Breaking the Silence Surrounding Female Adolescent Sexual Desire

Abstract

This review of the literature related to female adolescent sexual desire reveals that, in spite of interest by feminist scholars, actual discourse around sexual desire and bodily pleasure associated with female sexuality appears to be lacking for the majority of adolescent girls. In our culture females are the objects of male desire, hence the focus on attractiveness. Little attention has been paid to their embodiment, the inner sense of their own sexual desire. Sexual desire has traditionally been accepted as part of male sexual development and is associated with positive sexual identity for men. Researchers stress the importance of increasing sex-positive attitudes towards female sexual desire, in order to counter much of the shame and confusion experienced by females, especially during adolescence. The double standard is still being conveyed to young women through popular culture, parents, peers, and schools. Sex education primarily emphasizes the dangers of sex. The media stresses the importance of attractiveness and women as sex objects rather than agents of their own sexual desires. Researchers suggest that a young woman's ability to be conscientious about and fully present in her sexual experiences is correlated with her ability to act as an agent. The ability to make responsible and self-affirming sexual decisions is a crucial act of agency.     

Gender differences in beliefs about the causes of male and female sexual desire

Little is known about the beliefs men and women have about the causes of sexual desire, despite the interpersonal and individual significance of those beliefs. Participants in this study received a definition of sexual desire and answered a set of free-response questions exploring their beliefs about the causal antecedents of male and female sexual desire. The results indicated that more women than men view female (and male) sexual desire as caused by external factors. In addition, both men and women believe that male and female sexual desire have different causes: intraindividual and erotic environmental factors are believed to cause male sexual desire, but interpersonal and romantic environmental factors are believed to cause female sexual desire. Although both men and women view physical attractiveness and overall personality as sexually desirable male and female characteristics, women, but not men, view femininity as a sexually desirable female characteristic, and men, but not women, view social and financial power or status as a sexually desirable male attribute.     

No Means Yes? Perpetuating Myths in the Sexological Construction of Women's Desire

The diagnosis and treatment of desire disorders are contentious issues within sexual medicine today. The issue of women's sexual desire (or rather lack of sexual desire) in particular, has highlighted a variety of problems within the current diagnostic framework for sexual dysfunctions. In an effort to rectify some of these problems, the concept of receptivity has been put forward by a number of clinicians with the suggestion that this better reflects women's experiences of desire. It is argued here, however, that he concept of receptivity presents serious problems for women in heterosexual relationships. Rather than helping women, furthering this concept may simply reinforce male sexual demands, curtail women's sexual autonomy, and promote coercive sex as an acceptable norm. It should therefore not be adopted by therapists.     

Nonverbal Behaviors and Perceptions of Sexual Intentions: Effects of Sexual Connotativeness,Verbal response,and Rape Outcome

Through the exchange of nonverbal and verbal behaviors, a man and a woman on a date negotiate situated identities. However, a woman's nonverbal and verbal behaviors may reflect an identity discrepant from the one she intended to project, leading to miscommunication between men and women regarding the woman's desire for sexual activity. In Experiment 1, subjects read scenarios in which a woman, Mary, engaged in behaviors that were low, moderate, or high in the degree to which they connotated a desire for sex. In addition, they learned that Mary responded to her date's sexual advances either by saying "no," or by slapping him, or they received no information regarding Mary's verbal response. Subjects were also informed that Mary's date either did or did not force her to have sexual intercourse. Subjects perceived Mary more sexually as her behaviors increased in sexual connotation. In addition, they perceived that Mary desired sex more when no information about her verbal response was provided than when she resisted her date's sexual advances. Subjects also rated the woman more negatively when her nonverbal behaviors were incongruent with her responses to her dale's sexual advances. Contrary to previous research, little evidence of victim derogation was obtained. Results from Experiment 2 showed that men and women agreed in their perceptions of a woman whose behaviors connoted a high interest in sex, but that men perceived behaviors low in sexual connotation ore sexually than women. Implications of the data for understanding sexual miscommunication between men and women as well as reactions to rape victims are examined.     

Sexual Peak: Socially Shared Cognitions About Desire,Frequency, and Satisfaction in Men and Women

Is a man’s sexual peak earlier than a woman’s? Three studies were conducted to examine (a) whether the perception that men achieve their sexual peak at a younger age than do women is shared across individuals of different ages and sexes, (b) whether sexual peak is defined differently for men and women, and (c) whether differences between definitions contribute to differences in the age at which men and women are perceived to reach sexual peak. Study 1 suggested that participants believed that females reach their sexual peak at an older age than do males. Study 2 indicated that the defining feature of sexual peak for males was sexual desire and for females was sexual satisfaction. Study 3 suggested that predictions of male sexual peak coincided with participants’ predictions of male age of highest desire and frequency, but not satisfaction, and that female sexual peak coincided with participants' predictions of female age of highest satisfaction but not frequency or desire. Discussion focuses on potential reasons for differences between the perception of male and female sexuality, as well as the social and evolutionary importance of each of the dimensions of sexuality for both males and females.     

