Uncovering category specificity of genital sexual arousal in women: The critical role of analytic technique

Based on analytic techniques that collapse data into a single average value, it has been reported that women lack category specificity and show genital sexual arousal to a large range of sexual stimuli including those that both match and do not match their self‐reported sexual interests. These findings may be a methodological artifact of the way in which data are analyzed. This study examined whether using an analytic technique that models data over time would yield different results. Across two studies, heterosexual (N = 19) and lesbian (N = 14) women viewed erotic films featuring heterosexual, lesbian, and gay male couples, respectively, as their physiological sexual arousal was assessed with vaginal photoplethysmography. Data analysis with traditional methods comparing average genital arousal between films failed to detect specificity of genital arousal for either group. When data were analyzed with smoothing regression splines and a within‐subjects approach, both heterosexual and lesbian women demonstrated different patterns of genital sexual arousal to the different types of erotic films, suggesting that sophisticated statistical techniques may be necessary to more fully understand women's genital sexual arousal response. Heterosexual women showed category‐specific genital sexual arousal. Lesbian women showed higher arousal to the heterosexual film than the other films. However, within subjects, lesbian women showed significantly different arousal responses suggesting that lesbian women's genital arousal discriminates between different categories of stimuli at the individual level. Implications for the future use of vaginal photoplethysmography as a diagnostic tool of sexual preferences in clinical and forensic settings are discussed.     

Male bisexual arousal: A matter of curiosity?

Conflicting evidence exists regarding whether bisexual-identified men are sexually aroused to both men and women. We hypothesized that a distinct characteristic, level of curiosity about sexually diverse acts, distinguishes bisexual-identified men with and without bisexual arousal. Study 1 assessed men's (n = 277) sexual arousal via pupil dilation to male and female sexual stimuli. Bisexual men were, on average, higher in their sexual curiosity than other men. Despite this general difference, only bisexual-identified men with elevated sexual curiosity showed bisexual arousal. Those lower in curiosity had responses resembling those of homosexual men. Study 2 assessed men's (n = 72) sexual arousal via genital responses and replicated findings of Study 1. Study 3 provided information on the validity on our measure of sexual curiosity by relating it to general curiosity and sexual sensation seeking (n = 83). Based on their sexual arousal and personality, at least two groups of men identify as bisexual.     

Attentional Effects on Sexual Arousal

Lang's theory on emotions was applied to the sexual response: the cognitive processing of information on sexual responses (in contrast to information on sexual stimuli) was predicted to elicit the sexual response. Each of 48 men and 48 women imagined a sexual interaction, looked at a series of slides, and listened to an erotic story. Subjects were instructed to attend to images of sexual stimuli or to images of sexual stimuli plus responses. During imagery the genital response and the experience of sexual arousal were stronger when subjects focused on stimuli plus responses than when they focused on stimuli only. This effect occurred in both men and women. During slides and story a similar effect was found in men, but not in women. The genital response and the experience of sexual arousal were found to correlate more strongly when attentional focus was on stimuli plus responses instead of on stimuli only: in women, and, although marginally significant, also in men.     

A sex difference in features that elicit genital response

Previous research suggests that women's genital arousal is an automatic response to sexual stimuli, whereas men's genital arousal is dependent upon stimulus features specific to their sexual interests. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that a nonhuman sexual stimulus would elicit a genital response in women but not in men. Eighteen heterosexual women and 18 heterosexual men viewed seven sexual film stimuli, six human films and one nonhuman primate film, while measurements of genital and subjective sexual arousal were recorded. Women showed small increases in genital arousal to the nonhuman stimulus and large increases in genital arousal to both human male and female stimuli. Men did not show any genital arousal to the nonhuman stimulus and demonstrated a category-specific pattern of arousal to the human stimuli that corresponded to their stated sexual orientation. These results suggest that stimulus features necessary to evoke genital arousal are much less specific in women than in men.     

Assessment of female sexual arousal: Response specificity and construct validity

Specificity of vaginal pulse amplitude and vaginal blood volume in reaction to visual sexual stimuli was investigated by comparing responses to sexual, anxiety-inducing, sexually threatening, and neutral film excerpts. Subjective sexual arousal, body sensations, emotional experience, skin conductance, and heart rate were monitored along with the genital measures. Self-report data confirmed the generation of affective states as intended. Results demonstrated response specificity of vaginal vasocongestion to sexual stimuli. In terms of both convergent and divergent validity, vaginal pulse amplitude was the superior genital measure. Skin conductance discriminated among stimuli only to a small degree, whereas heart rate failed to discriminate among stimuli altogether.     

