DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR ARTICLE Rethinking women's sexual orientation: An interdisciplinary,relationship‐focused approach

What leads some women to form romantic and sexual relationships with men, and other women to form intimate relationships with women? This article presents a new conceptual paradigm for understanding women's sexual orientation that is emerging from research in such diverse fields as social psychology, sex research, evolutionary psychology, attachment theory, and neuroscience. This approach acknowledges the potential plasticity of women's sexuality and the emphasis that women place on close relationships as a context for sexuality. Research also raises the possibility that for women the biological determinants of sexual desire, attraction, and attachment are not inherently linked to a partner's gender. This article begins with a brief survey of research on women's same‐sex romantic and sexual relationships not only in the United States today but also in other cultures and historical periods. These and other findings are used to critique prevailing conceptual models of women's sexual orientation. Finally, key elements in an alternative paradigm are described.     

Father absence,sociosexual orientation,and same-sex sexuality in women and men

A recent evolutionary theory of female sexual fluidity suggests that women may not have sexual orientations in the same sense that men do, and that women's apparent sexual orientation may instead be a byproduct of their sociosexual orientation. One developmental factor that has consistently been shown to influence sociosexual orientation is father absence in childhood. Consistent with the prediction of the theory, the analyses of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) data show that father absence significantly increases women's, but not men's, same-sex sexuality in adulthood, whether it is measured by self identity, sexual behaviour, or romantic attraction. Further consistent with the theory, the association between father absence and same-sex sexuality in women is entirely mediated by their sociosexual orientation.     

“Was It Good for You?”: Reply to Commentaries

In many ways, psychoanalysis revolutionized attitudes about sexuality. Yet by undertheorizing female erotic passion and downplaying the role of the clitoris, psychoanalysis perpetuated a long historical tradition of denying essential aspects of women's sexual experience. Psychoanalysis has at times contributed to women perceiving their own bodily erotic excitement as frightening, dangerous, and out of control. In this reply to the commentaries, the authors continue to explore the ways in which women and women's experience, especially their embodied sexual experience, are so often rendered invisible.     

FEMINIST SOCIAL PROCESS

Abstract

A qualitative semi-structured interview was used to explore the interaction between Christian women's sexuality and spirituality and the impact of sex-negative messages on sexual and spiritual development of 10 Caucasian, middle-aged Christian women. A salient feature of this negative interaction was the women's attempts to reduce the dissonance between their sexuality and spirituality, which reflected a developmental process. Results are discussed in terms of the difficulty Christian women face in being able to integrate their sexuality and spirituality. The study revealed that integration is not an end but an ongoing process. Clinical implications and recommendations for future research are offered.     

Women's Sexuality and Meaning Making

The purpose of the current study was to challenge depictions of traditionally oppressive female sexuality by explicitly exploring diverse women's positive experiences of sexuality and to capture the unique meanings women ascribe to their sexuality through the use of participant-generated metaphor. We interviewed 17 diverse women regarding the meaning of sexuality in their lives. Coding revealed that metaphors for sexuality provided a creative and integrative way for women to express the complexity of their sexuality. In addition, a sexual developmental trajectory emerged from the analysis, as did themes of fluidity and ideal sexuality. Implications for theory and therapy, as well as future directions for research, are offered.     

Sexual freedoms

Women—still—experience different forms of sexism in their daily lives. After the sixteenth‐century Protestant proclamation of the blessings of motherhood and women's bodies, and the women's sexual liberation movement of the 1960s, women's real freedoms and rights with their bodies, including sexual relations and procreation, are still being negotiated. Violence against women's bodies, including sex trafficking, relates to both the lack of appropriate education and fundamentally distorted views of humanity. Considering Luther's teaching on women as imago Dei, and attending theologically to the issues pertaining to misogyny—such as reforming the traditionally male‐centered God‐language and challenging the culture's implicit permission for ongoing violence against women—are some of the concrete steps that can be taken. Given the revelations with the #MeToo movement, the ELCA's 2018 draft on the Social Statement on Gender and Justice is timely.     

