People Declare Lowered Levels of Sociosexual Desire in the Presence of an Attractive Audience

Due to social desirability bias, people tend to self-present themselves in the presence of others in a favorable light, which sometimes may lead to deviations from reality. This phenomenon is particularly pronounced when controversial or strictly norm-bounded matters are considered. Here, we tested how a presence of an attractive model-either male or female-influences people's declarations on their sociosexual orientation-the degree of their sexual permissiveness in terms of their past behavior, attitudes toward uncommitted sex, and desire for sexual intercourse with individuals they are not in a relationship with. The participants (N = 244, 52% men) answered questions about their sociosexuality in solitude, or out loud with an attractive model present. The results show that both men and women declare lowered levels of their desire, but not behavior or attitude, in the presence of both male and female attractive models. A follow-up study (N = 188, 51% men) showed that this effect was not due to the differing conditions of responding (out loud vs written down). The research points out to an area of human sexuality that is prone to being falsified in research and which serves as an important factor in self-presentation.

Ambiguous Encounters: Young women's expectations and experiences with intoxicated sexual relations in Danish nightlife

This article is based on 28 in-depth interviews with young women (18–25) about their experiences with intoxicated sexual encounters in Danish nightlife. Little research has examined the role intoxication plays in the processes of consensual and non-consensual sex. Using theories of intoxication and sexual scripts, this article focuses on how alcohol is used and perceived by these young women as a potential way of modifying behaviours and norms in their sexual encounters; how they characterize sexual consent and how they navigate intoxicated behaviour that can result in inappropriate, transgressive or victimizing situations. While the women talk about pleasurable and regrettable experiences, many described situations took on a much more ambiguous, fluid and nuanced role. The study points to the lack of knowledge on how ambiguity may play an active role in managing processes of sexual consent in intoxicated settings, especially for the youngest age groups.

Social Media as Input for Recruiment: Does Women's Relationship History Affect Candidate Evaluations?

We examine whether information about a female candidate's relationship history, obtained from social media profiles, affects evaluations of her suitability for a student union board position. Moreover, we investigate whether it is possible to mitigate any bias against women with multiple partners by providing information about the origins of prejudice. We utilized a 2 (relationship history: multiple vs. one partner(s)) X 2 (mitigating information: explaining prejudice against promiscuous women vs. explaining prejudice against outgroups) experimental design across two studies. Participants were female students (Study 1: n = 209 American students; Study 2; n = 119 European students), who indicated whether they would hire the applicant for a job, and evaluated this applicant. Results show that generally, participants tended to evaluate the candidate with multiple partners less positively than the candidate with only one partner: They were less likely to hire her (Study 1), evaluated her less positively (Study 1), and considered her less of a fit with the organization (Study 1 and 2). The results regarding providing additional information were not consistent. Our findings suggest that private social media information can influence applicant evaluations and hiring decisions, and therefore organizations should be careful when utilizing social information in recruitment processes.

Direct and Indirect Roles of Men in Determining Women Decision to Use Laser Procedures for Skin Care

Laser procedures for skin care is becoming increasingly popular and used by the global community and affect many aspects of human life. However, there is very little research on the role of men in women's decision to follow this dermatological procedure. This study aimed to identify the role of men in motivating women to choose laser-based procedure. A systematic literature review research design was applied in this study. A total of 27 papers were obtained by searching PubMed Central for the 2013-2022 editions. The extraction of samples and the motivation of patients or research respondents in choosing laser procedures for cosmetic treatments were conducted to obtain clues about the role of men in making these decisions. Only six studies explicitly reveal the role of men as motivators of women to perform laser-based dermatological procedures. Four of these six studies were conducted in Asia in countries with a high degree of collectivism. The remaining two studies reveal a minor role for men in women's motivation to choose dermatological procedures. Other studies only indirectly implicate the role of men through intrasexual competition, increased self-esteem, and the needs of the world of work. Limitations of the study lies in the non-specificity of the study sample in the female population, laser-based treatments, and the role of men in motivating women. The role of men in motivating women to perform laser-based skin care procedures is stated explicitly in collectivist cultures while only implicitly in individualist cultures. These findings indicate that the strategy of utilizing the added value of men to laser treatment procedures should be directed at the relationship between men and women in real terms in collective cultured countries.

Do Environmental Cues to Discovery Influence the Likelihood to Rape?