Sexuality after gynaecological cancer: A review of the material, intrapsychic, and discursive aspects of treatment on women's sexual-wellbeing

Research in the area of gynaecological cancer has increasingly examined changes to women's sexuality, with the impact of treatment on sexual wellbeing considered particularly important. The objective of this paper is to review research on gynaecological cancer and sexuality from the years 1990 to 2011. Research has documented a range of post-treatment anatomical and physical changes to women's sexual wellbeing, including changes to sexual desire, pleasure, orgasm, vaginal lubrication, genital sensitivity, arousal, and frequency of sex. Women's intrapsychic experiences of changes to sexuality include anxiety, depression, distress, and negative perceptions of sexual identity and body image. Socially constructed discourses surrounding gender and sexuality also shape women's experiences of their sexual wellbeing post-gynaecological cancer and treatment, with many women feeling a loss of womanhood and femininity with the removal of, or changes to, their reproductive organs. Finally, women's relationship context, pattern of couple communication, and partner support are associated with women's ability to cope with changes to sexuality post-gynaecological cancer. Given that sexuality is an important part of quality of life, it is important that health professionals actively communicate information to women and their partner about the effects of treatment on sexual wellbeing, in order to legitimate and normalise sexuality in this context. It is concluded that research in the area of gynaecological cancer and sexuality needs to acknowledge not only the physical/anatomical/material effects of cancer treatments, but also women's intrapsychic experiences of changes to sexuality, her relationship context, and the role of gendered discourses in shaping women's experiences of sexuality post-gynaecological cancer and treatment.     

Thermistor Measurement of Male Sexual Arousal

Penile erection is accompanied by genital vasocongestion which increases penile skin temperature. These changes should be measurable using thermistors attached to the penis. The present study compared the UUT51J1 Uni-Curve thermistor placed on the penis with the Barlow strain gauge in the assessment of sexual arousal in 8 heterosexual males. Sexual stimuli consisted of 3, 3-min exposures to heterosexually explicit black-and-white videotapes. The results indicated that the two measures were highly positively correlated with each other and with self-report. However, the strain gauge followed detumescence more closely than the thermistor and was more strongly correlated with subjective arousal. Also, the two probes differed as to when they reached peak response. The strain gauge typically reached its highest point prior to the end of the film, while the thermistor always peaked during the early post-film interval. The thermistor's slow transition from temperature increases to decreases during the initial moments of detumescence appeared to be its principal shortcoming as a measure of male sexual arousal.     

Sexual arousal patterns of bisexual men revisited

Men who identify themselves as bisexual report feeling sexually aroused by both men and women. However, past research has not demonstrated that such men exhibit substantial genital arousal to both male and female erotic stimuli, suggesting that they identify as bisexual for reasons other than their genital arousal pattern. The purpose of the present study was to examine arousal patterns among bisexual men who were recruited using stringent criteria involving sexual and romantic experience with both men and women in order to increase the likelihood of finding a bisexual arousal pattern. Bisexual men in the present study demonstrated bisexual patterns of both subjective and genital arousal. It remains unclear which pattern is most typical of contemporary bisexual men: the present results supporting a bisexual arousal pattern, or previous results not finding one. In either case, understanding men with bisexual arousal patterns could help illuminate the etiology and development of male sexual orientation.     

Sex differences in concordance rates between auditory event‐related potentials and subjective sexual arousal

Much research indicates men show a greater concordance between subjective and genital sexual arousal than do women. We investigated the relationship between subjective sexual arousal and brain activation in men and women. Subjective sexual arousal and auditory N1 and P3b ERP amplitudes were measured while 38 participants viewed erotic and non‐erotic films. Most notably, there was a significant correlation between N1 amplitude and sexual arousal in men; for women, there was a significant correlation between the P3b amplitude and sexual arousal. ERP amplitudes were inversely associated with reported arousal, suggesting that sexual arousal interferes with early tone processing for men, and with later tone processing for women. Lastly, for women, pornography/erotica consumption was negatively correlated with P3b amplitudes, suggesting that women who consume more pornography/erotica may also show greater attention to erotic films.     

