The Role of Sexual and Romantic Attraction in Human Mate Preferences

Sex differences in mate preferences are ubiquitous, having been evidenced across generations and cultures. Their prevalence and persistence have compellingly placed them in the evolutionarily adaptive context of sexual selection. However, the psycho-biological mechanisms contributing to their generation and maintenance remain poorly understood. As such a mechanism, sexual attraction is assumed to guide interest, desire, and the affinity toward specific partner features. However, whether sexual attraction can indeed explain sex differences in partner preferences has not been explicitly tested. To better understand how sex and sexual attraction shape mate preferences in humans we assessed how partner preferences differed across the spectrum of sexual attraction in a sample of 479 individuals that identified as asexual, gray-sexual, demisexual or allosexual. We further tested whether romantic attraction predicted preference profiles better than sexual attraction. Our results show that sexual attraction accounts for highly replicable sex differences in mate preferences for high social status and financial prospects, conscientiousness, and intelligence; however, it does not account for the enhanced preference for physical attractiveness expressed by men, which persists even in individuals with low sexual attraction. Instead, sex differences in physical attractiveness preference are better explained by the degree of romantic attraction. Furthermore, effects of sexual attraction on sex differences in partner preferences were grounded in current rather than previous experiences of sexual attraction. Taken together, the results support the idea that contemporary sex differences in partner preferences are maintained by several psycho-biological mechanisms that evolved in conjunction, including not only sexual but also romantic attraction

Portuguese version of Cues for Sexual Desire Scale: The influence of relationship duration

Introduction. It is well established that sexual desire is a triggered response to effective sexual stimuli. Factors that trigger women’s sexual desire can change over time and circumstances. The Cues for Sexual Desire Scale (CSDS) is a valuable assessment tool to measure the range and magnitude of such stimuli. Aim. To investigate the psychometric properties of CSDS within a Portuguese community sample of women; to examine the influence of relationship duration on CSDS scores. Methods. Portuguese women (N = 3,687) over age 18 completed a web-based survey of previously pilot-tested items. Main Outcome Measures. Factor structure and internal consistency of CSDS scores; differences between women in longer-term (more than five years) and shorter-term (less than three years) relationships; predictors of CSDS scores. Results. A factor analysis revealed a difference in factor structure between the Portuguese and the original (English) version of CSDS. A five factor solution explained 58.3% of the total variance. The CSDS demonstrated good reliability (Cronbach’s = 0.913). All subscales had a values greater than 0.85. Women in longer-term relationships had significantly fewer cues for sexual desire (M = 124) compared to women in shorter-term relationships (M = 128), t(1,879) = 3.7, P < 0.001. Older women (B = -0.075; P < 0.001), and longer term relationships (B = -0.056; P < 0.05), were significant predictors of lower CSDS-P scores. Additionally, women who masturbated (B = 0.172; P < 0.001) and reached orgasm easily (B = 0.059; P < 0.001) had higher scores for CSDS-P. Conclusions. The CSDS is a useful instrument for identifying triggers that facilitate sexual desire in Portuguese women.Women in longer-term relationships reported fewer cues compared to women in shorter-term relationships. This has clinical implications and suggests that encouraging women to consider newer and varied cues that might evoke or enhance sexual desire may be one means of addressing concerns with low sexual desire

Women's motivations for sex: Exploring the diagnostic and statistical manual, fourth edition, text revision criteria for hypoactive sexual desire and female sexual arousal disorders

Introduction. There are problems with the existing definition of hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) in that desire for sex and sexual fantasy are not a universal experience. Aims. To explore: (i) women’s motivations to engage in sexual activity; (ii) frequency and predictors of sexual fantasies; (iii) sexual arousal; (iv) recognition of sexual arousal; and (v) association between relationship duration and these variables. Methods. Three thousand six hundred eighty-seven women completed a web-based survey of previously pilot-tested items. Main Outcome Measures. Investigator-derived self-report questions of sexual desire and arousal, and sexual fantasies. Results. Among women who easily became aroused, 15.5% reported only engaging in sex if they felt sexual desire at the outset whereas 30.7% typically or always accessed desire only once they were aroused. Women in longer-term relationships engaged in sex with no sexual desire more often (42%) than women in short-term relationships (22.4%) (P < 0.001). The percentage of women that reported fantasies only sometimes was 52.5%. A logistic regression revealed that religion (odds ratio [OR] = 1.45; P < 0.001), difficulty getting aroused (OR = 0.511; P < 0.001), responsive desire (OR = 0.919; P < 0.05), and frequency of orgasm (OR = 1.11; P < 0.05) were significantly associated with sexual fantasy. After controlling for age, relationship duration was negatively associated with frequency of initiating sex (r = -0.116, P < 0.001), women’s satisfaction with their own sexuality (r = -0.173, P < 0.001) and sexual satisfaction with the partner (r = -0.162, P < 0.001). Conclusions. Results reflect diversity in women’s motivations for sex, and there is evidence that responsive desire occurs in women with and without arousal difficulties. We strongly recommend relationship duration as well as adequacy of partner sexual stimulation to be recognized in any future diagnostic framework of dysfunction. Clinical implications as well as those for future diagnostic nomenclature are considered

