Sex,masculinity—feminity,and intelligence

Masculine and feminine subgroups of males and females were selected from samples of high school and college students on the basis of composite scores from several M—F scales. They were compared on intelligence as measured by a verbal test, Terman's Concept Mastery Test, and a nonverbal test, D-48. Results did not support previous findings of sex differences in intelligence but showed that masculine subgroups of both sexes scored higher of the nonverbal test.     

Rape: Sex crime,act of violence,or naturalistic adaptation?

Rape distorts one of the most intimate forms of human interaction. Those who rape do so for a number of reasons, but they basically involve the motives of anger, power, eroticized cruelty, and opportunistic mating. No single set of cognitive, psychodynamic, psychopathological, or neuropsychological factors has been identified in those who commit sexual assault, probably due to the heterogeneity of this offender group. It is thus important to understand the diversity of this crime category in order to devise more effective means of adjudicating, treating, and deterring it. As a reproductive strategy, rape has certain risks as well as benefits, which accounts for it persistence in human populations as a minority mating tactic. Although most women fear rape by strangers, they are far more likely to be sexually assaulted by someone they know, especially their own mate. Alcohol and substance use plays a large role in many rapes. Rape can take both a physical and psychological toll on its victims, and clinicians must continue to explore more effective ways to treat rape survivors and to develop proactive strategies to help women prevent initial victimization and revictimization.     

Female Online Sex Workers’ Perceptions of Exit from Sex Work

Although the sex work industry has evolved with the emergence of internet marketing, little research examines sex workers who advertise online (i.e., online sex workers) and how their work experiences may differ from those of other sex workers who have been studied more extensively. This qualitative study addresses this gap by examining female online sex workers’ perceptions of exit from sex work. Data come from semi-structured interviews conducted in Southern California in 2014, with twenty-seven female online sex workers. Participants varied in their perceptions of exit meaning, desirability, and feasibility, and in their intentions to exit from sex work.     

Male Role Norm Endorsement and Sexism Predict Heterosexual College Men’s Attitudes Toward Casual Sex,Intoxicated Sexual Contact,and Casual Sex

This study examined whether gender roles, particularly male role beliefs and sexism, may underlie self-reported attitudes toward and participation in casual sex and intoxication prior to sexual contact in a sample of heterosexual undergraduate men from the United States. We utilized online survey methods to examine whether men’s (N?=?223 from a large mid-Atlantic University) endorsement of traditional masculinity (power and status, toughness, and anti-femininity) and sexist attitudes regarding women’s roles (hostile, benevolent) were related to engagement in casual sex (i.e., number of one-time-only sex partners), and whether masculinity was related to intoxicated sexual contact (i.e., propensity to consume alcohol prior to sexual contact). Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) revealed that, as expected, endorsement of the toughness male role norm was positively associated with favorable attitudes toward casual sex, and endorsement of benevolent sexism was negatively associated with favorable attitudes toward casual sex. Favorable attitudes toward casual sex, in turn, were positively associated with men’s reported number of casual sex partners, as partially mediated by intoxicated sexual contact. Further, toughness endorsement was positively associated with number of casual sex partners via its positive association with intoxicated sexual contact; whereas power and status demonstrated the opposite, negative pattern. We discuss the contribution of this research to the broader literature on gender roles and sexual behavior and the utility of the findings for interventions aimed at reducing men’s casual sex behavior and intoxication prior to sexual contact.     

Hong Kong’s Parents’ Views on Sex,Marriage, and Homosexuality

Sex education in schools has had a slow start in Hong Kong. Research has shown that many young people are dissatisfied with the inadequacy of existing sex education. This research used a survey to explore Hong Kong parents’ views on topics related to sex, marriage, and homosexuality, and when these topics should be taught. Altogether, 12 schools participated in the study. The results show that parents were reluctant to have schools discuss love and courtship with secondary students. Parents were more willing to have their children educated about the use of contraceptives and homosexuality as early as primary school. Parents expressed serious reservations about their children developing homosexual lifestyles and entering same-sex marriages. We also found differences in parents’ views with respect to age, education attained, and religion. Findings of this study were discussed with reference to future research directions and to strengthen Hong Kong parents’ contribution to the design of sex education.     

What Do Sex, Twins, Spotted Hyenas, ADHD, and Sexual Orientation Have in Common?

