Excitation Transfer Between Sexual Arousal and Other Emotions in a Community Sample

Victim Sexual Arousal During Nonconsensual Sex: A Scoping Review

Sexual arousal in male and female victims during nonconsensual sex is an understudied phenomenon with many potential psychological, clinical, and legal implications for survivors. The aim of this scoping review was to assess the literature to determine whether we could estimate the frequency and circumstances of physiological sexual arousal (e.g., erection, lubrication, ejaculation, orgasm) among victims during nonconsensual sex. Six reference database and hand searches led to the screening of 13,894 articles and other reports. Eight articles and one book published between 1977 and 2019 included relevant data from 136 male survivors and 250 female survivors. Results confirmed that physiological sexual arousal (only genital responses were mentioned) can occur in both male and female victims during nonconsensual sex. The frequency of these responses could not be determined because of the widely different methodologies used. In addition, it was not possible to determine the circumstances in which victim sexual arousal was more likely to occur although some were inferred. The results of the scoping review highlight that physiological sexual arousal during nonconsensual sex does occur for victims but has not been studied systematically. There is a clear need to properly assess the type, circumstances, consequences, and frequency of sexual arousal during nonconsensual sex in large and diverse populations of male and female survivors.

Factor Analysis With Unusual Sexual Interests: A Replication Study in a Representative Population Sample

A previous study found a variety of unusual sexual interests to cluster in a five-factor structure, namely submission/masochism, forbidden sexual activities, dominance/sadism, mysophilia, and fetishism (Schippers et al., 2021). The current study was an empirical replication to examine whether these findings generalized to a representative population sample. An online, anonymous sample (N = 256) representative of the Dutch adult male population rated 32 unusual sexual interests on a scale from 1 (very unappealing) to 7 (very appealing). An exploratory factor analysis assessed whether similar factors would emerge as in the original study. A subsequent confirmatory factor analysis served to confirm the factor structure. Four slightly different factors of sexual interest were found: extreme, illegal and mysophilic sexual activities; light BDSM without real pain or suffering; heavy BDSM that may include pain or suffering; and illegal but lower-sentenced and fetishistic sexual activities. The model fit was acceptable. The representative replication sample was more sexually conservative and showed less sexual engagement than the original convenience sample. On a fundamental level, sexual interest in light BDSM activities and extreme, forbidden, and mysophilic activities seem to be relatively separate constructs.

Measurement Invariance across Sexual Orientation for Measures of Sexual Attitudes

Despite the growing interest in the study of sexual attitudes across sexual orientation, few studies have tested whether the instruments used to measure them are invariant. This study examined measurement invariance (configural, weak, strong, and strict) across sexual orientation in three different sexual attitude scales: the Sexual Opinion Survey (SOS) to assess erotophilia, the Hurlbert Index of Sexual Fantasy (HISF) to assess attitudes toward sexual fantasies, and the Negative Attitudes Toward Masturbation Inventory (NATMI) to assess negative attitudes toward masturbation. A total of 2293 Spanish adult men and women with different sexual orientations (i.e., heterosexual, bisexual, and gay) participated in the study. The results indicated strict invariance for HISF across sexual orientation and only weak invariance for SOS and NATMI. Differential item functioning was also found in two items of the NATMI scale. Evidence of validity was provided for the three scales that were studied.

Bidirectional relationship between sexual arousal and (sex-related) disgust

Sexual stimuli provoke both sexual arousal and disgust, and the coaction between these emotions determines sexually behavioral outcomes. The current research includes two experiments to explore the bidirectional relationship between sexual arousal toward erotic stimuli and disgust induced by sexual body fluids. Study 1 presented 234 participants (117 women) with sexual body (vs. neutral) fluids followed by erotic stimuli, and Study 2 presented 235 participants (117 women) with erotic (vs. neutral) videos followed by sexual body fluids (and a non-sex-related stimulus). Study 1 showed that exposure to sexual body fluids reduced sexual arousal and the likelihood of sexual engagement toward erotic stimuli in participants with high sexual disgust sensitivity but increased sexual arousal and the likelihood of sexual engagement in participants with low sexual disgust sensitivity, while Study 2 suggested that men exposed to erotic (vs. neutral) stimuli reported lower disgust, stronger sexual arousal state, and higher willingness to interact with the sexual body fluids. There was no relationship between subjective feelings of sexual arousal and disgust in these experiments, while the balance of sexual arousal and disgust toward sexual body fluids and erotic stimuli had a positive association. Also, exposure to erotic stimuli had no effect on reactions to generally disgusting stimulus, but feelings of sexual arousal toward erotic stimuli were positively associated with disgust induced by generally disgusting fluid. These findings suggest that Behavior Immune System regulates disgust to establish a balance between benefit and cost related to sex as well as provide insight into the process underlying sexual dysfunctions.