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Research shows that many women pretend or 'fake' orgasm, but little is known about whether men pretend orgasm. The purpose of this study was to investigate (a) whether, how, and why men pretend orgasm and (b) what men's and women's reports of pretending orgasm reveal about their sexual scripts and the Junctions of orgasms within these scripts. Participants were 180 male and 101 female college students; 85% of the men and 68% of the women had experienced penile vaginal intercourse (PVI). Participants completed a qualitative questionnaire anonymously. Both men (25%) and women (50%) reported pretending orgasm (28% and 67%, respectively, for PVI-experienced participants). Most pretended during PVI, but some pretended during oral sex, manual stimulation, and phone sex. Frequently reported reasons were that orgasm was unlikely, they wanted sex to end, and the), wanted to avoid negative consequences (e.g., hurting their partner's feelings) and to obtain positive consequences (e.g., pleasing their partner). Results suggest a sexual script in which women should orgasm before men, and men are responsible for women's orgasms., The idea that women 'fake' orgasms is familiar, but the idea that men 'fake' orgasms is not. Many people regard such pretending by men as almost impossible. For example, Braun, [...]

This study describes responses of 172 single heterosexual African American men, ages 18 to 35, to condom negotiation attempts. Strategies used included reward, coercive, legitimate, expert, referent, and informational strategies, based on Raven's (1992) influence model. The purpose was (a) to identify strategies influencing participant acquiescence to request and (b) to identify predictors of participant compliance/refusal to comply with negotiation attempts. Participants viewed six videotape segments showing an actress, portrayed in silhouette, speaking to the viewer as a 'steady partner.' After each segment, participants completed measures of request compliance, positive and negative affect, and attributions concerning the model and themselves. No significant differences were found in men's ratings across all vignettes. However, differences in response existed across subgroups of individuals, suggesting that, although the strategy used had little impact on participant response, the act of suggesting condom use produced responses that differed across participant subgroups. Subgroups differed on levels of AIDS risk knowledge, sexually transmitted disease history, and experience with sexual coercion. Also, the 'least willing to use' subgroup was highest in anger--rejection and least likely to make attributions of caring for partner. Effective negotiation of condom use with a male sexual partner may not be determined as much by specific strategy used as by partner characteristics., Interventions to assist persons in reducing risk for HIV infection have drawn on a number of behavioral science theories such as the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991), social cognitive [...]

Evidence from studies of ethnic differences in sexual conservativeness and Papanicolaou (Pap) testing behaviors suggests that there may be culture-linked differences in rates of participation in physically invasive sexuality studies, resulting in volunteer bias. The effects of ethnicity and acculturation on participation in female psychophysiological sexual arousal research were investigated in a sample of Euro-Canadian (n=50) and East Asian (n=58) women. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires and were given either course credits or $10 for their participation. Participants were then informed about the opportunity to participate in a second phase of the study, which involved psychophysiological sexual arousal testing and which was completely optional. Contrary to expectations, the results showed that the East Asian women were more likely to participate in Phase 2 than the Euro-Canadian women. Among the East Asian women, greater heritage acculturation and lower mainstream acculturation predicted a lower likelihood of Phase 2 participation. The findings suggest the need to be wary of overgeneralizing female psychophysiological sexual arousal research results and may have implications for improving Pap testing behaviors in East Asian women., Volunteer bias in human psychological research can seriously undermine the external validity of findings. Factors associated with the study methodology and factors associated with the participant population both influence such [...]

The literature on women's sexual desire is reviewed with an emphasis on definitional challenges, an assessment of the empirical basis for the distinction between spontaneous and responsive desire, a reconsideration of the extent to which women's sexual desire is relational in nature, and an exploration of the incentive value of sex for women as a factor partially independent from the experience of sexual desire. Nine recommendations are made regarding research and diagnostic directions. The article concludes with an appeal for the inclusion of eroticism in research and clinical work on sexual desire., As the most subjective and acutely amorphous component of sexuality, it is hardly surprising that desire was bypassed by Masters and Johnson (1966) in their quest to operationalize and measure [...]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.08.019 Byline: Nilmini N. Hemachandra (a)(b), Lalini C. Rajapaksa (c), Lenore Manderson (b) Abstract: Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is a common condition among women of all ages, often with devastating consequences, such as depression, anxiety and reduced quality of life. Researchers have largely focused on its prevalence and clinical management, particularly in highly industrialized country settings. In this article, drawing on epidemiological, clinical and qualitative research undertaken in Sri Lanka, we discuss how stress incontinence affects women's lives and how they personally manage the problem. Quantitative data derive from a community-based descriptive cross-sectional study, conducted in 2006-2007 with 1718 ever-married women, aged 15-49, of whom 9.8% reported problems of stress incontinence. Six focus group discussions, eight key informant interviews and five case studies with women with SUI were also undertaken to gain insight and depth. Although incontinence affected outdoor activities, sexual life, and sense of wellbeing, women did not consider it a health problem, rarely discussed it with others, and rarely sought treatment. Barriers to help seeking included fear of vaginal examination, shame and embarrassment, and belief that SUI was a natural consequence of aging and childbirth. Women's reluctance to seek advice on their own initiative about managing incontinence indicates the importance for health providers to pay greater attention to the condition and introduce appropriate preventive measures for women. This might include creating greater public awareness of SUI as preventable and treatable, ensuring a clinical environment conducive to discussing problems related to bodily functions. Author Affiliation: (a) Ministry of Health Care and Nutrition, Colombo, Sri Lanka (b) School of Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia (c) Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka

Little research has been conducted with regard to how women view male nudity. The purpose of this analysis was to present an historical case study of Viva, a 1970s women's magazine geared toward the presentation of male nudity. Implicit in Viva's editorial direction was the assumption that women's sexuality is socially constructed and, thus, modifiable but also homologous to men's sexuality. Using sexual scripting theory as a sensitizing concept, a content analysis of women's letters to the editor was conducted. Letters justified inclusion of male nudity on the basis of principles o f fairness and equality with men. In addition, letters tried to demarcate boundary conditions for what constituted acceptable male nudity in terms of the presence of erection, size, shape, and coloring of the penis, and whether inclusion of the penis was contextualized by other physical traits such as body musculature. Despite an early effort to modify cultural scripts on the basis of a constructivist worm view, it was found that, ultimately, Viva advocated an essentialist viewpoint that reified existing conceptualizations of female sexuality as both static and uninterested in the visual representation of sexually related material. This study explored whether Viva's essentialist final position may have reflected financial exigencies rather than ideologies., An important debate within feminism concerns women's relationship with pornography (Cornell, 2000; Soble, 2002). Although women are often considered to be disinterested in, or actively distressed by, pornography (Abramson & [...]

This study examined the effect of absorption on women's emotional and cognitive processing of erotic film. Absorption was experimentally manipulated using 2 different sets of test session instructions. The first, participant-oriented, instruction set directed participants to absorb themselves in the erotic film presentation, imagining that they were active participants in the sexual activities depicted. The second, spectator-oriented, instruction set directed participants to observe and assess the erotic film excerpt as impartial spectators. The participant-oriented instruction set was found to elicit greater subjective absorption in women than the spectator-oriented instruction set, and women reported greater subjective sexual arousal in the former set compared with the latter. Thus, it appears that the degree to which a woman becomes absorbed in an erotic stimulus may affect her subsequent subjective sexual arousal. Also, women reported greater degrees of positive affect when they took a participant-oriented perspective than when they viewed the erotic materials as impartial spectators. Thus, participants who were highly absorbed in the erotic film excerpt were more likely to view the stimulus favorably. By contrast, the degree to which women became absorbed in the stimulus had no effect on their reported negative affect. Future directions for examining female response patterns are suggested., The information processing model of arousal is a multi-dimensional approach that purports that cognitive, affective, subjective, physiological, and attentional responses play an integral role in the processing of erotic stimuli [...]

Data from 101 Australian research scientists were used to examine the relationship between sex dissimilarity and work group identification, and task and emotional conflict. Based on social identity and self-categorization [...]

This was an exploratory study of sex and relationship seeking on the Internet, based on a survey of 15,246 respondents in the United States Seventy-five percent of men and 41% of women had intentionally viewed or downloaded porn. Men and gays/lesbians were more likely to access porn or engage in other sex-seeking behaviors online compared with straights or women. A symmetrical relationship was revealed between men and women as a result of viewing pornography, with women reporting more negative consequences, including lowered body image, partner critical of their body, increased pressure to perform acts seen in pornographic films, and less actual sex, while men reported being more critical of their partners' body and less interested in actual sex. Marrieds and divorced were more likely than singles to go online seeking a serious relationship. Only 2% of users met the threshold of compulsive use established by previous studies., Recent years have brought an increase in depictions of sexual situations on television and in film and music videos in the United States (Gunter, 2001). Due to federal decency regulations, [...]

The Sexual Inhibition/Sexual Excitation Scales (SIS/SES) assess individual propensities to become sexually aroused and to inhibit arousal. Prior analyses of men's SIS/SES data (Janssen, Vorst, Finn, & Bancroft, 2002a) yielded one excitation factor (SES) and two inhibitory factors (SIS1/Threat of Performance Failure and SIS2/Threat of Performance Consequences). The current study utilized a dataset of 2,045 undergraduates (1,067 women and 978 men) to examine the psychometric properties of women's SIS/SES scores. Women scored higher on sexual inhibition and lower on sexual excitation compared with men. The convergent/discriminant validity of women's SIS/SES scores globally resembled men's, but showed stronger associations with other sexuality-related measures and less pronounced relationships with measures of general behavioral approach/avoidance. The test-retest reliability of men's and women's SIS/SES scores were similar, but individual items exhibited differential relevance to men's and women's arousal An exploratory factor analysis of women's scores was utilized to further examine shared and unshared themes., The central assumption of the dual control model (Bancroft, 1999; Bancroft & Janssen, 2000; Janssen & Bancroft, 1997) is that sexual arousal and response result from a balance between inhibitory [...]

