Sex of Experimenter and Social Norm Effects on Reports of Sexual Behavior in Young Men and Women

Abstract

Past studies indicate that men generally report having had more sexual experience and sexual partners than women, as well as an earlier age at first intercourse. At least some of these findings may partially reflect different responses to certain contextual variables in research. College students (266 men and 463 women) were asked to anonymously report their sexual attitudes and behavior after reading one of three fictitious statements about research findings regarding gender differences in sexuality. Some past findings were replicated, with men reporting somewhat more sexual experience and more permissive sexual attitudes than women. However, women reported a significantly younger age at first intercourse than did men. While there was no significant sex difference for total number of sexual partners, there was a significant interaction. With female research assistants (but not with male assistants), men reported more sexual partners when they were told that women are now more sexually permissive than men. This finding appeared to be largely a function of the men who scored higher on measures of hypermasculinity and ambivalent sexism. Women's reports were not significantly affected by the wording of the cover sheet, regardless of the sex of the research assistant. Even in this anonymous survey, the sex of the experimenter and the nature of the statement about research findings had an impact on the sex differences that were found. In light of these results, some previous conclusions about male-female differences in sexual behavior may need to be examined more closely.

Measurement of Sexual Risk Taking Among College Students

“…However, it must be noted that the effect size for the sex difference in total SRS scores was small. Previous research has also found that reported sexual risk taking behaviors have been found to be higher for men than for women (e.g., Laumann, Gagnon, Michael, & Michaels, 1994;Oliver & Hyde, 1993;Poppen, 1995;Seal & Agostinelli, 1996;Vollrath, Knoch, & Cassano, 1999), although more recent studies have not found significant differences between the sexes (e.g., Browning, Kessler, Hatfield, & Choo, 1999;Fisher, 2007;Paul, McManus, & Hayes, 2000;Pedersen, Miller, Putcha-Bhagavatula, & Yang, 2002). Sex differences in sexual risk taking have been explained by a number of theories, including adherence to traditional gender roles and gender scripts (Eagly, 1987;Herek, 1986;LaPlante, McCormick, & Brannigan, 1980), personality differences (e.g., Zuckerman, 2007;Zuckerman & Kuhlman, 2000), evolutionary theory (Buss, 1998;Wilson & Daly, 1993), and even social exchange theory (Baumeister & Vohs, 2004).…”

“…Sex differences in sexual risk taking have been explained by a number of theories, including adherence to traditional gender roles and gender scripts (Eagly, 1987;Herek, 1986;LaPlante, McCormick, & Brannigan, 1980), personality differences (e.g., Zuckerman, 2007;Zuckerman & Kuhlman, 2000), evolutionary theory (Buss, 1998;Wilson & Daly, 1993), and even social exchange theory (Baumeister & Vohs, 2004). Researchers, however, have pointed out the statistical improbability of such large sex differences, especially in sex partners, and suggested that the effects may be due to social desirability and adherence to gender roles in reporting (Brown & Sinclair, 1999;Fisher, 2007;Maticka-Tyndale, Herold, & Mewhinney, 1998). Some researchers have asserted that these findings occur simply because men are over-reporting their sexual behaviors, especially their number of sexual partners (Morris, 1993;Smith, 1992).…”

Sex Differences in Response to Visual Sexual Stimuli: A Review

“…Women may perform similar gender role congruent responding when presented with sexual stimuli. In contrast to women, who may often underreport their previous sexual experience to match their perceived societal expectations, men may over-report their previous sexual experience to also match their perceived gender role (Fisher, 2007). A recent study found that men characterized by high levels of hypermasculinity and ambivalent sexism reported more sexual partners when they had a female experimenter administering the anonymous survey, than if they had a male experimenter.…”

Doing Gender in Sex and Sex Research

“…For instance, in a recent study by Fisher (2007), men exaggerated their sexual experience and reported more sexual partners with female research assistants (but not with male assistants), in particular when first threatened in their masculine identity by having been told that women are nowadays more sexually permissive than men. Other studies use watching porn as a situational trigger.…”