positive experiences. This assumption overshadows the possibility that orgasm experiences during consensual sex could be "bad" (i.e., negative and/or non-positive). In the present study, we employed an online survey to explore the possibility that orgasm experiences could be "bad" during consensual sex by asking participants of diverse gender and sexual identities (N = 726, M age = 28.42 years, SD = 7.85) about a subset of potential bad orgasm experiences. Specifically, we asked participants whether they have ever had an orgasm during coerced sex, compliant sex, and/or when they felt pressured to have an orgasm (i.e., orgasm pressure). We also asked participants who had such an experience to describe it, resulting in qualitative descriptions from 289 participants. Using mixed quantitative and qualitative analyses, we found compelling evidence that orgasm experiences can be "bad" during consensual sex. Specifically, many participants described their experiences in negative and/or non-positive ways despite orgasm occurrence, reported that their orgasms were less pleasurable compared to other experiences, and suggested that their orgasm experiences had negative impacts on their relationships, sexuality, and/or psychological health. Participants also suggested that social location shaped their bad orgasm experiences, citing gender and sexual identity, gender identity conflict, race/ethnicity, and religion as important to their perceptions of and responses to their experiences. Results directly challenge the assumption that orgasms during consensual sex are always and/or unilaterally positive experiences.

Recent research on gender and sexual majority individuals suggests that their attractions, identities, and experiences may not be as homogenous or easily generalizable as is often assumed. Sexual configurations theory (SCT; van Anders, 2015) is a framework for conceptualizing individuals' partnered sexualities and gender/sexes with a focus on gender/sex and sexual diversity. SCT has been successfully used in recent empirical work with gender and sexual minority individuals (Schudson, Manley, Diamond, & van Anders, 2018), but it has not yet been tested with heterosexual, cisgender individuals. In the present study, we tested the use of SCT in qualitative interviews with 26 gender and sexual majority participants to address the following research questions: What are the strengths and weaknesses of SCT for representing heterosexual, cisgender individuals' gender/sexes and partnered sexualities? How do gender and sexual majority individuals use SCT to express their gender/sexes and partnered sexualities? And, what insights about sexual and gender diversity can be gained from using SCT with a gender and sexual majority sample? Using thematic analysis, we evaluated how participants interacted with SCT and the SCT diagrams. Results showed that our participants used components of SCT to convey comprehensive and nuanced interests, which included gender/sex and sexual diversity outside of what is typically expected in research on heterosexual, cisgender individuals. We discuss findings and challenges specific to working with majority participants and offer implications for future work on gender/sex and sexual majorities and on gender/sex and sexual diversity in general.

Sexuality research has generally privileged attractions based on partners' sexed physical bodies over attractions based on other features, including gender expression and personality traits. Gender may actually be quite central to sexual attractions. However, its role has received little empirical attention. To explore how gendered and sexed features, among others, are related to sexual attractions, the current study assessed how sexually diverse individuals described their attractions to feminine, masculine, and gender-nonspecific features of women and men. A sample of 280 individuals responded to the open-ended questions: "What do you find attractive in a man?" and "What do you find attractive in a woman?" We coded responses as pertaining to physical and/or psychological features, and as being gendered masculine, feminine, or gender-nonspecific. Our analyses showed that participants named gender-nonspecific features most frequently in responses to both questions, feminine features more than masculine features in attractions to women, and masculine features more than feminine features in attractions to men. Additionally, participants named feminine physical features more than masculine physical features, and masculine psychological features more than feminine psychological features, both in their attractions to women and overall. These results highlight the importance of considering attractions based on gender, rather than sex alone.