This article is the first systematic review of the research literature on women's rape fantasies. Current research indicates that between 31% and 57% of women have fantasies in which they are forced into sex against their will, and for 9% to 17% of women these are a frequent or favorite fantasy experience. Erotic rape fantasies are paradoxical.' they do not appear to make sense. Why would a person have an erotic and pleasurable fantasy about an event that, in real life, would be abhorrent and traumatic? In this article, the major theories of women's rape fantasies are evaluated both rationally and empirically. These theories explain rape fantasies in terms of masochism, sexual blame avoidance, openness to sexuality, sexual desirability, male rape culture, biological predisposition to surrender, sympathetic physiological activation, and adversary transformation. This article evaluates theory and research, makes provisional judgments as to which theories appear to be most viable, and begins the task of theoretical integration to arrive at a more complete and internally consistent explanation for why many women engage in erotic rape fantasies. Methodological critiques and programs for future research are presented throughout., Sexual fantasies or daydreams can range from brief thoughts or images to stories with detailed plotlines. They may deal with actual past experiences, purely imagined experiences, or a mixture of [...]

The three different perspectives on the reasons why sexually promiscuous women attract negative attributions are presented. The Social Norm explanation of promiscuous behavior as deviant therapy is preferred over other hypotheses.

Three studies explored gender differences in explicit and implicit components of sexual arousal following brief exposure to a sexual stimulus. Whereas Study I assessed reports of sexual arousal following subliminal exposure to a sexual or a neutral picture, Studies 2 and 3 examined the effects of the same priming procedure on accessibility of sex-related thoughts assessed with a pictorial judgment task and a lexical decision task. The subliminal sexual prime did not have an effect on men's reports of sexual arousal, but caused women to report lower levels of sexual arousal. In contrast, the same subliminal sexual prime led to higher accessibility of sex-related thoughts in both men and women. It is therefore suggested that the subliminal sexual prime causes women to activate sex-related mental contents but to experience the result as somewhat aversive., The nature of sexual arousal has concerned researchers for years. Ever since Freud (1935, 1949, 1950), researchers have tried to determine what accounts for individual differences in arousal reactions to [...]

Over the last 20 years, women's sexuality has become one of the most written about and intensely debated subjects in sexology, sociology, and women's studies in mainland China. From these studies, one can trace the development of academic discourse on women's sexuality through three distinct phases: from a predominantly medical discourse, to the use of survey methods to investigate women's real experiences, and finally to a phase in which Western theories have become increasingly influential. Each phase features a distinct stereotype of woman. The implications of this review for sexual research in China will also be discussed., Introduction Over the last 20 years, women's sexuality has become one of the most written about and intensely debated subjects in sexology, sociology, and women's studies in mainland China. However, [...]

Rapid changes in China over the past two decades have led to significant problems associated with population migration and changing social attitudes, including a growing sex industry and concurrent increases in STIs and HIV. This article reports results of an exploratory study of microbicide acceptability and readiness and current HIV prevention efforts among female sex workers in two rural and one urban town in Hainan and Guangxi Provinces in southern China. The study focused on these women's knowledge and cultural understandings of options for protecting themselves from exposure to STIs and HIV, and the potential viability and acceptability of woman-initiated prevention methods. We report on ethnographic elicitation interviews conducted with women working within informal sex-work establishments (hotels, massage and beauty parlors, roadside restaurants, boarding houses). We discuss implications of these findings for further promotion of woman-initiated prevention methods such as microbicides and female condoms among female sex workers in China., Introduction China is facing the prospect of an AIDS epidemic of catastrophic proportion. Although the epidemic has been relatively slow to take hold in this giant country, it is now [...]

Although it is widely recognized that sexual content pervades television, research rarely examines how television's sexual messages are gendered and occur in a relational context. This study describes the development and implementation of a new coding scheme to evaluate sexual content from a feminist perspective. Merging scripting theory (Simon & Gagnon, 1986) with the theory of compulsory heterosexuality (Rich, 1980), we explicate a heteronormative and dominant sexual script, the Heterosexual Script, and assessed its presence in the 25 primetime television programs viewed most frequently by adolescents. Our codes captured depictions of boys/men and girls/women thinking, feeling, and behaving in relational and sexual encounters in ways that sustain power inequalities between men and women. Male characters most frequently enacted the Heterosexual Script by actively and aggressively pursuing sex. Less frequently but still at high rates were depictions of female characters willingly objectifying themselves and being judged by their sexual conduct., Recent broadcasts of sexually provocative images during primetime hours have contributed to widespread concern about the pervasiveness of sex on mainstream entertainment television. One public opinion poll indicated over 60% [...]