The Problematization of Sexuality among Women Living with HIV and a New Feminist Approach for Understanding and Enhancing Women’s Sexual Lives

In the context of HIV, women’s sexual rights and sexual autonomy are important but frequently overlooked and violated. Guided by community voices, feminist theories, and qualitative empirical research, we reviewed two decades of global quantitative research on sexuality among women living with HIV. In the 32 studies we found, conducted in 25 countries and composed mostly of cis-gender heterosexual women, sexuality was narrowly constructed as sexual behaviours involving risk (namely, penetration) and physiological dysfunctions relating to HIV illness, with far less attention given to the fullness of sexual lives in context, including more&nbsp;positive and rewarding experiences such as satisfaction and pleasure. Findings suggest that women experience declines in sexual activity, function, satisfaction, and pleasure following HIV diagnosis, at least for some period. The extent of such declines, however, is varied, with numerous contextual forces shaping women’s sexual well-being. Clinical markers of HIV (e.g., viral load, CD4 cell count) poorly predicted sexual outcomes, interrupting widely held assumptions about sexuality for women with HIV. Instead, the effects of HIV-related stigma intersecting with inequities related to trauma, violence, intimate relations, substance use, poverty, aging, and other social and cultural conditions primarily influenced the ways in which women experienced and enacted their sexuality. However, studies framed through a medical lens tended to pathologize outcomes as individual “problems,” whereas others driven by a public health agenda remained primarily preoccupied with protecting the public from HIV. In light of these findings, we present a new feminist approach for research, policy, and practice toward understanding and enhancing women’s sexual lives—one that affirms sexual diversity; engages deeply with society, politics, and history; and is grounded in women’s sexual rights

Interoception and sexual response in women with low sexual desire

<div><p>Sexual concordance is defined as the association between genital response and self-reported sexual arousal. Though one might predict a strong association between sexual concordance and awareness of other internal physiological sensations (termed <i>interoception)</i>, past research on sexually healthy women has not found these different domains to be related. The aim of the present study was to test the association between interoception and sexual concordance in a clinical sample of women with Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder (SIAD). Fifty-two women with SIAD completed the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA), a validated self-report measure of interoception, and completed a heart-beat accuracy test, an objective measure of interoception. They also participated in a laboratory-based assessment of physiological sexual arousal and self-reported sexual arousal while viewing an erotic film. Mental and physiological arousal were correlated at <i>r</i> = 0.27 (range -0.80 to 0.95). There was no significant association between sexual concordance and women’s heartrate awareness. However, five aspects of interoceptive awareness (noticing, emotional awareness, self-regulation, body-listening, and trusting), were predictive of <i>lower</i>, and one aspect (not-distracting) was predictive of <i>higher</i> sexual concordance. We discuss the findings in relation to the role of emotions and arousal states in the interoception-sexual concordance relationship.</p></div

Interoceptive awareness and sexual arousal measurements during erotic stimulus presentation.

<p>Interoceptive awareness and sexual arousal measurements during erotic stimulus presentation.</p

Interaction between genital sexual arousal and the emotional awareness scale for the prediction of subjective sexual arousal (centered variables).

<p>Interaction between genital sexual arousal and the emotional awareness scale for the prediction of subjective sexual arousal (centered variables).</p

Interaction between subjective sexual arousal and the not-distracting scale for the prediction of genital sexual arousal (centered variables).

<p>Interaction between subjective sexual arousal and the not-distracting scale for the prediction of genital sexual arousal (centered variables).</p