Sexual desire is typically measured as a unitary erotic phenomenon and is often assumed by biological and biomedical researchers, as well as the lay public, to be directly connected to physiological parameters like testosterone (T). In the present study, we empirically examined how conceptualizing sexual desire as multifaceted might clarify associations with T and contextual variables. To do so, we used the Sexual Desire Questionnaire (DESQ), which assesses multifaceted dyadic sexual desire, to explore how contextual variables such as social location, relationship status, and desire target (e.g., partner vs. stranger) might be meaningful for reports of sexual desire and associated hormonal correlations. We focused on women (N = 198), because sexual desire and testosterone are generally unlinked in healthy men. Participants imagined a partner or stranger while answering the 65 DESQ items and provided a saliva sample for hormone assay. Analyses showed that the DESQ factored differently for the current sample than in previous research, highlighting how sexual desire can be constructed differently across different populations. We also found that, for the Intimacy, Eroticism, and Partner Focus factors, mean scores were higher when the desire target was a partner relative to a stranger for participants in a relationship, but equally high between partner versus stranger target for single participants. DESQ items resolved into meaningful hormonal desire components, such that high endorsement of Fantasy Experience was linked to higher T, and higher cortisol was linked with lower endorsement of the Intimacy factor. We argue that conceptualizing desire as multifaceted and contextualized when assessing hormonal links-or questions in general about desire-can clarify some of its complexities and lead to new research avenues.

Sexual desire is increasingly understood to be multifaceted and not solely erotically oriented, but measures are still generally unitary and eroticism-focused. Our goals in this article were to explore the multifaceted nature of sexual desire and develop a measure to do so, and to determine how multifaceted sexual desire might be related to gender/sex and sexual orientation/identity. In the development phase, we generated items to form the 65-item Sexual Desire Questionnaire (DESQ). Next, the DESQ was administered to 609 women, 705 men, and 39 non-binary identified participants. Results showed that the DESQ demonstrated high reliability and validity, and that sexual desire was neither unitary nor entirely erotic, but instead was remarkably multifaceted. We also found that multifaceted sexual desire was in part related to social location variables such as gender/sex and sexual orientation/identity. We propose the DESQ as a measure of multifaceted sexual desire that can be used to compare factor themes, total scores, and scores across individual items in diverse groups that take social context into account. Results are discussed in light of how social location variables should be considered when making generalizations about sexual desire, and how conceptualizations of desire as multifaceted may provide important insights.

Sexual thoughts are sufficient to increase testosterone (T) in women, yet erotic films are not. A key confound in past studies is autonomy in stimulus selection: women choose the content of their sexual thoughts but films have been selected by researchers. We hypothesized that self-chosen erotic films, compared to researcher-chosen erotic films, would (1) increase women's self-reported arousal, enjoyment, and identification with stimuli, and decrease negative affect; and (2) increase T. Participants (N = 116 women) were randomly assigned to a neutral documentary condition or one of three erotic film conditions: high choice (self-chosen erotica from participants' own sources), moderate choice (self-chosen erotica from films preselected by sexuality researchers), or no choice (researcher-chosen erotica). Participants provided saliva samples for T before and after viewing the film in the privacy of their homes. Compared to researcher-chosen erotica, self-chosen erotica increased self-reported arousal and enjoyment, but also unexpectedly disgust, guilt, and embarrassment. Self-chosen erotica only marginally increased identification with stimuli compared to researcher-chosen erotica. Overall, film condition did not affect T, but individual differences in identification moderated T responses: among women reporting lower levels of identification, the moderate choice condition decreased T compared to the no choice condition, but this difference was not observed among women with higher identification. These results highlight the importance of cognitive/emotional factors like identification for sexually modulated T. However, self-chosen erotica results in more ambivalent rather than unequivocally positive cognitive/emotional responses, perhaps because stigma associated with viewing erotica for women becomes more salient when choosing stimuli.

Solitary and partnered sexuality are typically depicted as fundamentally similar, but empirical evidence suggests they differ in important ways. We investigated how women's definitions of sexual pleasure overlapped and diverged when considering solitary versus partnered sexuality. Based on an interdisciplinary literature, we explored whether solitary pleasure would be characterized by eroticism (e.g., genital pleasure, orgasm) and partnered pleasure by nurturance (e.g., closeness). Via focus groups with a sexually diverse sample of women aged 18-64 (N = 73), we found that women defined solitary and partnered pleasure in both convergent and divergent ways that supported expectations. Autonomy was central to definitions of solitary pleasure, whereas trust, giving pleasure, and closeness were important elements of partnered pleasure. Both solitary and partnered pleasure involved exploration for self-discovery or for growing a partnered relationship. Definitions of pleasure were largely similar across age and sexual identity; however, relative to queer women, heterosexual women (especially younger heterosexual women) expressed greater ambivalence toward solitary masturbation and partnered orgasm. Results have implications for women's sexual well-being across multiple sexual identities and ages, and for understanding solitary and partnered sexuality as overlapping but distinct constructs.