In the last 10 years, researchers have developed separate rating scales for men and women that purport to measure a person's thoughts about their sexual self or sexual self-schema. While these scales are promising, there are some problems intrinsic to these measures. This study addresses these concerns and tests a combined measure for use among both men and women, while retaining internal consistency and a factor structure similar to the women's scale. Having both men and women complete the same scale permitted a comparison of how men and women think about their sexual selves. In this study, gender differences netted a small effect, with men scoring lower on both the loving/warmth and reserved/conservative factors compared to women. Results are discussed in terms of future research with this new scale and the meaning of gender differences along these dimensions., Does gender influence how we think about our sexual selves? From Freud's early connections between anatomy and sexuality to Daryl Bem's (2000) 'exotic becomes erotic' theory, gender has been consistently [...]

This paper compares three interpretations of women and the transmission of HIV in rural Malawi. One is disseminated world-wide by institutions with a global reach such as the World Health Organization in Geneva and United States Agency for International Development (USAID); the second is provided by urban Malawians situated in the capital of Lilongwe, the seat of government and the site of the many international and national non-governmental agencies; the third is articulated by rural women and men in Balaka District, Malawi. We focus on women's motivations for extramarital sex, using qualitative interview data. We find that whereas in Geneva and Lilongwe women from rural Malawi are said to engage in sexual relationships outside of marriage because they need money for survival, in Balaka they are said to be motivated not only by money for survival but also for attractive consumer goods as well as by passion and by revenge for a husband's infidelity. We also find that data collection procedures influence explanations for women's affairs, as does the respondent's gender. An implication of this study is that AIDS-prevention policies based on the view from Geneva and Lilongwe need modification for Balaka, and by implication for rural Africa more generally. Keywords: Malawi; Sex perceptions; Political economy of sex; HIV/AIDS

Sex is often conceptualized either as wanted and consensual or as unwanted and nonconsensual, reflecting an implicit model of wanting that is unidimensional and dichotomous and that conflates wanting and consenting. This study has three objectives: developing a multidimensional model for conceptualizing the wantedness of a sexual act, using this model to compare women's experiences with rape and consensual sex, and assessing whether wantedness is related to rape acknowledgment. Participants were college women who described their experiences with rape (n = 77) or consensual sexual intercourse (n = 87). Results supported a multidimensional model of sexual wanting and a wanting-consenting distinction. Compared with acknowledged rape victims, unacknowledged rape victims reported wanting the sexual intercourse more despite not having consented., Many people, including the public and researchers, treat sex as either wanted or unwanted, with wanted sex being consensual and unwanted sex being nonconsensual. Real life, however, is often more [...]

This study used the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) to assess whether characteristics of females' sexual partners, relationships, and choice of contraceptive methods were associated with contraceptive use patterns within their first sexual relationship. White, Black, and Hispanic females under age 25 (N = 915) provided retrospective information on sexual activity and contraceptive use for first sexual relationships that occurred between 1991 and 1995. Females with older sexual partners and with same race/ethnicity partners (among Hispanics) had reduced odds of ever using contraception and/or uninterrupted use. Longer sexual relationships were associated with higher odds of ever using contraception but lower odds of uninterrupted use. Females who were older at first sex, who used hormonal methods (among Whites), or who switched to more effective methods during their first sexual relationships had higher odds of ever using contraception and/or uninterrupted use. In contrast, switching to less effective methods during a first sexual relationship was associated with reduced odds of uninterrupted use., The prevalence of teenage pregnancy and childbearing is high in the United States, especially in comparison with other industrialized countries (Abma, Martinez, Mosher, & Dawson, 2004; Alan Guttmacher Institute, 2004; [...]

In three studies, we developed and validated a self-report measure of women's sexual working models. In a pilot study we created an initial version of the Women's Sexual Working Models Scale (WSWMS), administered it to an exploratory sample of 470 women, and identified its 5-factor structure. Study 1 confirmed the 5-fuctor structure in a new sample: (1) Fostering commitment; (2) Evaluating a sexual partner's suitability; (3) Promoting frequent sexual activity through positive affect; (4) Restricting sexuality through shamefulness; and (5) Negative emotions that signal incompatibility with relationship goals. In Study 2, 444 Israeli women completed the WSWMS. Confirmatory factor analysis provided cross-national evidence for the generalizability of the underlying factor structure of the WSWMS., According to attachment theory, sexual behaviors are regulated by an inborn sexual behavioral system, a species-universal neural program (Bowlby, 1982/1969; Shaver, Hazan, & Bradshaw, 1988) whose major function is to [...]

This study estimated a path model of women's forceful sexual fantasies. Constructs examined were childhood sexual abuse, feminist beliefs', sexual guilt, erotophilia, and sexual experience. The study clarifies how these factors mediate one another in relationship to forceful sexual fantasies and is first to examine the effects of feminist beliefs on forceful sexual fantasy. Adult women (N = 261) participated by completing an online survey. A path from sex guilt to forceful sexual fantasy, mediated by erotophilia, was found, wherein low levels of sex guilt and high levels of erotophilia were found to predict forceful sexual fantasy. A direct path between childhood sexual abuse and forceful sexual fantasy was also found. The resulting model is discussed in relation to previously-proposed theories on the role of force in women's sexual fantasies., The majority of women engage in some form of sexual fantasizing (Cado & Leitenberg, 1990; Jones & Barlow, 1990; Strassberg & Lockerd, 1998). Moreover, sexual fantasies appear to play a [...]

