“Sex in a Relationship” versus “Sex During a One-Night Stand”: The Link Between Mental Representations of Consensual Sexuality, Mating Strategies, and Sexual Experience in Heterosexual Women and Men

Abstract

Sexual scripts, that is, the mental representations of sexual behavior, are highly influenced by mating strategies and sexual experience. The relationship between these factors and sexual scripts is, however, poorly understood. Therefore, we assessed how long-term (e.g., "sex in a relationship") and short-term (e.g., "one-night stand") strategies, as well as experience with highly scripted sexual practices (BDSM: bondage-discipline, dominance-submission, sadism-masochism), influence verbalized sexual script composition and detailedness. To this end, 204 heterosexual men and women generated both a "sex in a relationship" and a "one-night stand" script. Regarding mating strategies, both men and women generated shorter "sex in a relationship" scripts than "one-night stand" scripts, due to a shorter approach (flirting) phase. In addition, in the "sex in a relationship" script, women generated longer foreplay phases than men. Regarding sexual experience, in the "sex in a relationship" script, individuals with high-BDSM experience generated longer foreplay phases than individuals with middle- or low-BDSM experience. This pattern was reversed in the "one-night stand" script. These results provide empirical support for interactions between mating strategies and individual experience with regard to the mental representations of sexual activity and gender behavior. Understanding this relationship may enable us to better predict sexual encounters and may help to prevent conflicting or abusive situations.

Bondage-Discipline, Dominance-Submission and Sadomasochism (BDSM) From an Integrative Biopsychosocial Perspective: A Systematic Review

“…Nevertheless, they accentuate how BDSM-themed sexual interactions deepen the interpersonal connection more than non-BDSM sexuality. Moreover, within the community, BDSM play is more associated with long-term relationships, and some even indicate them as being unnecessary or inappropriate in short-term sexual encounters, 85 again pointing toward the bidirectional association between an emotional connection and BDSM play. Some practitioners even describe their BDSM preference as an addiction 86 ; in this exploratory, qualitative study in which 9 individuals underwent a semistructured interview focusing on the experience of sexually masochistic acts, some subjects mentioned a rush or “high” during BDSM-oriented interactions, which could explain a state of dependency and a craving for future similar experiences.…”

Multiple Casual Sex Scripts: Shared Beliefs about Behavior among Portuguese Emerging Adults

“…Therefore, following Eaton and Rose (2012), an action was defined as a verb, i.e., a word or words that in syntax conveys an action (e.g., dance, drive, talk), an occurrence (e.g., happened, became), or a state of being (e.g., be, feel). In parallel, inspired by literature on the phases of the sexual interaction and on the main scenarios found in casual sexual encounters (e.g., Bowleg et al, 2015;Landgraf et al, 2018;Lenton & Bryan, 2005;Olmstead et al, 2019), the authors created a framework to accommodate the participants' knowledge and arrange the more specific events and actions in the sexual script of each CSR. This initial framework contained six moments in the sexual encounter, each one divided into several categories.…”

“…In order to compare the three scripts and determine to what extent they differed from each other, we organized the script elements in a logical sequence using the same four categories proposed by Landgraf et al (2018): approach, representing various forms of interaction that precede physical sexual contact (e.g., encounter, talking, casual flirting, or going for a walk together); foreplay, consisting of physical sexual contact between sexual partners without any form of penetration (e.g., touching, cuddling, kissing); sex and condom use, defined by sexual relationships such as oral, vaginal, and anal penetration and the use of condoms; and post-intercourse, consisting of actions that occurred after sexual interaction (e.g., talking, caressing, text messaging).…”

Grievance-fueled sexual violence

“…In addition, it can be hypothesized that those with sexually sadistic interests that they never act upon do not have the underlying grievance that characterizes the overt criminal sexual sadist or vindictive or pervasively angry rapists. This hypothesis also potentially applies to practitioners of BDSM (bondage-discipline, dominance-submission, sadism, masochism) that is not directed at non-consenting victims and is not therefore forensically relevant: BDSM practitioners are typically well socially adapted and have healthy personality profiles, have stable intimate relationships, and are not sensitive to rejection ( Connoly, 2006 ; Wismeijer and Van Assen, 2013 ; Landgraf et al, 2018 ; De Neef et al, 2019 ; Brown et al, 2020 ). In other words, BDSM that is not forensically relevant is not grievance-fueled.…”