A New Paradigm for Women's Sexual Orientation

Abstract

This paper critiques old models of women's sexual orientation that viewed heterosexuality as the norm for mental health, characterized lesbians as masculinized sexual “inverts,” and looked to biology to explain the development of homosexuality. A new paradigm for women's sexual orientation is presented. This paradigm emphasizes the importance of the social context and recognizes the multiple pathways that can lead a woman to identify as lesbian, bisexual or heterosexual. In addition, the main components of sexual orientation are considered as is the potential fluidity of women's sexuality. Throughout, implications of the new paradigm for psychotherapy with women are considered.     

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.     

Risk perception for acquaintance sexual aggression: A social-cognitive perspective

Beliefs that people hold about sources of harm and their personal susceptibility to harm have been shown to play an important role in their subsequent self-protection. With respect to acquaintance sexual aggression, women generally report low levels of perceived personal risk and, thus, low level preparedness to prevent or protect against this form of threat. In order to develop effective resistance efforts, a more complete understanding is needed of factors that shape perception of risk and how these factors are likely to influence—both positively and negatively—women's risk reduction and self-protection. This article addresses this need by reviewing recent literature on risk perception and identifying relevant applications of theory and findings to women's perception of risk for acquaintance sexual aggression.     

Habemus Corpus: Women's Embodiment,Feminist Spirituality and Catholic Theology—An Essay in Memory of Kevin Gordon

Abstract

The argument presented in this paper is that women's sexual experiences have been excluded from the formative traditions of the Catholic Church. Official church teachings are in fact predicated upon this exclusion and have thus prevented a vital aspect of human experience from being reflected within the authoritative understandings of the faith.

There is no common experience of sexual desire and imagery and symbolism generated by men who critique the Catholic tradition may not resonate with the understandings of women. Precisely because sexual experience is pluriform and particular it is important to give attention to the concrete specificity of lesbian women's lives. As their perspectives are articulated an alternative ‘language of desire’ is created which stands in tension to the monolithic, unchanging view of sexuality presented by the hierarchy of the church.     

Sex differences in type of extramarital involvement and marital dissatisfaction

This study extends traditional sex roles to extramarital relationships in order to clarify sex differences in extramarital involvement and marital dissatisfaction. Both emotional and sexual extramarital involvement were studied, since women's greater emphasis on emotional intimacy was ignored in earlier extramarital studies which focused solely on sexual involvement. A purposive sample of 300 White middle-class men and women completed anonymous questionnaires about marital and extramarital relationships. Men's extramarital relationships are more sexual and women's are more emotional. Women involved in extramarital relationships report greater marital dissatisfaction than their male counterparts. For both sexes, those with combined sexual and emotional extramarital involvement report the greatest marital dissatisfaction. In sum, traditional sex roles that influence the expressions of sexuality and emotionality in premarital and marital relationships also appear to operate in extramarital relationships.     

Discrepant Self-Views and Young Women's Sexual and Emotional Adjustment

Young women in the United States receive conflicting messages about being sexually moral versus sexually desirable. Drawing from self-discrepancy theory, we hypothesized that women's internalization of messages about morality and desirability influence their ought and ideal self-guides for sexuality, respectively. Further, we expected that women who viewed their actual selves as significantly less positive/more negative than their self-guides would endorse greater sexual and emotional problems. In Study 1, never-married undergraduate women (N = 242) completed measures of sexual self-views, ought self-guides, and sexual adjustment. In Study 2, another sample (N = 170) also completed measures of ideal self-guides, depression, and anxiety. Participants were predominantly Caucasian and from upper middle-class backgrounds. Both negative actual:ought and actual:ideal discrepancies were associated with poorer sexual adjustment. Negative actual:ought discrepancies were associated with anxiety but not depression, whereas negative actual:ideal discrepancies were associated with both anxiety and depression. Self-discrepancy theory is a useful framework for understanding how self-standards for sexual morality versus desirability are associated with young women's emotional and sexual adjustment.     