New methods are now available, and others are being developed, that could enable women to take the initiative in preventing sexually transmitted infections. However, attempts to capitalize on 'female-controlled' preventive methods thus far have met with limited success. Female-initiated methods were introduced to intervene in the state of gender relations and assist women who are disempowered vis-a-vis their male partners. Paradoxically, however, we underscore that it is the very structure of regional and local gender relations that shapes the acceptability (or lack of acceptability) of these methods. This paper specifically addresses how the structure of gender relations--for better and for worse shapes the promises and limitations of widespread use and acceptance of female-initiated methods. We draw on examples from around the world to underscore how the regional specificities of gender (in)equality shape the acceptance, negotiation, and use of these methods. Simultaneously, we demonstrate how the introduction and sustained use of methods are shaped by gender relations and offer possibilities for reinforcing or challenging their current state. Based on our analyses, we offer key policy and programmatic recommendations to increase promotion and effective use of women-initiated HIV/STI protection methods for both women and men. Keywords: Female-initiated barrier methods; Gender relations and roles; Female condom; Microbicides; Diaphragm; HIV/STI prevention

Propornography and antipornography literatures have failed to elucidate the complexity of women's consumption of pornography. This article submits that a reconstructed theory of emotional labor, developed from the perspective of the consumer, explains some of women's ambivalence toward pornography. Findings are based on interviews with 30 women who enjoy porn films. The women's ambivalence reflected their perception of emotional labor in pornographic production. Although they found pornography arousing, they faced uncertainty over the authenticity of the porn actresses' pleasure. Furthermore, they perceived emotional authenticity through the lens of their personal biographies. Specifically, their economic backgrounds and experiences with sexual coercion are discussed. This study fills two gaps: (1) By linking the production and consumption of pornography, it enables a deeper exploration of women's ambivalence and the subsequent implications for understanding sexuality, and (2) it features the experiences of working-class and minority women, whose voices have been marginal in the literature. Keywords: emotional labor; pornography; sexuality; sex work; consumption

Sexually competent stimuli may nonconsciously activate sexual memory and set up sexual responding. In men, subliminally presented sexual pictures facilitated recognition of sexual information (Spiering, Everaerd, & Janssen, 2003). The goal of the two experiments reported here was to investigate to what extent this result can be generalized to women. A direct replication in women failed in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, besides the male-oriented sexual picture set, pictures of two other sets were presented: female-oriented sexual pictures and baby pictures. Effects of the menstrual cycle were also examined. In Experiment 2, only male-oriented pictures showed a facilitation effect. Sensitivity for reproductive stimuli was enhanced during the midluteal phase. Like men, women may nonconsciously recognize a stimulus as sexual. This recognition process seems unrelated to the potential of the stimulus to elicit subjective arousal., Activation of sexual response may be largely determined by nonconscious cognitive processing. The subjective experience of sexual arousal certainly depends on conscious processing, the individual's awareness of bodily sensations together [...]

We studied the sexual behaviors of young, unmarried women living in rural China with a special focus on sexual debut, sexual risk-taking behaviors, and reproductive health consequences. The analysis was based on 40 in-depth interviews with young women who had undergone induced abortion, as well as information from focus group discussions. Study participants identified pornographic videos, parents' tacit approval, and even encouragement as factors instigating their sexual debut. Reasons for unprotected intercourse included spontaneous sexual activity, misconceptions about fertility and the effective use of contraceptives, and the lack of negotiation skills. The results indicate the importance of making reproductive health education more accessible to rural populations in China, a group usually considered to be more traditional and less likely to engage in premarital sex., Many studies document the new liberal attitude toward sexual behavior that has emerged among young people in China following China's opening to international markets in the early 1980s (Higgins, Zheng, [...]

This article offers a critical feminist analysis of the biomedical conceptualization of women's sexual desire. The five major features of the biomedical model of female sexual desire examined and critiqued are (a) use of the male model as the standard, (b) use of a linear model of sexual response, (c) biological reductionism, (d) depoliticalization, and (e) medicalization of variation. A 'New View,' an alternative to the biomedical model, is offered for reconceptualizing women's sexual problems. This analysis concludes with recommendations for feminist-based biopsychosocial research., Sexual desire is a key component of the current popular conceptualizations of sexual identity, sexual orientation, and sexual functioning and dysfunctioning. Some sexologists contend that no scholarly or scientific discussion [...]