Sexual orientation typically describes people's sexual attractions or desires based on their sex relative to that of a target. Despite its utility, it has been critiqued in part because it fails to account for non-biological gender-related factors, partnered sexualities unrelated to gender or sex, or potential divergences between love and lust. In this article, I propose Sexual Configurations Theory (SCT) as a testable, empirically grounded framework for understanding diverse partnered sexualities, separate from solitary sexualities. I focus on and provide models of two parameters of partnered sexuality--gender/sex and partner number. SCT also delineates individual gender/sex. I discuss a sexual diversity lens as a way to study the particularities and generalities of diverse sexualities without privileging either. I also discuss how sexual identities, orientations, and statuses that are typically seen as misaligned or aligned are more meaningfully conceptualized as branched or co-incident. I map out some existing identities using SCT and detail its applied implications for health and counseling work. I highlight its importance for sexuality in terms of measurement and social neuroendocrinology, and the ways it may be useful for self-knowledge and feminist and queer empowerment and alliance building. I also make a case that SCT changes existing understandings and conceptualizations of sexuality in constructive and generative ways informed by both biology and culture, and that it is a potential starting point for sexual diversity studies and research.

Research links explicit sexuality (e.g., physical attraction and pleasure) to high testosterone (T) and nurturance (loving contact) to low T. Engaging in sexual fantasy, which can include explicit sexual and nurturant elements, increases T in women but not in men. We examined whether individual differences in the explicit sexual and nurturant content of fantasy were linked with T or with estradiol (E2). In addition, we explored whether fantasy content differed or overlapped by gender/sex. Participants (26 women, 23 men) provided saliva samples for hormones before and after imagining a self-defined positive sexual encounter and responding to open-ended questions about the situation they imagined. We systematically content-coded responses for explicit sexual and nurturant content. In men, lower inclusion of nurturant content predicted larger T responses to fantasy. Fantasy content was not linked with T in women or with E2 in women or men. Women and men did not differ significantly in explicit sexual and nurturant content. Our findings suggest that individual experiences of fantasy as more or less nurturant affect T in men, provide support for the Steroid/Peptide Theory of Social Bonds, and highlight the value of integrating hormones and content analysis to investigate research questions relevant to sexuality and gender/sex.

Touch is a critical factor in intimate bonds between romantic partners. Although cuddling is a key expression of intimacy, it has received little empirical attention. Past research suggests that cuddling has some sexual aspects (e.g., it increases testosterone [T]), but there are theoretical reasons to expect cuddling to also involve nurturant intimacy (which should decrease T). In this article, we examined the phenomenon of partner cuddling to: (1) provide a descriptive examination; (2) determine if cuddling involved only nurturant intimacy or also sexual intimacy; and (3) test whether cuddling was perceived as nurturant but experienced as sexual. Via an online questionnaire, 514 participants (338 women) responded to quantitative and qualitative questions about cuddling with their romantic partners. Results suggested that cuddling occurred frequently and for relatively long durations, and was viewed very positively. Findings also showed that cuddling was perceived as nurturant and non-sexual but was experienced as at least somewhat sexual, which may explain why past research had found that cuddling increased T. Correlational analyses linked cuddling frequency and enjoyment positively with partnered sexual activities, but negatively with solitary sexuality. Results were discussed relative to evolutionary theories of distinct but overlapping neurobiological systems underlying pair bonding that involve sexual and nurturant intimacy.