Investigation of the interactive effects of gender and psychological factors on pain response

Objectives: There is growing evidence to suggest that certain psychological modulators of pain sensitivity are dependent on gender. The aim of the present study was to examine further whether cognitive‐affective factors (with specific focus on situational anxiety) shown to modulate pain report and behaviour have differential effects on men's and women's response to experimentally induced pain. Method: A sample of 80 healthy university students (40 women, 40 men) was assessed on subjective measures of anxiety (situational and dispositional), anxiety‐sensitivity and attitudes toward the experimental pain procedure prior to being exposed to a cold pressor test (constant temperature + 1°C; ± 1°C, cut‐off limit 240s). Results: The present study produced three main findings:

• 1 No effect of gender was found on any of the pain measures; however, an interactive effect of anxiety and gender was found on measures of pain tolerance with low anxiety men displaying significantly higher pain tolerance than both low and high anxiety women.
• 2 Men classified as low‐anxious tolerated cold pressor pain significantly longer than men classified as high‐anxious, while no such effect of anxiety on pain response was observed in women.
• 3 Gender‐specific associations were observed between other psychological variables (including anxiety‐sensitivity and attitudes toward pain) and thermal pain response.

Conclusion: Results from the present study suggest that there are important differences in the way cognitive‐affective factors impact on the pain response of men and women. Further research is needed to explore potential psychosocial and physiological mechanisms that may underlie such differences.     

Gender and occupational allergy: Report from the task force of the EAACI Environmental and Occupational Allergy Interest Group

Women's work has traditionally been considered less hazardous to health in comparison with men's work. The increased women's participation in the workforce has led to an increased attention to women's working conditions. Women and men are unequally represented in individual professions or sectors (horizontal segregation), with women also under-represented in leadership positions (vertical segregation). The selection of specific occupations can result in differences between types and levels of occupational exposures among women and men and can affect prevalence of occupational allergy. Gender distribution of work-related asthma appears to vary across countries without clear global difference. Occupational rhinitis tends to be higher in women, although is not clear if this is related to a sex/gender effect or to differences in work exposure. Women are more likely to have occupational contact dermatitis, mainly due to wet work. No clear effects of gender on rates of hypersensitivity pneumonitis have been shown. Besides variation in exposures, physical and physiological characteristics, different behaviours and health consciousness have an impact on the occupational health hazards of women and men. Occupational allergy health promotion strategies need to consider approaches for women and men adjusted by gender, and legislative actions similarly could be implemented in a more gender-sensitive way .     

Neighborhood sexual violence moderates women's perceived safety in urban neighborhoods

Perceptions of neighborhood safety are positively associated with perceptions of neighborhood violence. However, research has yet to examine whether this relationship is moderated by specific types of violence, such as sexual violence, that are more salient for women. Using street‐intercept interviews with 343 adults in 9 neighborhoods of a U.S. city with high rates of poverty, unemployment, and crime, we examine the relationship of perceived neighborhood violence to perceived safety in the context of gender while controlling for neighborhood assets that moderate perceptions of neighborhood safety and violence. We hypothesized that gender would moderate the relationship between perceived neighborhood violence and safety, and that women's perceptions of neighborhood safety would be significantly influenced by neighborhood sexual violence, but not other types of violence. Although women and men in these high crime, urban neighborhoods did not differ in their perceptions of neighborhood safety or violence, perceived sexual violence did significantly moderate safety by gender; women's perceptions of neighborhood sexual violence predicted perceived safety in their neighborhood. Importantly, gender did not moderate perceived safety for other types of violence. These results illustrate the importance of taking gender and perceived sexual violence into account to understand neighborhood safety in adults, particularly women.     

WOMEN'S COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION AND WELL‐BEING: LOCAL RESISTANCE TO GENDERED SOCIAL INEQUITIES IN NICARAGUA AND TANZANIA

Although it is well‐documented that globalization has exacerbated structural factors that contribute to rising levels of gender inequality, social actors from diverse local contexts demonstrate that women are not mere victims, but rather have worked actively to resist oppression and promote women's well‐being worldwide. Self‐mobilized groups of women throughout the world are engaging in complex processes of renegotiating structural and relational injustices that transform women's well‐being. The current article focuses on how two groups of women–one in Nicaragua and one in Tanzania–use land rights to reconfigure gendered power relations that have been exacerbated during realignments of global power. We examine how conscientization, or a critical consciousness surrounding experiences of gender discrimination, motivated resistance, collective mobilization, and social change. The analysis provides evidence for theories of struggle and everyday resistance that represent how community contexts enable and support women's struggle for justice in an increasingly globalized world.     