We examined the possible range of content of non-erotic thoughts experienced during typical sexual activities with a partner. Undergraduate men (n = 47) and women (n = 50) were administered a measure of non-erotic thought content, frequency, and anxiety, along with measures of sexual attitude, satisfaction, and functioning. Men were more likely to report performance-related thoughts, and women were more likely to report thoughts about body image. However, men and women were equally likely to report thoughts about the external consequences of the activity (e.g., pregnancy, being caught) and the emotional consequences of the activity (e.g., morality, implications of the activity for the relationship). Women reported that their thoughts occurred more frequently and caused more anxiety. Greater thought frequency and greater anxiety over thoughts were associated with poorer sexual functioning for both men and women. For women, greater frequency of and anxiety evoked by thoughts was associated with lower sexual satisfaction. These data provide modest support for cognitive-behavioral models of sexual dysfunction and indicate the importance of both examining a broad range of non-erotic thought content and taking gender into account when applying these models to understanding and treating sexual difficulties., The development and persistence of sexual problems is not well-understood, even though the rate of sexual difficulties within the general population is very high and may be associated with psychological [...]

Although numerous factors have been implicated in women's sexual decision-making, less attention has been focused on how their feelings about their bodies and reproductive functions affect these processes. Recent findings link menstrual shame to lower levels of sexual activity and higher levels of sexual risk; however, the mechanisms behind these relations remain unexplored. Accordingly, this study investigates the contributions of menstrual shame and global body shame to sexual decision-making among 199 undergraduate women. Using structural equation modeling, we evaluated a mediated model whereby menstrual shame is indirectly associated with sexual decision-making via body shame. As expected, women who reported feeling more comfort about menstruation also reported more body comfort and, in turn, more sexual assertiveness, more sexual experience, and less sexual risk., Although menstruation is a natural, reproductive process, it bears a strong cultural taboo that commands that it not be seen, discussed, or in most ways, acknowledged (Kissling, 1996a; Roberts, 2004). [...]

This study explored effects of oral contraceptive pill (OCP) use on physiological sexual arousal as measured by a vaginal photoplethysmograph. Sixteen women aged 18-29 viewed audiovisual neutral and erotic stimuli before and an average of 6 weeks following the onset of OCP use. Although subjective measures of sexual arousal, including perceptions of genital arousal, significantly increased in response to erotic stimuli both before and after OCP onset, physiological sexual arousal only increased before OCP use. A comparison of individual responses before and after OCP onset reveals a much higher degree of intrasubject variability after OCP onset. We discuss these findings as they relate to OCP use as a confounding methodological variable to consider in future investigations employing vaginal photoplethysmography., The use of the vaginal photoplethysmograph (VPP) over the past three decades has enriched our understanding of the factors that influence and are implicated in female sexual arousal. Its development [...]

The Lothian Emergency Contraception Project in Scotland Was a radical intervention in which women aged 16-29 were given 5 packs of emergency contraception (EC) to keep at home. We use survey and qualitative interview data to describe how women used the project packs and their views of advance supplies. The women's accounts suggest that concerns that eased access to emergency contraception will lead to repeated use and risky sex appear to be largely unfounded. Women were pleased to be offered the packs, which were reported as having practical advantages and also sparing them the difficulty of negotiating a sometimes awkward consultation. Respondents explained how they used their packs of EC and in their accounts used justifications, repetition and distancing to emphasise that they would not take risks with contraception or sexually transmitted infections. We interpret the data in the light of the observation that EC has fin anomalous role in contraception and the work of applied linguists Candlin and Lucas who have demonstrated the difficulties inherent in the family planning consultation. Keywords: Emergency contraception; Qualitative interviews: Scotland: UK

This article analyzes data available in published studies of rapists' self-reports and argues that according to their own accounts, many men developed inaccurate impressions of women's desires through a confident form of role-taking. While rapists' inaccuracies have been previously described as instances of 'miscommunication' or lapsed role-taking, they do not always indicate lack of emotional or intellectual depth to role-taking. The article adds to the profeminist, symbolic interactionist literature on role-taking by arguing that relations of disavowed male-male desire and the exchange of women make the possibility of men's sensitive knowledge of women's sexual desires problematic. Some of these forms of knowledge are outlined, and an approach to rape prevention is briefly suggested. Keywords: rape; heterosexuality; epistemology; social psychology; pragmatism

This study compared respondents who completed an Internet sexuality questionnaire and those who dropped out before completion. The study was in Swedish and comprised 3,614 respondents over a 2-week period (53% males, 47%females). There were significant differences between males, of whom 51% dropped out before completion of the 175-item questionnaire, and females, of whom 43% dropped out. Dropout in both genders followed a curve of negative acceleration. The data suggest that dropout is likely to be significant and gender and demographically biased, and to occur significantly earlier for men than for women. Geography, education, sexual orientation, age, relationship status, living arrangements, and Internet connection speed were related to dropout for men, while only relationship status and living arrangements, which were in the opposite direction from men, were related to dropout in women., Despite the increase of research into the Internet and sexual behavior, interpretation of Internet and sexuality data are limited by a lack of clarity regarding sample biases, among other methodological [...]