Sexual stimuli increase testosterone (T) or cortisol (C) in males of a variety of species, including humans, and just thinking about sex increases T in women. We investigated whether sexual thoughts change T or C in men and whether hormone measures (baseline, post-activity, and changes) correlate with psychological sexual arousal. We used the Imagined Social Situation Exercise to assess how hormones respond to and correlate with sexual thoughts and arousal relative to three control conditions: neutral, stressful, and positive. A total of 99 men provided a baseline saliva sample, imagined and wrote about a sexual or control situation, and provided a second saliva sample 15 min later. Results indicated that, for participants in the sexual condition, higher baseline and post-activity C corresponded to larger increases in self- reported sexual and autonomic arousal. Although sexual thoughts increased sexual arousal, they did not change T or C compared to control conditions. Our results suggest that sexual thoughts are not sufficient to change T or C in men, but C may facilitate sexual arousal by directing energy towards a sexual situation.

Sexual desire is typically higher in men than in women, with testosterone (T) thought to account for this difference as well as within-sex variation in desire in both women and men. However, few studies have incorporated both hormonal and social or psychological factors in studies of sexual desire. The present study addressed how three psychological domains (sexual-relational, stress-mood, body-embodiment) were related to links between T and sexual desire in healthy adults and whether dyadic and solitary desire showed associations with T. Participants (n = 196) were recruited as part of the Partnering, Physiology, and Health study, which had 105 men and 91 women who completed questionnaires and provided saliva for cortisol and T assays. T was positively linked to solitary desire in women, with masturbation frequency influencing this link. In contrast, T was negatively correlated with dyadic desire in women, but only when cortisol and perceived social stress were controlled. Replicating past findings, no significant correlations between T and desire in men were apparent, but these analyses showed that the null association remained even when psychological and confound variables were controlled. Men showed higher desire than women, but masturbation frequency rather than T influenced this difference. Results were discussed in terms of challenges to assumptions of clear links between T and desire, gendered approaches to T, and the unitarity of desire.

Introduction: Women's postpartum sexuality can be influenced by factors related to physical, personal, and relationship transitions after the newborn arrives. Despite this, many experiential and social factors remain unexplored., Aims: This study aims to (i) investigate a range of variables thought to influence postpartum sexuality; (ii) expand the focus beyond latency to penis-vagina intercourse; and (iii) assess positive aspects of postpartum sexuality., Methods: Via retrospective reporting on the first 3 months postpartum, 304 women completed an online questionnaire., Main Outcome Measures: The main outcome measures were retrospective reports of sexual desire (Sexual Desire Inventory), latency to resumption of sexual activity, and perceptions of partner's sexual desire. Other measures were birth experience (Questionnaire Measuring Attitudes About Labor and Delivery), breastfeeding status, perceptions of social support (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support), stress (Perceived Stress Scale), and body image (Body Image Self-Consciousness Scale)., Results: Significant differences in time to resumption were found. Women performed oral sex on their partners earlier than engaging in masturbation, which was followed by intercourse and then receiving oral sex. Post hoc analyses identified birth experience, social support, importance of partner's sexual fulfillment, and perception of partner's desire as contributors to this pattern. Women's postpartum sexual desire was influenced by their perceptions of their partner's postpartum sexuality and individual's level of fatigue. Results suggested that postpartum desire was not significantly influenced by breastfeeding status, vaginal issues, or psychosocial variables including stress, body image, or social support., Conclusion: Results suggest that women's perceptions of their partner's sexuality impact postpartum sexuality more than the physical factors most commonly studied (e.g., vaginal trauma and breastfeeding). These results portray postpartum sexuality as a multidimensional phenomenon and highlight the need for further research that addresses its social context., (© 2012 International Society for Sexual Medicine.)