Research on men's sexual exploitation of women has documented that men's psychology tracks cues associated with the ease of women's exploitability. In the current studies, we examined a different class of cues hypothesized to aid men's use of sexually exploitative strategies: environmental cues to the likelihood of discovery. We defined likelihood of discovery as the perceived probability of identification when engaging in exploitative behavior (e.g., presence of others). We test the hypothesis that men's likelihood to rape increases when their perception of the likelihood of discovery is low in three studies. In Study 1, we conducted a content analysis of individuals' responses (N = 1,881) when asked what one would do if they could stop time or be invisible. Besides the "other" category whereby there were no specific category for nominated behaviors, the most nominated category included sexually exploitative behavior-representing 15.3% of reported behaviors. Both Studies 2 (N = 672) and 3 (N = 614) were preregistered manipulations of likelihood of discovery surreptitiously testing men's rape likelihood to rape across varying levels of discovery. We found men, compared to women, reported a statistically higher likelihood to rape in both Studies 2 and 3: 48% compared to 39.7% and 19% compared to 6.8%, respectively. Across Studies 2 and 3, we found no statistical effect of the likelihood of discovery on participants' likelihood to rape. We discuss how the presence of one's peers may provide social protection against the costs of using an exploitative sexual strategy if a perpetrator is caught.

Monogamy as protection against COVID-19?: Non-monogamy stigma and risk (Mis)perception

COVID-19 public health messages largely communicated that Americans were "safer at home." Implicit in this advice are messages about protections ostensibly also offered by monogamy-that having more relationships is always more dangerous than having fewer relationships and that closer relationships are always safer-from a disease transmission perspective-than unfamiliar relationships. These heuristics may have led people to discount other COVID-19 dangers (such as spending more time with others of unknown infection status) and to ignore COVID-specific safety measures (such as mask-wearing, and ventilation). We conducted three studies in which we used experimental vignettes to assess people's perceptions of COVID-risky targets in monogamous relationships with a close, committed partner versus targets who were described as non-monogamous with casual partners but relatively COVID-safe. Participants perceived monogamous-but-COVID-riskier targets as more responsible and safer from COVID-19. Non-monogamy stigma seems to extend analogously to COVID-19 risk. Public health messages that fail to attend to the specifics and nuances of close relationships risk contributing to this stigma and ultimately undermining the goals of reducing the spread of infectious disease.

“Breaking Free”: A Grounded Theory Study of Atheist Women in the United States

Using a critical, grounded theory approach, we interviewed 31 atheist-identified women to ascertain the ways in which women develop and navigate an atheist identity and how their experience is influenced by patriarchal, hegemonic Christianity in the United States using a concealable stigmatized identity framework. Qualitative analysis resulted in six core categories: (1) Embracing Atheism as Liberation, (2) Escaping Christian Patriarchy, Challenging Atheist Patriarchy, (3) Low Identity Salience Provides Protection from Anti-Atheist Discrimination, (4) Expectations to Conform to Christian Norms, (5) Disclosure Requires Thoughtfulness and Purpose, and (6) Connecting with Other Atheists is Valuable and Elusive. Although atheist women experienced sexism within atheist communities that made connecting with other atheists challenging, participants viewed atheism as liberating them from religious patriarchy. Anti-atheist discrimination was common early in women’s atheist identity development, but not as frequent or salient over time. Rather, Christian hegemony and the expectation to adapt to Christian norms were more distressing than individual acts of anti-atheist discrimination. Therefore, concealment and disclosure were used to reduce personal discomfort and protect others’ feelings, rather than to avoid overt anti-atheist stigma. Integration with previous concealable stigmatized identity and atheism literature is discussed. In the interest of more equitable and healthy atheist communities for women atheists, community members and leaders are encouraged to dismantle patriarchy within secular organizations and center women’s voices and experiences. Clinicians and researchers can increase awareness of how hegemonic, patriarchal Christianity influences their professional work and the women they serve and eradicate such bias from their methods.

The Relationship between the Sexual Double Standard and Women's Sexual Health and Comfort

The current research explores the relationship between Sexual Double Standard (SDS) endorsement and women's sexual health and attitudes. Women (n = 705) completed an SDS endorsement scale, and then answered a variety of questions in three main categories of outcome variables: sexual comfort, sexual reputation, and sexual health. Results suggest that women's SDS endorsement was not related to women's sexual comfort. Further, SDS endorsement was slightly positively related to how concerned women were about their sexual reputation. Regarding sexual health, SDS endorsement was related to a shorter timespan since women's last OBGYN screening, and unrelated to women's discomfort discussing birth control with their OBGYN. Results suggest there is much more to explore in targeted studies on the relationship of SDS endorsement to women's perceptions of their sexual reputations and their interactions with OBGYNs with respect to the SDS. Previous and related research is discussed, along with implications of the current research.

Examining Rules in Friends with Benefits Relationships

Establishing communicative and behavioral boundaries in romantic relationships provides partners with a greater sense of relational stability and certainty. For romantic relationships, these boundaries, such as sexual exclusivity, are relatively straightforward. For casual sex relationships, however, the relational rules are less stable and certain. This exploratory study examined rules in friends with benefits relationships (FWBRs) for 109 college students in the USA. Responses to open-ended questions were collected through an online questionnaire, and data were qualitatively analyzed through an inductive thematic analysis. The data were structured into communication rules, sexual rules, and relational definition rules. Results provide overlap and extension of previous work investigating rules in FWBRs. Notably, participants reported sexual exclusivity as an important rule. Additionally, potentially competing discourses in FWBR rules were best understood through the lens of relational dialectics. Findings reflect a tension in terms of relational work, as partners struggle with maintaining their sexual and friendship relationship while not falling into the "territory" of romantic relationships.