ABSTRACT— The otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) measured in a collection of special populations of humans and certain nonhuman species suggest that OAEs may provide a window into some processes of human prenatal development and sexual differentiation. For reasons that are unclear, OAEs appear to be highly sensitive to events occurring during prenatal development that seem to be related to the degree of exposure to androgens a fetus receives. The (largely circumstantial) evidence for a relationship between androgen exposure and OAE strength comes from a series of studies of twins, children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, people of differing sexual orientations, and spotted hyenas, among others. Some conclusions are bolstered by parallel studies using auditory evoked potentials (AEPs). OAEs and AEPs are simple, objective, noninvasive measures that appear to have potential as tools of value to researchers working on a wide variety of basic and applied topics beyond audition.     

Sex Roles, Interpersonal Control, and Depression: Who Can Get Their Way?

This study is one of a series of investigations examining the contribution of sex roles to the development of depression within a learned helplessness framework. Utilizing 143 pairs of undergraduate female participants, the present study explored subjects′ abilities to gain and maintain control in an interpersonal context. Interpersonal control was operationalized as successful persuasion in a two-person discussion task, wherein one participant had hidden instructions to be maximally persuasive in discussing a questionnaire about social behavior. The results indicated that less successful persuasion was associated with increases in depressed mood. Furthermore, women with high masculinity and low femininity were able to gain interpersonal control regardless of the sex role of their partner. The results also suggested that high femininity is associated both with giving up control in interpersonal tasks and with increases in depressed mood when one is faced with the task of exerting interpersonal control. The findings were interpreted in terms of the importance of sex role characteristics in learned helplessness and depression.     

Job Search and Sex Segregation: Does Sex of Social Contact Matter?

In this study, we investigate how the sex of the social contact women use to find jobs affects the segregation of women into jobs in female-dominated occupations. Using women in the Metropolitan Employer-Worker Survey (MEWS), we test two competing hypotheses from the literature. One body of literature argues that women who use men as social contacts in job search have a higher probability of finding a non-female-dominated job; another body of literature argues that sex of social contact has no effect on the probability of finding a non-female-dominated job. There are 1131 working women in the MEWS; 73% are white, 20% African American, and 2% other races. Our analysis shows that women are significantly less likely to find jobs in female-dominated occupations when their social contact is a man rather than a woman and this holds true regardless of the strength of the tie to the social contact or whether or not the social contact is work-related. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory and research on sex segregation.     

Male/Male Sex in Hong Kong: Privacy,Please?

In August 2005, the age of consent for male/male sexual activity in Hong Kong was held to be arbitrarily and discriminatorily targeting gay men and thus in violation of an individual’s right to privacy and his right of equality on the basis of sexual orientation. While the decision has since been affirmed on appeal, it has been argued that judicial recourse to equality rights where privacy rights would have sufficed for the provisions to be struck down was a misguided, if not mistaken, effort that merely reinforced the stereotype that gay men are “hypersexualized” and was a setback for the gay rights movement in Hong Kong. This article examines whether the argument is a well-founded one and discusses the implications of confining a man’s right to have consensual sex with another man to his privacy rights alone.

Alcohol and Sex Offending: What Do Child Sex Offenders Think About Drinking?

The relationship between general and sex-specific alcohol expectancies and drinking before offending was examined in a sample of child sex offenders. Regression analyses revealed that sex-specific expectancies were the single best predictor of the proportion of times the offenders reported drinking before offending, even when the offenders' (preincarceration) customary drinking behaviors were accounted for. These results highlight the importance of assessing expectancies related to particular social domains. Implications for offender treatment and relapse prevention are discussed.     

Comments on Brandow's “ideology,myth, and reality: Sex equality in Israel”

Brandow's claim that the myth of equality between the sexes in Israel is alive, while in fact equality is nonexistent, is critically reviewed. Brandow's work is seen as problematic in its methodology and in its representation of the extensive research conducted on equality in Israel. On the basis of the available data, the present authors provide more information about the themes touched upon in Brandow's article. The duality of religious and secualr values and legislation, occupational status of women, women's education, the military role of women, and the role division between wives and husbands are presented and discussed. The conclusion is that the area of equality of the sexes in Israel is marked by continuous gains in societal balance.     