Latent class analysis of college women's motivations for engaging in same-sex performativity

Same-sex performativity (SSP), or public performances of sexuality (e.g., kissing) between women who identify as heterosexual, is a relatively common relational experience among college-aged women. Identifying patterns of women's motivations for engaging in SSP can elucidate the heterogeneity among women's social and sexual behaviors during a critical developmental period (i.e., college). We used latent class analysis to identify classes of heterosexual undergraduate women who engaged in SSP (N = 282). We identified three classes of motivational patterns: Other-Motivated (i.e., notably motivated by male attention, wanting to shock others, wanting to bond, and social pressure), Ambiguously Motivated (i.e., most motivated by alcohol and fun, but minimally motivated overall), and Sexually Motivated (i.e., notably motivated by sexual desire and sexual experimentation). We then examined how class membership was associated with variables related to participants' evaluation of their SSP experience, self and identity, sexuality, and heterosexism. Classes significantly differed in SSP evaluations, as well as in certain facets of self and identity and sexuality (i.e., sorority membership and same-sex desire). These data provide evidence of substantial complexity in the characterizations of women who engage in SSP. We discuss the implications of the relationship between motivational patterns and women's evaluations of the SSP experience.     

The sexual harassment of uppity women

In 3 studies, the author tested 2 competing views of sexual harassment: (a) It is motivated primarily by sexual desire and, therefore, is directed at women who meet feminine ideals, and (b) it is motivated primarily by a desire to punish gender-role deviants and, therefore, is directed at women who violate feminine ideals. Study 1 included male and female college students (N = 175) and showed that women with relatively masculine personalities (e.g., assertive, dominant, and independent) experienced the most sexual harassment. Study 2 (N = 134) showed that this effect was not because women with relatively masculine personalities were more likely than others to negatively evaluate potentially harassing scenarios. Study 3 included male and female employees at 5 organizations (N = 238) and showed that women in male-dominated organizations were harassed more than women in female-dominated organizations, and that women in male-dominated organizations who had relatively masculine personalities were sexually harassed the most.     

male self-control and sexual aggression

This study examines judgments of male self-control regarding sexual aggression in dating situations. A survey was conducted using vignettes that described situations where a hypothetical man attempts to have intercourse with his female date, she resists, and he considers various ways of overcoming her resistance. Survey respondents judged these vignettes. The goals of the study were to estimate the prevalence of beliefs about low male self-control, and to examine how contextual information affects these assessments. Contrary to expectations derived from the literature, the large majority of respondents attributed high levels of self-control to men across a wide range of scenarios. As expected, the man's alcohol intoxication reduced perceived control. Against expectations, consensual foreplay and prior sex did not affect ratings. Implications for social learning and rational choice theories of sexual aggression are discussed, with particular emphasis on Ajzen's (1988) theory of planned behavior.     

Normalisation Versus Medicalisation of Sexual Disturbances During Menopause: A Qualitative Research in the Italian Context

Past research has found consistent correlations between menopause and increase in sexual disturbances, but very little research has inquired into the attribution of meanings to this change from the womens’ own perspectives and the role of the negotiating between sexes in the social-construction of the problem. This study aims to investigate how professionals, women diagnosed with hypoactive sexual desire disorder and ordinary people, both men and women, signify this phenomenon in the Italian context. Interviews were conducted by asking participants whether or not they considered the decrease in sexual desire to be a problem, and what this was dependent on. The analysis of the 146 participants’ answers revealed that women with sexual deficit emphasized the need for treating the biological changes of menopause; specialists considered both the gynecological and the psychological components, while ordinary people seemed to ‘normalise’ the problem, encoding it as the effect of menopause; they did not seem to be inclined to turn the situation into a call for help, suggesting the importance of sharing the problem within the relationship and underestimating the organic level of the question. The negotiation between sexes seems to transform a sexual problem into normality.     

A sex difference in the specificity of sexual arousal

Sexual arousal is category-specific in men; heterosexual men are more aroused by female than by male sexual stimuli, whereas homosexual men show the opposite pattern. There is reason to believe that female sexual arousal is organized differently. We assessed genital and subjective sexual arousal to male and female sexual stimuli in women, men, and postoperative male-to-female transsexuals. In contrast to men, women showed little category specificity on either the genital or the subjective measure. Both heterosexual and homosexual women experienced strong genital arousal to both male and female sexual stimuli. Transsexuals showed a category-specific pattern, demonstrating that category specificity can be detected in the neovagina using a photoplethysmographic measure of female genital sexual arousal. In a second study, we showed that our results for females are unlikely to be explained by ascertainment biases. These findings suggest that sexual arousal patterns play fundamentally different roles in male and female sexuality.     

