Sexual behavior of unmarried Colombian University students: a five-year follow-up

First stirrings: cultural notes on orgasm, ejaculation, and wet dreams

Both the findings and the limitations of numeric milestone research in sexology have a bearing on the pedagogical status of pleasure, as well as the cultural underpinnings of the notion of a psychosexual milestone. An overview is offered of international data pertaining to the chronology of three "milestones" in sexual autobiography: first orgasm (orgasmarche), first ejaculation (oigarche), and first wet dream (nocturnal emission). Methodological problems associated with the measurement of these variables are discussed. These problems are then situated in a culturalist perspective. It is concluded that orgasms are cultural artifacts in terms of their chronological occurrence as well as perceived salience, necessity, and "age appropriateness".

Sex without emotional involvement: an evolutionary interpretation of sex differences

Two samples of male (n = 243) and female (n = 298) college students completed sexual surveys, and in-depth, oral interviews were conducted with 28 highly sexually active female college students. Findings supported five predictions derived from evolutionary (parental-investment) theory. Even when females voluntarily engaged in low-investment copulation, coitus typically caused them to feel emotionally vulnerable, and to have thoughts expressing anxiety about partners' willingness to invest. For females, increasing numbers of partners correlated positively with the incidence of these feelings and thoughts; for males, these correlations were negative. Females' attempts to continue regular coitus when they desired more investment than partners were willing to give produced feelings of distress, degradation, and exploitation despite acceptance of liberal sexual morality. Increasing numbers of partners did not mitigate these reactions in females and may exacerbate them. Multiple-partner females developed techniques for dealing with their emotional reactions to low-investment copulation: They frequently tested their partners for signs of ability and willingness to invest (e.g., dominance, prowess, jealousy, nurturance), and they limited or terminated sexual relations when they perceived partners' investment as inadequate. Results were consistent with the view that the emotional-motivational mechanisms that mediate sexual arousal and attraction are sexually dimorphic.

Changes in adolescents' sexuality between 1970 and 1990 in West-Germany

Based on two studies (using semistructured interviews) of 16- and 17-year-old West German urban adolescents, the first in 1970 (N = 602) and the second in 1990 (N = 415), this paper traces the changes in young people's sexual behavior and attitudes during the past two decades: (i) The marked trend in the 1960s towards having coitus and petting at an ever earlier age does not seem to have continued; the changes noted in the incidence of heterosexual experiences since 1970 are minimal. (ii) Boys feel themselves less at the mercy of their sexual urges than they used to and tend to link sexuality with love and a steady relationship more than they did 20 years ago; there was a similar though less pronounced change among girls. (iii) Girls now get less pleasure and satisfaction out of sexual encounters, and in heterosexual situations take the initiative and control more than they used to. (iv) There is no evidence that the problem HIV/AIDs had a marked influence on the changes described. Results of the comparative studies are discussed in the context of current developments in man/woman relationships and the debate on gender issues.