Misplaced Priorities: Gutmann’s Democratic Theory,Children’s Autonomy,and Sex Education Policy

This paper offers a critique of the “democratic state of education” proposed by Amy Gutmann in her influential book Democratic Education. In the democratic state of education, educational authority is shared among the state, parents and educational professionals; and educational objectives are geared toward equipping future citizens to participate in what Gutmann calls “conscious social reproduction”—the collective shaping of the future of society through democratic deliberation. Although I agree with some of Gutmann’s broad recommendations for civic education, I have misgivings about the centrality that she gives to conscious social reproduction in her theory of education. I argue that in focusing so intently on the facilitation of conscious social reproduction, Gutmann’s theory makes insufficient room for the basic interests of individual children, and in particular, their prospective interest in autonomy. Gutmann’s considered position on sex education policy—specifically, her willingness to allow local communities to deny their children access to sex education—exemplifies the shortcomings of her theory. Ultimately, her democratic state of education fails to acknowledge the fundamental moral importance of individual flourishing, and the contribution that education can and should make to it.     

Ekstasis as (Beyond?) Jouissance: Sex,Queerness, and Apophaticism in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition

Ekstasis (ecstasy) is central to Eastern Orthodox theology, an encounter that sets the self on the way towards knowledge of and union with God. Ekstasis is fundamentally apophatic — achieved through the eschewal of cognitive knowledge, and experiential — precipitated by practices that foster self-renunciation and transcendence. This article examines how this notion of ecstasy, as narrated in the Orthodox theology of Staniloae and Lossky, can aid, and be aided by, queer theoretical claims regarding sex. Through examining Lacan's notion of jouissance and Bersani's utilization of it, as well as Williams's analysis of sex as “the body's grace,” this article explores how sex, particularly orgasm, can function as a spiritual resource, as a site of and practice towards ecstasy. This article concludes with a brief examination of the ethical implications of this frame.     

Sex differences in social representations of aggression: Men justify,women excuse?

Women tend to hold an expressive social representation of aggression (as a loss of self‐control) while men tend to hold an instrumental representation (as a means of imposing control over others). Because expressive beliefs correspond to excuses and instrumental beliefs to justifications, it may be a sex difference in moral acceptability of aggression that informs social representation. Participants completed the Expagg questionnaire with reference to an episode of same‐sex or cross‐sex physical aggression and rated the moral acceptability of their behaviour. Women scored higher on Expagg (specifically lower than men on the instrumental scale) but there was no effect of target sex or participant‐by‐target interaction. Contrary to expectation, women rated their own aggression as more acceptable than did men and hence this could not explain their lower levels of instrumentality relative to men. Aggr. Behav. 29:128–133, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

A Note on Variations in “Persistence” Test Score with Sex,Age, and Academic Level

Summary

Preferences for 10 foreign nations were assessed in 60 English children, and information about one nation (Germany) was elicited. Evaluations of the nations seemed largely more-or-less adequate approximations to a cultural standard, while information about Germany was sketchy and largely related to war. A previously reported curvilinear relationship between preference and knowledge was confirmed, significantly, among the Ss with the more reliable preference judgments.

The children were played a story set either in their own nation (England) or an unpopular nation (Germany), Their immediate apprehension of the story was unaffected by the setting. Recall after seven weeks, however, showed relative evaluative distortion, according to the national setting. It is suggested that such selective recall could occur in such a way as to provide apparent—but spurious—cognitive justification of early evaluative learning in the field of national attitudes.     

Does Sex Matter? The Moderating Role of Sex on the Relationship Between Stress Biomarkers and Cognition

We examined the moderating role of sex on the relationship between salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase (sAA) and a diverse battery of cognitive outcomes including measures of working memory capacity, executive functioning, and prospective memory in addition to a more traditional memory measure (episodic memory). The final sample for the analyses included 144 participants (34 men and 110 women). Multiple regressions were performed to test the moderating role of sex on the stress biomarker-cognition relationship. For backward counting performance, higher cortisol levels were related to worse performance in men, but not women. Higher cortisol levels were also related to lower word recall, but only in men. Finally, men, but not women, had higher switching costs in the Trail Making task as levels of sAA rose. The results provide evidence that sex moderates the stress biomarker-cognition relationship in a variety of cognitive outcomes. Although not part of the primary analysis, sAA and cortisol interacted such that increased sAA levels were only negatively related to backward counting performance when cortisol levels were low. The findings are discussed primarily in terms of biological sex differences in the stress response.