Gender and sexual orientation differences in sexual response to sexual activities versus gender of actors in sexual films

In this study, the authors investigated the hypothesis that women's sexual orientation and sexual responses in the laboratory correlate less highly than do men's because women respond primarily to the sexual activities performed by actors, whereas men respond primarily to the gender of the actors. The participants were 20 homosexual women, 27 heterosexual women, 17 homosexual men, and 27 heterosexual men. The videotaped stimuli included men and women engaging in same-sex intercourse, solitary masturbation, or nude exercise (no sexual activity); human male-female copulation; and animal (bonobo chimpanzee or Pan paniscus) copulation. Genital and subjective sexual arousal were continuously recorded. The genital responses of both sexes were weakest to nude exercise and strongest to intercourse. As predicted, however, actor gender was more important for men than for women, and the level of sexual activity was more important for women than for men. Consistent with this result, women responded genitally to bonobo copulation, whereas men did not. An unexpected result was that homosexual women responded more to nude female targets exercising and masturbating than to nude male targets, whereas heterosexual women responded about the same to both sexes at each activity level.     

The Sociocultural Context of Sexually Diverse Women’s Sexual Desire

Women’s sexual desire is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon. According to the biopsychosocial model of female sexual function, a comprehensive understanding of women’s sexuality requires awareness of the presence of and interaction between biological, psychological, interpersonal, and sociocultural factors. Other sexuality scholars in the field have similarly stressed this perspective, emphasizing that sexual desire in particular is impacted by medical, relational, psychological, and sociocultural influences. Given the influence of sociocultural variables like sexism and heterosexism on women’s lives, we sought to understand the impact of the sociocultural context on sexual desire in 31 bisexual, lesbian, and heterosexual women. Women ranged in age from 20 to 69 and answered a number of questions related to their experience of sexual desire and the ways in which desire related to their sexual identity. The semi-structured interviews focused on women’s retrospective, subjective accounts of their experiences. Using a consensual qualitative research approach and thematic analysis, the interviews revealed four themes and seven subthemes: (1) minority stress (heterosexist discrimination, stigmatized identities, coming out, impact of visible/safe spaces); (2) gender expectations (gendered relationship expectations, gender binary impacts, body image); (3) religion; and (4) taboo and changing cultural times. Participant responses suggest that the sociocultural context can influence the sexual desire of diverse women, supporting both sexual desire exploration and suppression of desire expression by context. Practice and advocacy considerations include understanding of the impact of systems of privilege and oppression (e.g., sexism, heterosexism, racism) on women’s sexual desire experiences and opportunities for supporting diverse women’s sexual empowerment.     

The Black Man and the Mermaid: Desire and Disruption in the Analytic Relationship

This paper considers the impact of desexualization of the maternal on the development of female sexuality. A “chance encounter” revealing a desire in the female analyst, previously unsuspected, disrupts a female patient's prior sense of homoerotic immersion with the analyst. I argue that a girl's would-be oedipal competition is encased within a patriarchal structuring of sexuality where the mother is rendered solely reproductive and preoedipal, not erotically sexual. I examine the meanings for a patient of internalizing a female figure, her analyst, who is viewed as both maternal and sexual. I suggest that a female sense of genital inadequacy and inferiority may have a component of not being able to link the mother's (and in the transference, the analyst's) use of her genitals with her use of her mind/maternal function. I unfold a thesis regarding maternal desexualization that I believe, given mother–infant symbiosis, has rather extensive applicability, and that can lead to viewing any third party as a “dark” interloper.     

What Accounts for Heterosexual Women’s Negative Emotional Responses to Lesbians?: Examination of Traditional Gender Role Beliefs and Sexual Prejudice

This study examined a pathway to heterosexual women’s experience of anger and anxiety in response to lesbian interactions. Participants were 149 18–30 year old heterosexual female undergraduates (56% African American) from a southeastern United States university. Participants completed measures of female gender role beliefs, sexual prejudice, and state affect, viewed a video depicting relationship behavior between a female–female or male–female dyad, and again completed a measure of state affect. Results indicated that traditional beliefs about women were associated with higher levels of sexual prejudice toward lesbians. In turn, higher levels of sexual prejudice predicted increased anger (not anxiety) in response to the female–female, but not the male–female, dyad. Findings elucidate determinants of heterosexual women’s anger, and potentially aggression, toward lesbians.     

