Commitment, Intimacy, and Women's Perceptions of Premarital Sex and Contraceptive Readiness

You’re making us all look bad: Sexism moderates women’s experience of collective threat and intra-gender hostility toward traditional and non-traditional female subtypes

Across two studies ( Ns = 265 and 735), we investigated whether women’s endorsement of hostile (HS) and benevolent sexism (BS) moderates their experience of collective threat and subsequent hostility toward traditional and non-traditional female subtypes. As expected, HS was positively associated with intra-gender hostility toward the non-traditional subtype, and these effects were mediated by collective threat. HS was negatively associated with collective threat and hostility toward the traditional subtype, but only when the target endorsed prescriptive gender beliefs that explicitly reinforced gender inequality. BS was associated with collective threat and hostility toward the non-traditional subtype, but these effects did not emerge consistently across both studies. These results suggest that women are not a homogeneous group whose members all find the same subtypes collectively threatening. Rather, the extent to which women internalize patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes influences the behaviors they find threatening and deserving of hostility.

Gender, Relationship Status, and Stereotyping about Sexual Risk

In this research, the authors integrated research on stereotyping and health to document relationship-status stereotyping about sexual risk. Drawing on research on relational schemas and implicit personality theories, the authors hypothesized that targets who were described as being in relationships would be perceived as having a lesser likelihood of risk for sexually transmitted diseases than would targets who were described as single. Gender of the targets and gender of the participants also were examined as potential moderating variables. In five vignette studies, people rated single targets as having more risky personality traits and higher probabilistic risk for STDs than partnered targets. They also reported a greater desire to be involved with someone similar to the partnered target. In general, male and female targets were perceived similarly; however, female targets were rated as having a lower probabilistic risk.

'It's Not What You Said, It's How You Said It': Perceptions of Condom Proposers by Gender and Strategy

We examined effects of proposer gender and condom negotiation strategy on perceptions of condom proposers in undergraduates in the southwestern regions of the US. Using a video manipulation (N=150), a female proposer was evaluated no more harshly than a male proposer, and was evaluated more positively in some ways. In a vignette manipulation (N=193) a female proposer using an Eroticization negotiation strategy (compared to Refusal of sex or Explanation of consequences) was seen as more exciting and likely to engage in sex. Surprisingly, women were harsher judges than men of a female condom proposer using an Eroticization strategy. Greater attention should be paid to the nature of condom negotiation within the framework of the sexual script.

Prototypical images in condom scripts among AIDS-bereaved adolescents

Twenty-five HIV-negative late adolescents (13 women and 12 men) who had lost a parent to AIDS generated vignettes in which the characters were deciding whether to use a condom (condom scripts). Two clinically trained judges rated the interpersonal tone of the condom scripts on 17 semantic differential scales. Three other clinically trained raters described script characters' attributes by selecting from a list of 36 terms. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) and individual differences hierarchical classes analyses (INDCLAS) were used to inductively derive a typology of condom scripts. Two dimensions emerged from MDS analysis: incompatibility and inequality. Condom scripts culminating in unprotected sex depicted situations in which partners held unequal influence. INDCLAS results suggested a prototype for equal-influence condom scripts - excited male and assertive, powerful female - and for unequal-influence (unprotected sex) condom scripts - powerful, disengaged male and permissive female. These results inform the development of theoretical models and HIV prevention program materials.

Non-erotic thoughts: content and relation to sexual functioning and sexual satisfaction

We examined the possible range of content of non-erotic thoughts experienced during typical sexual activities with a partner. Undergraduate men (n = 47) and women (n = 50) were administered a measure of non-erotic thought content, frequency, and anxiety, along with measures of sexual attitude, satisfaction, and functioning. Men were more likely to report performance-related thoughts, and women were more likely to report thoughts about body image. However, men and women were equally likely to report thoughts about the external consequences of the activity (e.g., pregnancy, being caught) and the emotional consequences of the activity (e.g., morality, implications of the activity for the relationship). Women reported that their thoughts occurred more frequently and caused more anxiety. Greater thought frequency and greater anxiety over thoughts were associated with poorer sexual functioning for both men and women. For women, greater frequency of and anxiety evoked by thoughts was associated with lower sexual satisfaction. These data provide modest support for cognitive-behavioral models of sexual dysfunction and indicate the importance of both examining a broad range of non-erotic thought content and taking gender into account when applying these models to understanding and treating sexual difficulties.

Predicting the Intention of South African Female Students to Engage in Premarital Sexual Relations: An Application of the Theory of Reasoned Action

The Theory of Reasoned Action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) was used to investigate the factors influencing South African female students' decision on whether or not to engage in premarital sexual intercourse. The group of participants consisted of 100 female heterosexual university students who were selected from a larger sample on the basis of sexual inexperience. As anticipated by the theory, both attitudes and subjective norms were found to predict intentions, with attitudes emerging as the stronger predictor. Additional analyses revealed that the hypothesized relationship between attitudes and the cognitive bases, beliefs about the outcome of premarital sexual relations, and the evaluation of these outcomes was supported. However, contrary to the theory, subjective norms were not correlated with motivation to comply with the perceived views of salient referents. The results are discussed in the context of a society in which AIDS is epidemic.