“No messages needed—Just pats on the back”: Exploring young men’s reports of male and female friends’ sexual communications.

Abstract

The current study provided an exploratory mixed methods investigation of the messages undergraduate men received about sex and relationships from their male and female friends. Participants included 310 undergraduate men who provided written responses regarding the specific messages they had received from male and female friends. Descriptive codes included: Just Do It, Meaningful Intimacy, Gentlemen, Postpone Sex, Women's Sexual Desire, and Objectification of Women. Reports of sexual communications were typically consistent with the Heterosexual Script and congruent with the friend's gender. Accordingly, reports of male friends' communications often portrayed the accumulation of sexual experiences and partners as necessary and desirable, whereas serious, romantic relationships were often portrayed as hindrances. Reports of female friends' messages, in contrast, primarily focused on the importance of romantic relationships and the idealization of sex within such relationships. Reports of messages that were incongruent with the Heterosexual Script were rare, and were more often found in reports of female friends' communications. For example, female friends were the only source of messages regarding women's sexual needs, desire, and pleasures. By documenting patterns of common and uncommon messages and their sources, the present study contributed insights into how male and female friends similarly and differentially reinforce different dimensions of hegemonic masculinity.

“Male privilege doesn’t lift the social status of all men in the same way”: Trans masculine individuals’ lived experiences of male privilege in the United States.

“…Participants noted that part of entry to male spaces and conversations included, at least at times, complicity in verbal expressions of male dominance and disrespect toward women that was troubling. Demonstrating masculinity and male privilege in some male-dominated spaces may require excluding or even demeaning women (Trinh & Choukas-Bradley, 2018). Findings from the present study suggest some trans masculine individuals, concurrent with their acceptance into male-dominated spaces, may lose their sense of connection to their own trans identity or to supportive women’s or queer communities.…”

Young Women’s Sex Talk Online: Roles of Anonymity, Social Closeness, and Cultural Background on Perceived Appropriateness and Behavioral Intention

“…Traditional gendered sexual norms are less accepting of women’s active exploration of their sexual desires and pleasures (Hamilton & Armstrong, 2009; Trinh, 2016). Even women themselves follow these norms in evaluating other women (Trinh, 2016; Trinh & Choukas-Bradley, 2018). For instance, Baumeister and Twenge (2002) found that women tended to evaluate other women more harshly for their promiscuity than did men.…”

– The Kyoto Conference on Arts, Media and Culture 2021: Official Conference Proceedings

“…It may also elicit shame, guilt, depression, anger, and embarrassment (Bry et al, 2017;Bybee et al, 2009;Wagner et al, 2013). In addition, stigmatized sexuality is inhibited, and therefore, the topics discussed are limited (Trinh & Choukas-Bradley, 2018).…”

“…Notably, people are more prone to talk about sexuality concerns in their romantic relationships when there is trust and safety (Marcantonio et al, 2018). In addition, comfort in an intimate relationship can help people have better sexual communication (Trinh & Choukas-Bradley, 2018). Physical and psychological safety and comfort in the romantic relationship could improve a person's psychological state and help him/her/them combat the discomfort to talk about sexuality (Rubinsky & Hosek, 2020).…”