Indian Adolescent Sexuality: Sexual Knowledge,Attitudes, and Behaviors Among Urban Youth

With emerging westernization, there is growing concern about sexual promiscuity and changing attitudes toward sexuality. A questionnaire was administered to 182 adolescents from the city of Mumbai in the age group of 17–21 years in order to examine their knowledge about crucial aspects of sexuality and their source of sex related information. The survey also accessed attitudes regarding sex education, premarital sex and homosexuality, as well as sexual behaviors engaged in by the youth. Results showed that sexual knowledge about physiology of sexual response, conception, and pregnancy was less than other areas such as masturbation and contraception. Peers, books, and magazines were the most frequently used source of sex information. Boys reported more liberal attitudes and more frequent sexual behaviors than girls. Implications of the results in terms of access to accurate information, communication about sexual issues, and health policy reforms are discussed.     

Sexual Encounters and Manhood Acts: Evangelicals,Latter‐Day Saints,and Religious Masculinities

The experiences of men in traditional religions are complex, at times inconsistent, and not necessarily the direct result of religious teachings. This article draws from two qualitative case studies to examine the ways in which evangelical and Latter‐Day Saint men understand masculinity and their spiritual beliefs in the context of sexual activity. The authors present two masculine practices—acceptance of sexual rejection and sexual indifference—that allow religious men in this study to simultaneously challenge and uphold the system of hegemonic masculinity that their traditions promote. These findings point to the moments when creative, interpretative work helps religious men to reconcile their experiences with religious expectations and to alleviate the tensions they face in their everyday lives. This article offers new insights into how gender and sexuality studies may be integrated into the sociology of religion.     

Sociosexual Orientation and Sexual Behavior in Mexican Adults

Sociosexual orientation includes individual differences in sexual attitudes and behaviors, in relation to the extent in which an individual could be sexually active without affective bonds and commitment. Sociosexuality is related to sexual behavior and can speak to the differences between men and women in how they express their sexuality ( Simpson & Gangestad, 1991 ; Hebl & Casi, 1995 ; Ostovich & Sabini, 2004 ). This study explores sociosexual orientation and sexual behavior in Mexican adults, in order to identify differences in sociosexual orientation related to biological sex and relationship status. It also assesses the relationship between sociosexual orientation and sexual behavior and to predict sexual behavior from sociosexual orientation. The sample was composed of 209 Mexican adults between 19 and 61 years of age. Thirty‐seven percent were male, and 63% were female. Participants answered a standardized Spanish version of the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory ( Simpson & Gangestad, 1991 ) and a Sexual Behavior Inventory developed for the present project ( García Rodríguez, 2007 ). In general, there is great variability in the frequency of each of the sexual behaviors assessed and in the total number of sexual partners. Moreover, participants perceive themselves restricted in their sexual attitudes and behaviors. Men are more permissive and less restricted in attitudes and behaviors than women, and individuals who are dating informally have a higher behavioral sociosexual orientation than those who are living with their partner. Additionally, the higher sociosexuality, the more frequent sexual practices are and the higher the number of sexual partners. Finally, sociosexuality predicts the frequency of sexual practices and the number of lifetime sexual partners.     

Sexual Outcasts: The Perceived Impact of Body Weight and Gender on Sexuality1

A person's weight may be perceived as an important aspect of his or her sexuality and a significant determinant of his or her interpersonal sexual experiences. However, researchers interested in body weight and sexuality have focused exclusively on sexual disorders found in individuals with eating disorders; consequently, little is known about people's beliefs about weight and sexuality, despite the individual and interpersonal significance of such beliefs. Undergraduates received information about a male or female, obese or normal-weight stimulus person and then evaluated that person along several dimensions related to sexuality. Participants believed that an obese man's sexual experiences would be highly similar to those of a normal-weight man. However, participants viewed an obese woman as less sexually attractive, skilled, warm, and responsive, and perceived her as less likely to experience desire and various sexual behaviors than a normal-weight woman. In addition, participants believed that an obese woman was less sexually attractive, skilled, warm, and responsive than an obese man.     

Sexual orientations in perspective

This article presents a new paradigm for understanding the complexity of human sexual, affectional, and erotic attractions--commonly known as sexual orientation. This new paradigm recognizes that there is great diversity among sexual orientations, erotic and emotional attractions, behaviors, and identities and that there are complex interrelations among these dimensions. Sexual orientation is determined by multiple influences, including a wide range of sociocultural factors. The development of sexual orientation is arrived at through multiple pathways. Individuals with the same sexual orientation may have little else in common. Thus, a model of sexual orientation is presented that is based on multiplicity, not sameness, and that examines the overlapping identities and statuses of culture, gender, age, race, ethnicity, class, disability, and sexuality.     