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.     

Keeping it real: Young adult women's authenticity in relationships and daily condom use

The role of relationship authenticity in shaping women's daily condom use was investigated. Forty‐seven sexually active women in dating relationships completed a measure of relationship authenticity and then reported on their daily condom use and relationship events for 14 consecutive days. Inauthentic women were less likely than more authentic women to use condoms, particularly on days with frequent negative events such as major disagreements with a romantic partner. These critical Person × Situation interactions remained significant after controlling for the use of another form of birth control, sexual frequency, knowledge of a partner's sexual history, and relationship satisfaction. Implications for sexual risk‐taking behaviors and future research using daily experience methods to study sexuality in dating relationships are discussed.     

The role of sexual self-schema in a diathesis—stress model of sexual dysfunction

Sexual self-schemas are cognitive generalizations regarding sexual aspects of the self that represent a core component of one's sexuality. We contend that individual differences in the sexual self-view represent an important cognitive diathesis for predicting sexual difficulty or dysfunction. We illustrate the role of sexual self-schemas on sexual behavior and responsiveness in healthy female and male samples. Next, we describe how diathesis—stress models of psychopathology have been applied to the sexual arena, and discuss the critical features of clinically useful diathesis variables. Drawing from these criteria, we examine the diathetic properties of sexual self-schemas. Finally, we discuss an empirical test of the proposed diathesis—stress interaction, reviewing the role of women's sexual self-views on sexual morbidity following diagnosis and treatment for gynecologic cancer.     

Predicting Sexual Satisfaction in Women: Implications for Counselor Education and Training

The authors examined how physical affection in the family of origin, partner initiation and communication, and masturbatory practices predicted 4 measures of sexual satisfaction. Participants in this national study were 2,632 women who volunteered to complete a survey on women's sexuality. Results showed that partner initiation and communication most strongly predicted female sexual satisfaction regardless of how it was measured. Implications for counselor education and training are discussed, and directions for further study are suggested.     

The Effects of Clothing and Dyad Sex Composition on Perceptions of Sexual Intent: Do Women and Men Evaluate These Cues Differently1

The effects of clothing revealingness and dyad-sex composition on perceptions of male- and female-stimulus persons' sexuality were examined. Based on Abbey's (1982) findings, we hypothesized that men would attribute more sexuality to both male and female targets than women would. Furthermore, we predicted that the difference between men's and women's sexuality ratings would be most divergent when a male-female dyad was presented and when the female stimulus person wore revealing clothing. A laboratory study was conducted in which subjects viewed a photograph of two students in a classroom. As predicted, male subjects rated female targets as more sexy and seductive than did female subjects. Also as predicted, female targets who wore revealing clothing were rated as more sexy and seductive than those wearing nonrevealing clothing. Female targets were rated higher on sexual traits regardless of the gender of their partner. Men did not consistently perceive male stimulus persons more sexually than women did. Finally, both female and male targets were perceived as more kind and warm when they wore nonrevealing clothing. The implications of these findings for person perception and date rape research are described.     

Rassenschande,Genocide and the Reproductive Jewish Body: examining the use of rape and sexualized violence against Jewish women during the Holocaust?

Rape and sexual violence against Jewish women is a relatively unexplored area of investigation. This article adds to the scant literature on this topic. It asks: how and why did women's reproductive bodies (gender), combined with their status as Jews (race), make them particularly vulnerable during the Holocaust? The law against Rassenschande (racial defilement) prohibited sexual relations between Aryans and non-Aryans. Yet, Jewish women were raped by German men. Providing a more nuanced account than is provided by the dehumanization thesis, this article argues that women were targeted precisely because of their Jewishness and their reproductive capabilities. In addition, this piece proposes that the genocidal attack on women's bodies in the form of rape (subsequently leading to the murder of impregnated women) and sexualized violence (forced abortions and forced sterilizations) must be interpreted as an attack on an essentialized group: woman-as-Jew.