Sexual arousal and masculinity-femininity of women.

Abstract

Studies with volunteers in sexual arousal experiments suggest that women are, on average, physiologically sexually aroused to both male and female sexual stimuli. Lesbians are the exception because they tend to be more aroused to their preferred sex than the other sex, a pattern typically seen in men. A separate research line suggests that lesbians are, on average, more masculine than straight women in their nonsexual behaviors and characteristics. Hence, a common influence could affect the expression of male-typical sexual and nonsexual traits in some women. By integrating these research programs, we tested the hypothesis that male-typical sexual arousal of lesbians relates to their nonsexual masculinity. Moreover, the most masculine-behaving lesbians, in particular, could show the most male-typical sexual responses. Across combined data, Study 1 examined these patterns in women's genital arousal and self-reports of masculine and feminine behaviors. Study 2 examined these patterns with another measure of sexual arousal, pupil dilation to sexual stimuli, and with observer-rated masculinity-femininity in addition to self-reported masculinity-femininity. Although both studies confirmed that lesbians were more male-typical in their sexual arousal and nonsexual characteristics, on average, there were no indications that these 2 patterns were in any way connected. Thus, women's sexual responses and nonsexual traits might be masculinized by independent factors. (PsycINFO Database Record

Pupil Dilation to Explicit and Non-Explicit Sexual Stimuli

“…men respond most to the same sex, and bisexual men show, on a group level, responses that are in-between those of heterosexual and homosexual men (Bailey, Rieger, & Rosenthal, 2011;Rieger et al, 2013;. In women, both pupil dilation and genital arousal patterns are weakly related to their sexual orientation, largely because heterosexual and bisexual women respond similarly to both sexes, whereas lesbians are somewhat more aroused to their preferred sex (women) than the other sex (Chivers et al, 2007;Rieger, Savin-Williams, Chivers, & Bailey, 2015b).…”

“…We regressed this contrast onto self-reported sexual orientation. Independent variables included both the linear and quadratic function of sexual orientation because these relations can be, to some degree, curvilinear (Rieger et al, 2013;Rieger et al, 2015b). Figure 1A shows that for men, the linear relationship (but not the curvilinear relationship) of pupil dilation to the same sex or other sex with sexual orientation was significant, p < .0001, β = .54 [.40, .67].…”

Affective responses to body stimuli: comparing male and female bodies with cropped heads and masked faces

“…This is supported by evidence that suggests increased attractiveness is associated with increased positive valence as well as positive cognition (Eagly, Ashmore, Makhijani, & Longo, 1991;Langlois et al, 2000;Zebrowitz & Franklin, 2014). Furthermore, it has also been shown that the subjective experience of sexuality and/or sexual orientation does not necessarily dictate the perception of attractiveness (see Rieger, Savin-Williams, Chivers, & Bailey, 2016). Future studies should therefore seek to address whether the affective differences observed towards male and female bodies might be related to how attractive the perceiver reports the body to be.…”

Sexual Arousal Patterns of Identical Twins with Discordant Sexual Orientations

“…In general, sex and sexual orientation differences in sexual response are comparable for these measures. Heterosexual men respond substantially more to females than males, and homosexual men respond substantially more to males than females 5 – 8 ; thus, on average, genital arousal and pupil dilation patterns verify men’s reported sexual orientations.…”

“…However, this pattern can vary for genital response, depending on stimulus type 9 . Moreover, for unknown reasons it is stronger if assessed with pupil dilation than genital response 7 , 8 . Pupil dilation is, on average, a valid indicator of sexual response 6 , 7 , 10 , 11 , but it cannot be ruled out that other cognitive or emotional effects distort its precision in this respect 12 , 13 .…”