Study of Sexual Concordance in Men and Women with Different Typologies of Adherence to the Sexual Double Standard

Abstract

Background/Objective: Sexual concordance (i.e., relationship between genital response and subjective sexual arousal) is higher in men than in women. Among the factors that could explain this difference would be the sexual double standard (SDS). Sexual concordance is examined by SDS typologies of adherence (egalitarian, man-favorable, and woman-favorable). Method: During exposure to a film with sexual content, genital response (penile circumference/vaginal pulse amplitude) and self-reported sexual arousal were recorded in 104 young adults (42 men and 62 women), distributed into SDS typologies of adherence on the basis of their scores on the Sexual Double Standard Scale. Results: Sexual concordance was obtained in men and women with egalitarian and man-favorable typology. Subjective sexual arousal explained a significant percentage of the variance in genital response in the egalitarian typology (men: R2 = .32, p < .01; women: R2 = .19, p < .05) and man-favorable typology (men: R2 = .21, p < .05; women: R2 = .23, p < .05). Conclusions: Agreement between genital responsiveness and subjective sexual arousal depends on DES adherence typology.

Antecedentes/Objetivo: La concordancia sexual (i.e., relacion entre respuesta genital y excitacion sexual subjetiva) parece ser mayor en hombres que en mujeres. Entre los factores que podrían explicar dicha diferencia estaría el doble estandar sexual (DES). Se examina la con- cordancia sexual en funcion de la tipología de adhesion al DES (igualitaria, favorable al hombre y favorable a la mujer). Metodo: Durante la exposicion a un filme de contenido sexual, se registro la respuesta genital (circunferencia peniana/amplitud del pulso vaginal) y la excitacion sexual autoinformada de 104 adultos jovenes (42 hombres y 62 mujeres), distribuidos en las tipologías de adhesion al DES a partir de sus puntuaciones en la Sexual Double Standard Scale. Resultados: Se obtuvo concordancia sexual en hombres y mujeres con tipología igualitaria y favorable al hombre. La excitacion sexual subjetiva explicó un porcentaje significativo de la varianza de la respuesta genital en la tipología igualitaria (hombres: R2 = 0,32, p < 0,01; mujeres: R2 = 0,19, p < 0,05) y en la favorable al hombre (hombres: R2 = 0,21, p < 0,05; mujeres: R2 = 0,23, p < 0,05). Conclusiones: El acuerdo entre la respuesta genital y la excitacion sexual subjetiva depende de la tipología de adhesion al DES.