This study investigates gender and ethnicity differences in the experience of not using a condom due to a partner's influence (unwanted noncondom use). Analysis of 247 anonymous questionnaires from students at urban community college campuses revealed that 46.7% had experienced unwanted noncondom use since age 16, and 37% had experienced unwanted noncondom use with their current or most recent partner. Males and females reported equal levels of unwanted noncondom use. However, African-American and Latino participants reported higher levels of unwanted noncondom use than Whites. The findings indicate that females, males, and people from ethnic groups at high risk for H1V infection need support to carry out their safer sex intentions., Women comprised over one quarter of all new AIDS cases in the U.S. in 2001, and heterosexual transmission of HIV was the main identified mode of transmission for women (CDC, [...]

Although child sexual abuse has been studied extensively, minimal attention has been paid to sexual abuse by females. This paper explores the prevalence of female sex offending and reveals the [...]

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of an attempt to construct and examine the psychometric properties of an instrument that measure support for the 11 sexual [...]

This study examined the relationship of ambivalent sexism, political conservatism, demographic variables (age, education, and gender), and prior sexual experience to Turkish men's and women's attitudes toward women who engage [...]

This study examined the sexual practices and function of midlife women by ethnicity, (African American, Caucasian, Chinese, Hispanic, Japanese) and menopausal status. Sexual behavior was compared in 3,262 women in [...]

American women who experience very strong and frequent sexual desire have often been either ignored or stigmatized. This exploratory study of 44 highly sexual women ages 20 to 82, which used a convenience sample and a semistructured in-depth interview method, allowed participants to describe their lives and how their sexuality has affected them. Highly sexual women reported that their lives have been strongly affected by their sexuality. First, the participants' internally sensed demand for sexual excitement and satisfaction is too intense to be ignored. For some it was a major organizing principle of their time and energy. Second, their lives are lived in a society that often defines highly sexual women in pejorative ways. Women reported experiencing struggles and challenges in almost every area of their lives because of their sexuality, including feelings about themselves and their relationships with partners, female friends, and acquaintances., Girls' and women's erotic needs and feelings, their desire for pleasure--their joy in their own sexuality--is largely an unwritten story. (Heyn, 1992, p. 1) Women in American society often experience [...]

This article draws on in-depth case studies of 61 women and men of diverse sexual identities to show how gender, while apparently diminishing in significance, continues to shape interpretations and experiences of virginity loss in complex ways. Although women and men tended to assign different meanings to virginity, those who shared an interpretation reported similar virginity-loss encounters. Each interpretation of virginity--as a gift, stigma, or process--featured unequal roles for virgin and partner, which interacted with gender differences in power to produce interpretation-specific patterns of gender subordination, only one of which consistently gave men power over women.

Unimpressed by the exhortations of previous generations, our modern society accepts premarital sex. Advisably? In an attempt to answer this question, I shall make three related points, drawing on findings from evolutionary psychology and bargaining theory. First, premarital sex is potentially exploitative. Second, to allow premarital sex is not merely to extend a certain freedom, but indirectly to compel women to practice premarital sex, hence effectively to foster their exploitation. Third, some of the measures taken to combat the sexual exploitation of single women can make matters worse, as the implementation of these measures tends to increase rather than decrease the level of the exploitation.

The aim of this study was to investigate age, menopausal status, and the male partner's sexual function on the sexual function of the menopausal woman. Sexual functioning of 304 women (120 premenopausal, 76 perimenopausal, 108 postmenopausal) aged between 35 and 65 years from a community sample was investigated. Multiple regression analyses found that sexual satisfaction within the relationship was better predicted by age group than by menopausal status. Younger women were more likely to be satisfied with their sexual relationship than older women. Age group was also a better predictor than menopausal status of current frequency of intercourse, with younger women being likely to have more frequent intercourse than older women. Whether a female respondent had experienced a sexual dysjunction was better predicted by menopausal status than by age. Women who were menopausal were more likely to report a sexual problem such as lack of sexual interest, poor lubrication, and failure to have an orgasm. However, age group appeared to be a better predictor of whether the male partner had experienced a sexual dysfunction. Older men were more likely to have experienced failure to have an erection, for example. The findings of this study indicate that age and the sexual function of the partner are important factors to take into consideration when investigating the sexual function of the menopausal woman., Sexual behavior involves a complex interplay of biochemical, neurophysiological, and cognitive processes (Bancroft, 1988). Age, and the availability and presence of a partner, further contribute to the multivariate nature of [...]