Introduction: Higher testosterone (T) is tied to risk-taking, especially in financial domains but also in health domains relevant to acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs). However, safer sex constructs could themselves carry the possibility of "social risk" due to sexual stigma or embarrassment, or could involve boldness or confidence because they could represent status displays of frequent sexual activity., Aim: To determine how T and behaviorally relevant attitudes about sexual risk-taking are linked, to better understand biopsychosocial aspects of sexual health related to STIs., Methods: In 78 first-year male college students, we examined correlations between salivary T and behaviorally relevant safer sex attitudes assessed via questionnaires., Main Outcome Measures: T, via saliva; safer sex attitudes, via a composite and the University of California, Los Angeles Multidimensional Condom Attitudes Scale (MCAS)., Results: Higher T was significantly correlated with higher scores on the following: safer sex likelihood composite, r(73)=0.33, P=0.003; the MCAS safer sex resilience, r(32)=0.36, P=0.037; and the MCAS condom purchase comfort, r(32)=0.37, P=0.031. Associations between T and safer sex likelihood and resilience were still robust after controlling for potential confounds, though the association between T and purchase comfort diminished to a trend., Conclusions: Higher T was positively linked with safer sex attitudes, especially those most closely tied to STI risk avoidance. Thus, future research and interventions for STI prevention should address the possibility that safer sex may be paradoxically perceived as a "bold" or "risky" choice even as it decreases STI risk., (© 2011 International Society for Sexual Medicine.)

Past findings suggest links between orgasms and testosterone (T), as well as sexuality and estradiol (E), and we examined hormone-orgasm links in this study via two hypotheses (below). Participants were 86 women and 91 men who provided a saliva sample and completed a demographics questionnaire, the Orgasm Checklist (Mah and Binik, 2002), the Hurlbert (1991) Index of Sexual Assertiveness, and the Sexual Desire Inventory (Spector and Fremeth, 1996). Results supported the first hypothesis of correlations between T and positive orgasm experience in women, specifically with the relaxation, soothing, and peaceful items in both partnered and solitary orgasm contexts. Results also indicated correlations between E and flooding and spreading items in a solitary orgasm context. There were no associations between hormones and men's perceptions of their orgasm experiences. There was no support for the second hypothesis of associations between higher T and more sexual assertiveness. Post hoc analyses showed associations between E and women's sexual desire, and T and men's sexual desire. We discuss implications of these findings including that solitary vs. partnered orgasm experiences may differ, and suggest that T might be associated with perceptions of psychological experiences of orgasms, and E might be associated with perceptions of physical experiences of orgasms.

Introduction: Few studies have examined how sexual arousal influences healthy premenopausal women's hormones, limiting our understanding of basic physiology and our ability to transfer knowledge from clinical and nonhuman populations., Aim: To examine how sexual arousal and steroid hormones (testosterone [T], cortisol [C], estradiol [E]) were linked, to see whether hormone levels influenced and/or changed in response to sexual arousal elicited via visual erotic stimuli in healthy women., Methods: Participants included 40 healthy premenopausal women not using exogenous hormones., Main Outcome Measures: Change in genital sexual arousal (vaginal pulse amplitude), change in subjective sexual arousal, sexual desire (via the Sexual Desire Inventory and Female Sexual Function Index scales), as well as T, C, and E via saliva samples taken before and following viewing of erotic stimuli as genital arousal was recorded via a vaginal photoplethysmograph., Results: E increased in response to sexual stimuli but this was not statistically associated with genital sexual arousal, whereas C decreased in association with genital sexual arousal, and T showed no statistically significant change. Relationship status was linked to genital but not subjective sexual arousal such that dating women exhibited higher genital sexual arousal than single or partnered women. Results indicated that all three hormones were associated with self-reported genital arousal (via the Detailed Assessment of Sexual Arousal scales) and sexual desire in different domains, and both T and E were associated with self-reported orgasms., Conclusion: Findings point to the need to examine multiple hormones in multiple ways (e.g., baseline, changes, stimulated) and question using erotic stimuli-induced arousal as a model for women's endocrine responses to sexuality.

