This study assessed the influence of gender on attitudes about bisexuals. A total of 164 heterosexual female and 89 heterosexual male undergraduates completed the Biphobia Scale (Mulick & Wright, 2002), rewritten to refer to bisexual men and bisexual women and thus re-named the Gender-Specific Binegativity Scale. A mixed-design ANOVA revealed an interaction between rater's sex and target's sex: women equally accepted bisexual men and bisexual women, but men were less accepting of bisexual men than bisexual women. A mediation analysis indicated the relationship between rater's sex and greater acceptance of bisexual women was partially explained by eroticization of female same-sex sexuality. Finally, participants also responded to two open-ended items, which provided additional information about the content of binegativity: participants described male bisexuals negatively, as gender-nonconforming, and labeled them "really gay," whereas participants described female bisexuals positively, as sexy, and labeled them "really heterosexual." These findings suggest multiple underlying beliefs about bisexuals that contribute to binegativity, particularly against bisexual men. Results also confirm the importance of considering gender (of both the target and the rater) when assessing sexual prejudice.

An unrestricted sociosexual orientation (the endorsement of casual sex) has been found to correlate with undesirable behaviors and personality characteristics more so in men than in women. Using a community sample of men and women, we investigated the correlations between sociosexuality and behaviors, motives, attitudes, and fantasies related to sexual aggression. Participants (n = 168; ages 21-45) completed self-report measures of sociosexual orientation, sexual conservatism, rape myth acceptance, adversarial sexual beliefs, attitudes toward women, sexual behaviors, and perpetration of sexual aggression. Participants also wrote five brief stories that were scored for power and affiliation-intimacy motives and two sexual fantasies that were coded for the theme of dominance. For both men and women, an unrestricted sociosexual orientation was correlated with behavioral items indicating earlier life experiences with sex, a greater number of lifetime sex partners, and more frequent sexual activity. For men, an unrestricted sociosexual orientation was linked with higher levels of rape myth acceptance and adversarial sexual beliefs; more conservative attitudes toward women; higher levels of power motivation and lower levels of affiliation-intimacy motivation; and past use of sexual aggression. For women, an unrestricted sociosexual orientation was associated with sexual fantasies of dominance and lower levels of sexual conservatism.

Our purpose was to explore a relatively new sexual behavior-heterosexual women kissing one another publicly at college parties. Popular press articles suggest this is a common occurrence among college women, but no known psychological research has been conducted on its prevalence or meaning. In Study 1, we conducted an online survey of students at a private, residential college to ascertain the prevalence of this behavior. Results indicated that a substantial minority of women (33%) had engaged in this behavior, and the majority of participants (69%), both male and female, had observed this behavior. In Study 2, we recruited heterosexual women who reported having kissed another woman at a college party. We collected openended responses from 77 women via a questionnaire and 27 of these women also completed a semistructured interview. Thematic analyses revealed characteristics of the social context that encouraged this behavior, including pressure to so engage, high levels of alcohol consumption, heterosexist attitudes, and the belief that college is a time for experimentation. A total of seven different motivations for engaging in this behavior were described by participants, reflecting both extrinsic motivations (e.g., to gain male attention) and intrinsic motivations (e.g., to bond with female friends). Results are discussed in terms of sociocultural influences (women's sexual objectification and sexualized college parties) and individual factors (women's sexual fluidity and heterosexual identity development) related to this behavior, highlighting issues of empowerment versus objectification.

Research on body image has focused almost exclusively on heterosexual women and lesbians, leaving bisexual women's experiences largely ignored. The present study sought to gain an understanding of psychosocial factors (including sexual prejudice, romantic relationship history, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender [LGBT] communities, and feminist identity) that may contribute to bisexual women's experiences of body image. The authors conducted semistructured interviews with six bisexual women and used interpretative phenomenological analysis to analyze the results. This analysis resulted in four themes: bisexual women's desire to accept their bodies in a context of societal objectification; the influence of dominant sexuality and gender binaries that leave bisexual women feeling invisible; the protective role of LGBT communities and feminist identification in helping them resist the thin ideal; and the positive and the negative influences of romantic relationships with men and women. Results highlight the importance of validating sexual identity and promoting feminist identification and inclusion within an LGBT community for bisexual women. Future research might further explore the role of feminist communities and romantic relationships in bisexual women's body satisfaction and should include the experiences of bisexual women from diverse backgrounds. Editor's Note: Findings for the present study must be considered along with the discussion across the accompanying set of three reflection papers:

One hundred and sixty-two participants (ages 21-45) wrote open-ended sexual fantasies and completed self-report measures of rape myth acceptance, adversarial sexual beliefs, and attitudes toward women. We coded fantasies using a newly developed scoring system that includes themes of dominance, submission, sexual pleasure, and sexual desire. Men fantasized about dominance more than women did; they also tended to focus more on the desire and pleasure of their partner. Desire and pleasure were more closely linked in the fantasies of men than in the fantasies of women, for whom the two were distinct constructs. Although fantasies of submission were not associated with problematic attitudes for either gender, men's fantasies of dominance were associated with greater acceptance of rape myths. For women, greater rape myth acceptance was associated with emotional and romantic fantasy themes.