The sexual double standard and topic avoidance in friendships

Holland, Madeleine; Vangelisti, Anita L.

doi:10.1080/01463373.2020.1787476

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…Nevertheless, contrary to what has been found in national (e.g., Marques et al, 2013 ) and international literature (e.g., Holland & Vangelisti, 2020 ; Petersen & Hyde, 2010 ), the young men interviewed in this study, whether in mixed or homogenous groups, did not endorse a traditional SDS for CSRs, but rather expressed some outrage over its existence in society. Being part of a population with university attendance is usually associated with more permissiveness (e.g., Laumann et al, 2000 ), and the similar attitudes towards postponing marriage and remaining single (Himawan et al, 2018 ) help to understand this egalitarian expression.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Still Striving After All These Years: Between Normality of Conduct and Normativity of Evaluation in Casual Relationships among College Students

et al. 2021

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Gender similarities have been detected in various sexual behaviors and attitudes in young adults, but persistent differences remain regarding casual sexual relationships (CSRs), with women feeling different external pressures than men. We set out to study the spontaneous references made to gender similarities and differences towards CSRs in eight focus group interviews ( N = 35 college-students, aged 18–28) about the characteristics of CSRs within a social-role framework. The thematic analysis led us to the interpretation that there is an ongoing change in the acceptability of these relationships, leading to the emergence of a single sexual standard – mostly liberal, but at times also conservative. However, different expectations remain, derived from a deep-rooted traditional sexual double standard still perceived in society. Challenges to the unequal standards and social constraints in CSRs is desired by many women, defended by men, and admired in those women whose striving contributes to the normalization of this conduct and of how it is evaluated. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-021-02344-9.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Still Striving After All These Years: Between Normality of Conduct and Normativity of Evaluation in Casual Relationships among College Students

et al. 2021

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“…Male involvement in these relationships, on the other hand, is normative and proves masculinity; men may thus feel pressured into ultra-active or even risky sexuality. Research shows that the SDS not only has a positive relationship with the number of sexual partners (Soller & Haynie, 2017) and the frequency of casual partners (Holland & Vangelisti, 2020), but also that it is able to limit men's sexual agency or to contribute to their involvement in unwanted or unprotected relations (Kalish, 2013). Regarding the actions/ activities represented in the second factor, the SDS appears to place women at a particular disadvantage, with evidence that they inhibit or hide their sexual agency and experience for fear of negative evaluations (Fetterolf & Sanchez, 2015;Holland & Vangelisti, 2020); they experience masturbation as a less likely source of pleasure (e.g., shame/guilt) or wellbeing (e.g., body knowledge/pleasure) (e.g., Amaro et al, 2022;Carvalheira & Leal, 2013;Saliares et al, 2017); they avoid masturbating in the relationship in order to protect their partner's sense of masculinity or competence (Kraus, 2017;Onar et al, 2020); or they compete with pornography for intimacy, prioritizing their partner's needs (e.g., Ashton et al, 2020;Litsou, et al, 2021).…”

Section: Implications For Sexual Health and Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research shows that the SDS not only has a positive relationship with the number of sexual partners (Soller & Haynie, 2017) and the frequency of casual partners (Holland & Vangelisti, 2020), but also that it is able to limit men's sexual agency or to contribute to their involvement in unwanted or unprotected relations (Kalish, 2013). Regarding the actions/ activities represented in the second factor, the SDS appears to place women at a particular disadvantage, with evidence that they inhibit or hide their sexual agency and experience for fear of negative evaluations (Fetterolf & Sanchez, 2015;Holland & Vangelisti, 2020); they experience masturbation as a less likely source of pleasure (e.g., shame/guilt) or wellbeing (e.g., body knowledge/pleasure) (e.g., Amaro et al, 2022;Carvalheira & Leal, 2013;Saliares et al, 2017); they avoid masturbating in the relationship in order to protect their partner's sense of masculinity or competence (Kraus, 2017;Onar et al, 2020); or they compete with pornography for intimacy, prioritizing their partner's needs (e.g., Ashton et al, 2020;Litsou, et al, 2021). As for men who frequently or compulsively use pornography and adopt sexist beliefs (e.g., dominant man, woman as object), they may not only experience diminished satisfaction with their bodies and difficulties in sexual functioning (Komlenac & Hochleitner, 2021;Massey et al, 2021), but may also disregard their partners' desires, feelings, and consent, or engage in dominant, coercive, or degrading behavior toward women (e.g., slapping, hair pulling, penile gagging, spanking) (Massey et al, 2021).…”