"BLURRING THE LINE:" INTOXICATION, GENDER, CONSENT AND SEXUAL ENCOUNTERS AMONG YOUNG ADULTS

Social concern about sexual practices and sexual consent among young adults has increased significantly in recent years, and intoxication has often played a key role in such debates. While many studies have long suggested that alcohol plays a role in facilitating (casual) sexual encounters, intoxication has largely either been conceptualized as a risk factor, or researchers have focused on the pharmacological effects of alcohol on behaviors associated with sexual interaction and consent. To date little work has explored how young adults define and negotiate acceptable and unacceptable levels of intoxication during sexual encounters, nor the ways in which different levels of intoxication influence gendered sexual scripts and meanings of consent. This paper explores the latter two research questions using data from 145 in-depth, qualitative interviews with cisgender, heterosexual young adults ages 18-25 in the San Francisco Bay Area. In examining these interview data, by exploring the relationship between intoxication and sexual consent, and the ways in which gender plays out in notions of acceptable and unacceptable intoxicated sexual encounters, we highlight how different levels of intoxication signal different sexual scripts. Narratives about sexual encounters at low levels of intoxication highlighted the role of intoxication in achieving sexual sociability, but they also relied on the notion that intoxicated consent was dependent on the social relationship between the partners outside drinking contexts. Narratives about sexual encounters in heavy drinking situations were more explicitly gendered, often in keeping with traditionally gendered sexual scripts. In general we found that when men discussed their own levels of intoxication, their narratives were more focused on sexual performance and low status sex partners, while women's and some men's narratives about women's levels of intoxication were focused on women's consent, safety, and respectability. Finally, some participants rely on 'consent as a contract' and 'intoxication parity'- the idea that potential sexual partners should be equally intoxicated - to handle relations of power in interpersonal sexual scripts. Since these notions are sometimes deployed strategically, we suggest that they may serve to "black-box" gendered inequalities in power between the parties involved.

Still Striving After All These Years: Between Normality of Conduct and Normativity of Evaluation in Casual Relationships among College Students

Gender similarities have been detected in various sexual behaviors and attitudes in young adults, but persistent differences remain regarding casual sexual relationships (CSRs), with women feeling different external pressures than men. We set out to study the spontaneous references made to gender similarities and differences towards CSRs in eight focus group interviews (N = 35 college-students, aged 18-28) about the characteristics of CSRs within a social-role framework. The thematic analysis led us to the interpretation that there is an ongoing change in the acceptability of these relationships, leading to the emergence of a single sexual standard - mostly liberal, but at times also conservative. However, different expectations remain, derived from a deep-rooted traditional sexual double standard still perceived in society. Challenges to the unequal standards and social constraints in CSRs is desired by many women, defended by men, and admired in those women whose striving contributes to the normalization of this conduct and of how it is evaluated.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-021-02344-9.

Thinking as the others do: persistence and conformity of sexual double standard among young Italians

The double standard represents a standard of good behaviour that, unfairly, some people are expected to follow or achieve, but others are not. Once neglected by social scientists, the double standard in sexual attitudes has become more and more studied. In this paper, we inquire about the existence of the double standard in opinions regarding peers’ sexual behaviours and study its determinants. What makes young people judge the sexual behaviour of women in a more conservative way than that of men? The paper uses data collected from Italian university students, who are asked to express their (dis)approval of a series of sexual behaviours, considering peers of either gender participating in those behaviours. The results show that the double standard exists and has been persistent amid Italian undergraduate students over the last 20 years, and that the cultural context matters more than the family in shaping students’ beliefs.

Invariance of the Sexual Double Standard Scale: A Cross-Cultural Study

The Sexual Double Standard (SDS) is an instrument used to judge sexual behavior, in which men are usually granted greater sexual freedom, while the same sexual behavior is condemned in women. Culture can be a relevant variable for the SDS. Therefore, we have examined the measurement invariance of the Sexual Double Standard Scale (SDSS) across the Spanish and Colombian populations, comparing this phenomenon by country and gender. The scale comprises two factors: sexual freedom and sexual shyness. The sample consisted of 1832 heterosexual adults (46.3% men, 53.7% women), 54.3% of whom were Spanish and 45.7% Colombian. Strong invariance was found. The reliability values were good for country and gender. Men and women from both countries supported greater freedom for themselves compared to the other gender. Furthermore, Spanish women, unlike their Colombian counterparts, supported greater sexual shyness for men. Thus, what some authors have labeled as a "reverse sexual double standard" seems to emerge.