Sexual Double Standard: A Review of the Literature Between 2001 and 2010

The present article is a review of 26 studies on the sexual double standard. This phenomenon consists of different rules and standards of sexual behavior for men and women. Only scientific articles reporting empirical research published between 2001 and 2010 and available online in full were included. Our review was focused on the evidence of the existence of the sexual double standard and on the methods that have been used in the studies in this field. Most studies used quantitative methods based on scales or vignette tasks with a target to be evaluated by respondents. There was greater variability of results among the 6 studies using qualitative methods. These studies employed different interview techniques, focus groups and participant observation. There were also 2 studies reporting the use of mixed methods. The results of the studies showed that the sexual double standard still can be identified nowadays, although it seems that sexual behaviors and situations influenced by this phenomenon are changing. Today, premarital sex and sexual intercourse outside of committed relationships are more accepted for both genders. However, evaluations of other facets of sexuality continue to be based on different criteria for men and women.     

Changing Discourse,Learning Sex,and Non-coital Heterosexuality

Young people learn what sex is, how to perform it, and what status it has largely through discourse. Sexual discourse has changed since the mid-twentieth century, but coitus still dominates heterosexual sex talk, and both change and continuity are reflected in adolescent sexual attitudes and behavior. Acceptance of non-coital sexuality among LGBTQ people and heterosexuals has increased, but these behaviors often have a different status when performed by members of each of these groups. Non-coital acts may be legitimately sexual when performed by non-heterosexuals, but coitus remains the paradigmatic heterosexual activity even though young heterosexuals often engage in non-coital behaviors. Young heterosexuals often differentiate real coital sex from quasi-sexual non-coital behaviors, and sexuality researchers, clinicians, and educators frequently reinforce this distinction and threaten the sexual status and self-esteem of young heterosexuals who do not like or cannot perform coitus. Many sexuality professionals urge young heterosexuals to recognize non-coital acts as sexual because of their risks of sexually transmitted infections, but sometimes also undermine this message by describing these acts as preliminaries to or substitutes for coitus. These professionals use an objective language of sexuality which presumably should supplant the mistaken usages of young people, but they overlook their own dependence on culturally constructed sexual discourse, and can impose needless problems on young people.     

Sport and Sexuality: Athletic Participation by Sexual Minority and Sexual Majority Adolescents in the U.S.

There are contradictory expectations regarding the relationship between sport and sexuality, one suggesting less sports participation for sexual minority males and more for sexual minority females, with the other hypothesizes no participation differences by sexuality for either males or females. I used the nationally representative Add Health Survey of middle and high school students in the U.S. to assess the degree to which sexual minority and sexual majority boys and girls play sports and the differences in the types of sports that they play. Findings from logistic regression analyses indicated there were very few differences in the degree and type of sports participation by sexuality, but somewhat larger differences as the adolescents move from middle to high school.     

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.     

Televised Sexual Content and Parental Mediation: Influences on Adolescent Sexuality

Little research has been conducted to examine the influence of exposure to televised sexual content on adolescent sexuality or how parental intervention may reduce negative effects of viewing such content. This study uses self-report data from 1,012 adolescents to investigate the relations among exposure to sexually suggestive programming, parental mediation strategies, and three types of adolescent sexuality outcomes: participation in oral sex and sexual intercourse, future intentions to engage in these behaviors, and sex expectancies. As predicted, exposure to sexual content was associated with an increased likelihood of engaging in sexual behaviors, increased intentions to do so in the future, and more positive sex expectancies. Often, parental mediation strategies were a significant factor in moderating these potential media influences.     

Beyond the Culture War: Managing Sexual Relationships Inside a Congregation of Gay Evangelicals

America??s popular culture war narrative has often portrayed the evangelical community and the gay community as fundamentally oppositional groups whose range of disagreements center around arguments over the morality and nature of homosexuality. Against the backdrop of these arguments, we undertake a qualitative study of a congregation of gay evangelicals, specifically investigating how pastoral leadership attempts to manage sexual relationships amid a congregation that is firmly and self-consciously rooted in both its gay and evangelical identities. We look at the particular goals and ideals that pastoral leadership espouses for sexual relationships, and we explore how these goals and ideals represent, draw from, and potentially help integrate the congregation??s competing cultural identities. We find that pastoral leadership strives for what we are calling a ??blended approach?? to managing sexual relationships??an approach that simultaneously emphasizes traditional evangelical sexual norms (such as commitment, stability, monogamy, and longevity), while allowing these norms to be significantly tempered by a strong recognition of the private and public contexts that have shaped the gay community??s understanding of sexual and relational life. We speculate that this blended approach to managing sexual relationships may be pointing the way toward future developments within some predominantly-heterosexual evangelical congregations.     

