Emotional Intimacy Power Predicts Different Sexual Experiences for Men and Women

Edwards, Gaynor L.; Barber, Bonnie L.; Dziurawiec, Suzanne

doi:10.1080/00224499.2012.729277

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Heterosexual men’s behavior is important to controlling the epidemic of STIs and HIV for heterosexual women as well as for men themselves, but until recently, research on heterosexual risk reduction has focused more on women (Bowleg et al, 2013; Edwards, Barber & Dziurawiec, 2013; Exner, Gardos, Seal & Ehrhardt, 1999; Higgins, Hoffman & Dworkin, 2010; Kennedy et al, 2013; Phillips & Pirkle, 2011). While this is partly because disease transmission is more efficient from men to women than vice versa (Haverkost & Quinn, 1995), this state of affairs also parallels tendencies to emphasize the vulnerability of women (Dworkin, 2005) and to place responsibility for protection on them (Campbell, 1995).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Condoms and Contexts: Profiles of Sexual Risk and Safety Among Young Heterosexually Active Men

Masters

Casey

Beadnell

et al. 2014

The Journal of Sex Research

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Heterosexual men’s sexual safety behavior is important to controlling the U.S. epidemic of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV. While sexual safety is often treated as a single behavior, such as condom use, it can also be conceptualized as resulting from multiple factors. Doing so can help us achieve more nuanced understandings of sexual risk and safety within partner-related contexts. We used Latent Class Analysis with data collected online from 18-25 year old heterosexually active U.S. men (n = 432) to empirically derive a typology of the patterns of sexual safety strategies they employ. Indicators were sexual risk reduction strategies used in the past year with the most recent female sex partner: Condom use, discussing sexual histories, STI testing, agreeing to be monogamous, and discussing birth control. We identified four subgroups: Risk Takers (12%), Condom Reliers (25%), Multistrategists (28%), and Relationship Reliers (35%). Partner-related context factors – number of past-year sex partners, relationship commitment, and sexual concurrency – predicted subgroup membership. Findings support tailoring STI prevention to men’s sexual risk-safety subgroups. Interventions should certainly continue to encourage condom use, but should also include information on how partner-related context factors and alternate sexual safety strategies can help men reduce risk for themselves and their partners.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Condoms and Contexts: Profiles of Sexual Risk and Safety Among Young Heterosexually Active Men

Masters

Casey

Beadnell

et al. 2014

The Journal of Sex Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…putting the other person's 'wants' before their own. Previous research has suggested that engaging in unwanted sexual activity may be an attempt to equalise power imbalances (Edwards, Barber, and Dziurawiec 2014); however, here, rather than acquiescing to try to attain a favourable outcome (an equalising of power), they appear to be acquiescing to avoid negative outcomes (to avoid losing their partner). Further, the presence of a power inequality in a sexual relationship appears to act indirectly on the available actions of the least powerful person (e.g.…”

Section: Power Inequalities Implicitly Constrain Young People's Freedommentioning

confidence: 70%

‘Doing things you don't wanna do’: young people's understandings of power inequalities and the implications for sexual consent

Jones

Milnes

Turner-Moore

2022

Journal of Youth Studies

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Legal definitions of sexual consent emphasise 'freedom' as central to valid consent; however, power inequalities may complicate freedom. This paper discusses findings from a two-stage focus group study with young people (aged 13-23) in England exploring the implications of power inequalities for sexual consent. In Stage 1, 77 participants explored and ranked the types of power inequalities they felt were common within young people's sexual relationships, with age, gender and popularity being identified as the most common power inequalities. In Stage 2, 43 participants discussed power inequalities using scenarios based on the Stage 1 findings and considered their implications for sexual consent. Thematic analysis of the data produced two themes: powerless and powerful roles in consent communication and power inequalities implicitly constrain freedom to consent. Consent communication was constructed as a unidirectional process whereby those with more power initiate, and those with less, gatekeep. Such roles require deconstruction to position consent as mutual and actively negotiated by partners. Further, since power inequalities were seen to place implicit constraints on freedom to consent, we advocate for an explicit exploration of power and privilege within Relationships and Sex Education to equip young people to recognise, challenge and negotiate these constraints.

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“…The fact that there were few partner effects for women could have a variety of clinical implications. This could be another manifestation of long‐established arguments by researchers and clinicians that males often hold more power in relationships and are more likely to emphasize sexuality over other relationship areas (Edwards et al, 2014; Seelig et al, 2018). This would explain why male beliefs are associated with almost all of the female variables and could suggest that a helpful entry point for couple‐focused clinicians might be to give at least some attention to sexuality early in the clinical process, as both a way to engage males and as a potentially high‐value pathway to other relationship challenges.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Sexual beliefs in couple relationships: Exploring the pathways of mindfulness, communication, and sexual functioning on sexual passion and satisfaction

et al. 2023

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Two types of sexual beliefs, growth and destiny, have been found in past research to be differentially associated with sexual and relationship outcomes; however, past research has not explored these beliefs with dyadic data nor considered common intervening variables that might be pathways through which beliefs influence outcomes. Consequently, using the sexual wholeness model, we analyzed how couples' specific sexual beliefs (growth and destiny) influenced their sexual mindfulness, communication, and functioning within their couple relationships and how each of these variables influenced sexual satisfaction and harmonious sexual passion. Using a national sample of dyadic data from 964 sexually active individuals (482 heterosexual couples) who had been in a committed relationship for at least 2 years, we evaluated an actor/partner structural equation model with distinguishable dyads. We found that while sexual growth and destiny beliefs had a significant association with sexual mindfulness, communication, and functioning for both partners, sexual beliefs had no direct association with sexual satisfaction and harmonious sexual passion. Because growth beliefs had strong associations with sexual communication, it may be beneficial to help couples identify their implicit beliefs and encourage the development of sexual growth beliefs.

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Emotional Intimacy Power Predicts Different Sexual Experiences for Men and Women

Cited by 7 publications

References 44 publications

Condoms and Contexts: Profiles of Sexual Risk and Safety Among Young Heterosexually Active Men

Condoms and Contexts: Profiles of Sexual Risk and Safety Among Young Heterosexually Active Men

‘Doing things you don't wanna do’: young people's understandings of power inequalities and the implications for sexual consent

Sexual beliefs in couple relationships: Exploring the pathways of mindfulness, communication, and sexual functioning on sexual passion and satisfaction

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