Some studies show an increase in testosterone (T) after sexual activity; this literature has inconsistent findings, focuses mostly on men, and does not employ control activities. The present study examined within-subject effects of intercourse versus control activities (cuddling; exercise) on salivary T. The initial sample included 49 women (mostly heterosexual), though not all participants returned all samples or engaged in all activities, leaving a smaller sample for endocrine analyses (n=16). Participants attended an initial session in the laboratory where they completed questionnaires, and then engaged in the activities on their own. On three separate nights, they provided pre-activity, post-activity, and next-morning saliva samples and completed brief questionnaires at the last two timepoints. Women's T was higher pre-intercourse than pre-control activity. Women's T was also higher post-intercourse than post-control activity, though the percent change in T from pre- to post-activity was highest for cuddling, then intercourse, then exercise. Next-morning T did not differ by activity. Data pointed to an association between T and orgasming, sexual desire, and relationship commitment. Analyses on post-activity appraisals suggest that the close intimate physicality of a sexual and non-sexual nature can affect T and be beneficial in short-term and perhaps longer-lasting ways for women's sexuality and relationships.

Research points to an association between testosterone (T) and partnering in some women and men, and this association has been interpreted as an effect of either relationship status (i.e. differences in relationship status lead to differences in T) or relationship orientation (i.e. T is associated with the likelihood of entering relationships). To address whether physical partner presence was associated with decreased T, we examined T levels in people (72 women; 49 men) who were single, in long-distance relationships, or in same-city relationships. No participants were using exogenous hormones, including hormonal contraceptives. Participants provided a saliva sample and responded to questions about their relationship status. Single men had higher T than long-distance and same-city partnered men, which supports the relationship orientation interpretation. In contrast, same-city partnered women had lower T than single women and women in long-distance relationships, which supports the relationship status interpretation. We conclude that physical partner presence is not necessary to see an association between partnering and hormones in men (since same-city and long-distance partnered men had similar T levels), but may be necessary in women (since same-city partnered women had lower T than long-distance partnered women).

Previous research has found that single heterosexual (Het) men have higher salivary testosterone (T) concentrations than partnered Het men. Here, we used both longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses to examine a more diverse population (n = 258) that included Het and non-heterosexual (Non-Het) women and men. Results showed that, for Het men (but not Het women) and Non-Het women (but not Non-Het men), baseline T was significantly lower in partnered than unpartnered individuals. Longitudinal analyses indicated that changes in partnered status were not associated with changes in testosterone concentrations; instead, women and men with lower T at baseline were significantly more likely to be partnered at follow-up. These findings thus suggest that partnered status is associated with stable, trait-level T values, rather than current state. Furthermore, the observed effect is limited to individuals (male or female) who are oriented toward female partners. The results are discussed in terms of evolutionary trade-offs between single and multiple partners, and the possibility of female choice and/or disinterest.

The present study examined effects of testosterone on hypoactive sexual desire in pre- and postmenopausal women (treated) compared with an age-matched reference group (reference). Treated participants received 100 mg of testosterone cypionate in oil injected intramuscularly (i.m.) monthly for 3 months. We measured salivary testosterone and scores on the Sexual Desire Inventory pretreatment and posttreatment. Treated and reference participants' baseline testosterone was equivalent, however, treated participants exhibited higher testosterone levels than did reference participants posttreatment. As expected, treated participants exhibited lower baseline sexual desire than did reference participants and showed a significant increase in sexual desire posttreatment. This research suggests that testosterone may effectively alleviate hypoactive sexual desire, even in women with normal testosterone levels.

The present study examined whether the following variables putatively associated with prenatal androgens are inter-related in women: spatial abilities, sexual orientation, and 2nd to 4th finger (digit) length ratio (2D:4D). Participants were 99 healthy premenopausal women tested in the menstrual phase of the ovarian cycle between 0800 and 0930 hr. Women completed the Kinsey scales of sexual orientation, and were either strictly heterosexual (HS; N=79) or not-strictly heterosexual (NHS; N=20). Photocopies of the two hands were collected, and participants completed the revised Vandenberg Mental Rotations test, the Paper Folding test, and a short version of the Guilford-Zimmerman Spatial Orientation Test. Results showed that NHS women exhibited superior spatial ability relative to HS women. No significant difference was found between the HS and NHS women in the 2D:4D digit ratio. There was no association between the digit ratio and spatial performance. These results support an association between increased spatial abilities and heteroflexible sexual orientation, which may possibly be mediated by high prenatal androgens.