Measuring the Dimensions of Women's Sexuality: The Women's Sexual Self-Concept Scale

The sexual self-concept is an important component of the self-concept that researchers have rarely examined. The Women's Sexual Self-Concept Scale (WSSCS) is a 39-item measure designed to assess women's sexual self-concept. Women rate the extent to which various behaviors, cognitions, emotions, and adjectives describe their sexuality. In a study with 262 women, the measure was found to be both reliable and valid. Three factors were identified through exploratory Principal Components Analysis. Women rated themselves highest on the Reserved Approach subscale, followed by the Agentic Sexuality subscale, and the Negative Associations subscale. Compared to a stereotype of women's sexuality (obtained with a mixed-gender group of 444 participants), the women in the present study rated themselves higher on the Reserved Approach subscale and lower on the Negative Associations subscale. Group differences in women's sexual self-concepts were identified by past xinvolvement in romantic or sexual relationships, and current sexual involvement.     

Religiosity,Spirituality, Sexual Attitudes,and Sexual Behaviors Among College Students

The purpose of this study was to determine whether religiosity, spirituality, and sexual attitudes accounted for differences in sexual behaviors among college students. The sample included 960 college students enrolled at four northeastern colleges. Results indicated differences in sexual attitudes, religiosity, and spirituality by gender. Moreover, sexual attitudes, religiosity, and spirituality were associated with sexual behaviors among college students. Sexual behaviors among males were influenced by their sexual attitudes, religiosity, and spirituality, while for females, their sexual behaviors were mostly influenced by their sexual attitudes. College health professionals can use these findings when discussing sexual practices with students.     

Sexual Intimacy,Mental Illness,and Homelessness

The current article reviews the literature on sexuality among individuals with a severe mental illness (SMI) who have experienced homelessness, a topic that has received little attention in the research literature, particularly from a community psychology perspective. The review begins with a synthesis of the literature on SMI and sexuality, followed by a review of the available literature on SMI, homelessness, and sexuality. It concludes with an interpretation of the findings using community psychology values and principles. The findings highlight the importance of intimate relationships to recovery for many individuals with an SMI who have experienced homelessness. Policy implications for homeless shelters and housing interventions are discussed.     

The Effect of Nonverbal Behaviors Associated With Sexual Harassment Proclivity on Women's Performance

We explored whether exposure to nonverbal behaviors that mirror those used by men with sexual harassment proclivity (i.e., high dominance and/or high sociosexual nonverbal behaviors) leads women to perceive those men as potential sexual harassers and lowers women's actual performance on the job. In our first experiment, women's performance was negatively affected when they interacted with a task administrator enacting dominant nonverbal behaviors. The women also perceived the dominant task administrator as more sexual. In our second experiment, viewers rated the task administrator enacting dominant nonverbal behaviors as more likely than the less dominant task administrator to show gender-based attention, social attention, and sexually harassing behaviors. Taken together, our findings suggest an association between perceptions of dominance and sexuality.     

Sensual Enjoyment,Sexual Excitement,and Femininity: Appreciating the Female Sexual Response

We discuss the female sexual response with a recognition of the distinction between sensuality and sexuality and an account of the development of femininity; present an account of the sexual response of women as a varied but describable experience; and consider the successes and problems female and male therapists have in empathic perception of a woman's account of her sexual experiences.     

Sexual Attitudes of Males and Females as Predictors of Interpersonal Attraction and Marital Compatibility1

Two investigations examine the effect of similarity of sexual attitudes on (a) attraction to a stranger and (b) marital sexual satisfaction. In an experiment using undergraduates, manipulation of subject-stranger similarity in general affective orientation to sexuality affected attraction and other evaluative dependent variables. In the second investigation, married couples revealed sexual attitudes and sexual satisfaction. Husbands and wives were similar (r= 0.58, p < 0.001) in their affective orientations to sexuality. Discrepancy between the partners’ scores predicted sexual dissatisfaction in both partners. In addition, the wife's affective orientation to sexuality predicted more indices of sexual satisfaction and adjustment in both the wife and the husband than did the husband's affective orientation to sexuality. Finally, spouses with a positive affective orientation to sexuality were more accurate when judging their partner's sexual enjoyment, compared to spouses with a negative orientation. The findings have implications for the effects of similarity of attitudes on interpersonal attraction and on relationship quality.     

Media Coverage of Child Sexual Abuse: An Opportunity for Family Therapists to Help Families and Communities

The recent media coverage of child sexual abuse charges involving priests is likely to trigger various needs among the public for professional services. Family therapists should prepare to respond effectively to the high anxiety that these media stories trigger. Family therapists with expertise in human sexuality should use such reports to promote a fuller understanding of all aspects of sexuality for individuals and families. Professionals can integrate much needed aspects of sexuality education in dealing with the mass media, in crisis intervention for persons at risk, and in therapy that centers on child or adult experiences of sexual abuse.