Section: Implications For Sexual Health and Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and evidence of validity of the new sexual double standard scale

Amaro,

Alvarez,

Ferreira

et al. 2023

Curr Psychol

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The Sexual Double Standard is a complex multi-layered construct that functions as an organizing principle of heterosexual behavior. It is a dynamic, ubiquitous, two-dimensional sexual gendered norm, the quantitative exploration of which requires up-to-date assessment tools to better capture both personal endorsement and social recognition of the SDS. This study develops a New SDS Scale to assess personal SDS, which is easily adapted to measure societal SDS, with demonstration of its validity and gender invariance. College students (N = 481) completed the New SDS Scale, plus convergent-divergent and concurrent validity measures. Exploratory analysis indicated an eight-item two-factor structure. Confirmatory factor analysis showed the better adjustment of a bifactor structure combining a general factor of SDS and the subscales Sexual Relationships and Actions/Activities. In addition to factorial validity, results were also demonstrative of convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity, and reliability and gender invariance were demonstrated. The new scale may be a useful tool to briefly assess personal endorsement of the SDS or of alternative standards, and it can easily be adapted to measure perceptions about the social existence of the SDS. Beyond the potential for practical application to individual or group assessment in clinical and educational settings, the New SDS Scale updates our knowledge on the types of sexual conduct that elicit the SDS, identifying critically gendered activities for which permissiveness continues to be markedly differentiated, despite the openness and sexual freedom of recent years.

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“…Due to the double sexual standard that is still prevalent in most societies, some of their difficulties may differ by gender ( Crawford & Popp, 2003 ; Holland & Vangelisti, 2020 ; Lefkowitz et al, 2014 ). For example, EAV women may be perceived more positively than EAV men, because women are often stigmatized when they engage in sexual activities with multiple partners, whereas these behaviors may be expected and even rewarded in men ( Budge & Katz-Wise, 2019 ; Crawford & Popp, 2003 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploration of Emerging Adult Virgins’ Difficulties

Leroux

Boislard

2022

Emerging Adulthood

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Social clock theory posits that off-time transitions, such as virginity loss, are often socially reproached and stigmatized. Research suggests, however, that reasons for virginity in adulthood are heterogeneous and that some emerging adult virgins (EAVs) are struggling socially. To guide the development of interventions tailored to this population, it is important to understand their difficulties. Through individual semi-structured interviews, this study explores the difficulties and disagreeable emotions experienced by 29 heterosexual virgins aged between 20 and 29. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Three main themes were identified: (a) difficulties related to society, (b) difficulties related to interpersonal relationships, and (c) disagreeable emotions experienced relative to late virginity. These results reveal that difficulties expressed by EAVs are intertwined and surprisingly, the most salient difficulty was related to lack of intimacy, rather than virginity per se. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed, along with recommendations for future research.

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The sexual double standard and topic avoidance in friendships

Cited by 3 publications

References 79 publications

Still Striving After All These Years: Between Normality of Conduct and Normativity of Evaluation in Casual Relationships among College Students

Still Striving After All These Years: Between Normality of Conduct and Normativity of Evaluation in Casual Relationships among College Students

Development and evidence of validity of the new sexual double standard scale

Exploration of Emerging Adult Virgins’ Difficulties

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