Intercorrelations among general arousability, emerging and current sexual desire, and severity of sexual dysfunction in women

Intercorrelations among general trait arousability, emerging sexual desire, current sexual desire, lack of sexual desire perceived as a problem, and sexual dysfunction were assessed in 65 women currently involved in marital or de facto heterosexual relationships. The Stimulus Screening Test was used to measure general arousability and the Assessment of Sexual Function and Dysfunction Questionnaire was used to measure emerging sexual desire, current sexual desire lack of sexual desire, and sexual dysfunction. Analysis showed that arousability was positively associated with current levels of sexual desire which was negatively associated with sexual dysfunction. There was a curvilinear relationship between arousability and sexual dysfunction, with women experiencing both high and low levels of arousability being more likely to score higher on measures of sexual dysfunction than those experiencing medium levels of arousal. The possible implications of these results are discussed.     

Is Committed Desire Intentional? A Qualitative Exploration of Sexual Desire and Differentiation of Self in Couples

The question of what heightens or diminishes sexual desire has long been a passionate theme across cultures in literature, arts, media, and medicine. Yet, little research has been conducted to determine what affects level of desire within couples. The degree of differentiation of self has been suggested as an important variable in shaping partners' level of desire. Through a qualitative analysis of dyadic couple interviews, this study provides an account of characteristics, processes, and trajectories of sexual desire and differentiation in 33 heterosexual couples of varying ages and relationship duration. Factors associated with high desire were change and autonomy, whereas conflict and children were reported to be desire‐diminishing factors. Innovation, sharing, autonomy, and effort emerged as desire‐promoting strategies, while fostering personal interests, investing in a positive connection, and enhancing personal integrity were identified as couples' strategies to promote and preserve differentiation of self. The results also shed light on couples' perceptions of whether and how sexual desire changes over the course of the relationship and challenge common cultural assumptions about desire in committed relationships—namely the myth that the only authentic expression of desire is that which occurs spontaneously and without intention and planning. Implications for couple therapy are discussed.     

Bent passions: Heterosexual masculinity, pornography, and gay male identity

Gay male pornography, as an expression of gay male sexuality, identity and desire requires a set of assumptions and questions different than those used in interrogating heterosexual pornography. Drawing upon Linda Williams’ argument that heterosexual pornography creates utopias of sexual abundance, this paper examines the manner in which gay male pornography likewise creates sexual utopias that both express gay male desire but which also, at the same time, attempt to confront and resolve the conflict between such desire and the overarching dominant heterosexual sex system.     

Margaret Cavendish on Gender,Nature, and Freedom

Some scholars have argued that Margaret Cavendish was ambivalent about women's roles and capabilities, for she seems sometimes to hold that women are naturally inferior to men, but sometimes that this inferiority is due to inferior education. I argue that attention to Cavendish's natural philosophy can illuminate her views on gender. In section II I consider the implications of Cavendish's natural philosophy for her views on male and female nature, arguing that Cavendish thought that such natures were not fixed. However, I argue that although Cavendish thought women needed to be better educated, and could change if they had such an education, she also thought their education should reinforce the feminine virtues. Section III examines Cavendish's notorious “Preface to the Reader” (from The Worlds Olio), where Cavendish claims that women are naturally inferior in strength and intelligence to men. Section IV addresses another notorious Cavendish text, “Female Orations,” arguing that its message is similar to that of the “Preface to the Reader.” Nonetheless, although Cavendish held conventional views about male and female nature and appropriate gender roles, she also recognized how social institutions could limit women's freedom; section V explores the complexities of Cavendish's critique of one such institution, patriarchal marriage.     

The danger in deception: oedipal betrayal and the assault on truth

Certain potential precursors to heterosexual women's experience of partner infidelity are explored as these dynamics unfold within the oedipal crisis-the "betrayal" by the oedipal objects. As each child moves into the oedipal phase, he or she comes to recognize not only desire for the mother, but the mother's desire for the father. A doubling of this experience of "deception," encountered first in relation to the mother, and then repeated with the father, may be especially pronounced for a girl, as she is likely to inhabit more fully her bisexual potential in negotiating the expected shift of object choice from mother to father. "Deceived" by her primary maternal oedipal object, a girl sets forth toward her paternal oedipal object with "fidelity" already an issue, and with faith in her mind's ability to determine reality already shaken. Undermined trust in self and other is the context in which she begins the oedipal relation to her heterosexual object. This path is quite distinct from that traveled by the heterosexual boy. Clinical material illustrates the assault on one's mind, on one's confidence to determine what is true, that is a central aspect of both oedipal and adult betrayal.