The current studies attempt to develop a self-report scale tapping women's experience of heterosexual intercourse. In Study 1, 129 Israeli women freely expressed the feelings, thoughts, and motives involved in the experience of heterosexual intercourse. A content analysis revealed three experiential patterns: relationship-centered, aversive, and pleasure-centered. In Study 2, a self-report scale, constructed on the basis of the above content analysis, was administered to 564 Israeli women. Factor analyses revealed the internal structure of the experiential patterns of heterosexual intercourse and showed that these patterns represented well-differentiated experiences. In Study 3, the scale developed in Study 2 was administered to 36 clinical anorgasmic women, 26 subclinical anorgasmic women, and 36 sexually functional women. Results revealed a distinctive experiential profile of female anorgasmia along the three patterns of heterosexual experience., Women's sexual difficulties, such as female orgasmic disorders (anorgasmia), are prevalent in subclinical samples and are commonly seen in clinical practice (Laumann, Gagnon, Michael, & Michaels, 1994; Spector & Carey, [...]

Statistics concerning the growing number of unwed mothers in Russia are presented, focusing on an analysis of social changes. Topics include changing views of marriage, personal histories of unwed mothers, impact on family relations, relationship between father and mother of newborn child, positive aspects of freedom of choice, and societal problems associated with unwed mothers.

The rapid increase of HIV infection among women in the U.S. has been attributed primarily to sexual contact with HIV-infected men. Strong cultural gender norms regarding sexual behaviors among Latinos exacerbates this risk for Latino women. In this study we assessed contraceptive use patterns and predictors of condom use with steady male partners among a random sample of 513 Latino and 184 non-Latino White women (N = 697). The women were assessed for ethnic differences in sexual behaviors and psychosocial variables using t-tests. We used multiple regression analysis to assess predictors of condom use with steady male partners for all women. Although Latino and non-Latino White women differed significantly on most psychosocial factors, predictors of condom use were the same for the two groups:positive attitude about condom use, not using other forms of contraception, belief that friends use condoms, self-efficacy to use condoms, more sexual power (i.e., less concern that the male partner would become angry or violent at condom use request), worry about contracting HIV, and reporting two or more partners in the year prior to the interview. Non-Latino White women had better knowledge about HIV, more sexual comfort, more self-efficacy in using condoms, and more sexual power than did Latino women. To be safe from HIV infection, heterosexual women must rely not only on their own skill attitude, and efficacy concerning sexual behaviors and condom use, but also on their ability to convince their sexual partner to use a condom. HIV-prevention strategies must target heterosexual couples and address gender norms in sexual behavior decision making, regardless of a person's ethnicity.

There has long been a proposed link between sexuality and eating disorders. However, the empirical research on the potential relationship between sexual functioning and disordered eating generally has been unfocused and of relatively poor quality. In the current article I review research on relationships between eating disorders (anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa) and sexual attitudes and experience among women, including the sexual functioning of women who have been treated for an eating disorder. After drawing some limited conclusions from past research, I discuss several potentially important mediating variables that may explain observed relationships between disordered eating and sexuality. These potential mediating variables include certain personality characteristics, negative body image, early familial experiences, and history of sexual trauma. I conclude with criticism of past research and offer suggestions for future investigation.

In the current study we extended the literature on the relationships between sex guilt and sexual behavior to clinical samples of adult females who were either sexually abused [childhood sexual abuse (CSA); N = 71] or not abused (N = 45) during childhood. The results replicated prior findings, revealing significant negative relationships between sex guilt and nonaccepted (societal norms of) sexual behavior, sexual knowledge, and attitudes toward contraception within both the CSA group and a clinical sample of nonabused women. However, CSA victims reported higher levels of sex guilt and nonaccepted sexual behavior than did the nonabused group. Severity of abuse was significantly associated with nonaccepted sexual behavior but not with sex guilt. These findings suggested that CSA is closely linked to nonaccepted sexual behavior. Furthermore, some CSA victims' distress may be a function of their discordant levels of sex guilt and nonaccepted sexual activity.

In this exploratory study, we investigated several demographic and sexual history correlates of vibrator usage among a diverse sample of 202 women. They completed a 35-item questionnaire that included the predictor variables and items allowing them to describe their experiences using vibrators. Vibrators were used primarily to enhance sexual responsiveness and sexual pleasure, most commonly in autoerotic activity, but, for more than two thirds of the sample, also in partnered activity. A majority indicated orgasms triggered by vibrator stimulation were more intense than others. Nearly half experienced multiple orgasms when using a vibrator. Most were very satisfied with their orgasmic experience in autoerotic activity and were either moderately or very satisfied with their orgasmic experience in partnered activity. The clitoris is the preferred site of vibrator stimulation for most, but there was great diversity in both preferred location and technique. These results were interpreted as indicating the value of being self-reliant in enhancing sexual responsiveness and satisfaction. Because of sampling limitations, additional research is needed to replicate and to extend these findings.

In this article I examined chronic pain and sexuality by analyzing excerpts from interviews with 28 women, aged 2050, who live with chronic back, joint, and/or muscle pain. Pain's invisibility has profound implications for social interactions, including sexual relationships. By looking at experiences and perceptions of sexuality and intimate relationships, I addressed ways in which women have adjusted to pain, communicated about their pain with partners and other intimate persons, and altered their social interactions and future plans in response to physical disability.