Women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder compared to normal females: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Lack of sexual interest is the most common sexual complaint among women. However, factors affecting sexual desire in women have rarely been studied. While the role of the brain in integrating the sensory, attentional, motivational, and motor aspects of sexual response is commonly acknowledged as important, little is known about specific patterns of brain activation and sexual interest or response, particularly among women. We compared 20 females with no history of sexual dysfunction (NHSD) to 16 women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study that included assessment of subjective sexual arousal, peripheral sexual response using a vaginal photoplethysmograph (VPP), as well as brain activation across three time points. Video stimuli included erotic, sports, and relaxing segments. Subjective arousal to erotic stimuli was significantly greater in NHSD participants compared with HSDD. In the erotic-sports contrast, NHSD women showed significantly greater activation in the bilateral entorhinal cortex than HSDD women. In the same contrast, HSDD females demonstrated higher activation than NHSD females in the medial frontal gyrus (Brodmann area (BA) 10), right inferior frontal gyrus (BA 47) and bilateral putamen. There were no between group differences in VPP-correlated brain activation and peripheral sexual response was not significantly associated with either subjective sexual response or brain activation patterns. Findings were consistent across the three experimental sessions. The results suggest differences between women with NHSD and HSDD in encoding arousing stimuli, retrieval of past erotic experiences, or both. The findings of greater activation in BA 10 and BA 47 among women with HSDD suggest that this group allocated significantly more attention to monitoring and/or evaluating their responses than NHSD participants, which may interfere with normal sexual response.     

Blood pressure changes highlight gender differences in emotional reactivity to arousing pictures

The current study was aimed at investigating the effects of gender on the magnitude and patterning of blood pressure responses to specific pleasant and unpleasant, arousing visual stimuli. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP), as well as heart rate (HR) and skin conductance (SCR) responses were investigated during picture viewing in 21 female and 25 male students. The pattern of SCR and HR reactivity across emotional categories was found to be similar for men and women. Gender was found to be an effective moderator of BP responses specifically to sexual stimulus content, which prompted greater reactivity in men than in women. These findings extend prior research on gender differences in autonomic responding to emotional visual stimuli and suggest that BP changes might reflect sexual peripheral arousal more than other autonomic measures.     

Salivary cortisol and pathogen disgust predict men's preferences for feminine shape cues in women's faces

Recent studies suggest that individuals who are particularly concerned about infectious diseases show stronger preferences for exaggerated sex-typical characteristics in potential mates’ faces. However, these studies have generally investigated individual differences in women's mate preferences and relied on questionnaires to assess disease-related concerns. Here we show that men's scores on the pathogen disgust subscale of the Three Domains of Disgust Scale are positively correlated with their preferences for femininity in women's faces and that this relationship is independent of the possible effects of both sexual and moral disgust. We then show that men with higher trait (i.e., average) salivary cortisol, a biomarker for immunosuppression, have stronger preferences for femininity in women's faces. Finally, we show that pathogen disgust is correlated with partnered men's femininity ratings of both their actual and ideal romantic partner. Together, these findings suggest that disease-related factors are important for individual differences in men's mate preferences.     

Parental History of Hypertension and Myocardial Infarction Predicts Cardiovascular Responses to Behavioral Stressors in Middle-aged Men and Women

The present study had two objectives: to examine the influence of parental history of hypertension on cardiovascular responses during behavioral stress in middle-aged men and women; and to study the impact of parental history of myocardial infarction on stress responses. Participants were separated into four groups: no parental history of cardiovascular disease; parental history of hypertension only; parental history of myocardial infarction only; or parental history of both hypertension and myocardial infarction. Heart rate and blood pressure were monitored at rest and during serial subtraction, mirror image tracing, and isometric handgrip. Analyses of residualized difference scores showed that like younger, male offspring of hypertensives, middle-aged men and women with a parental history of hypertension exhibited exaggerated diastolic blood pressure responses during all stressors. Men with a parental history of myocardial infarction, with or without a parental history of hypertension, exhibited exaggerated systolic blood pressure responses during all stressors. These data are the first to show that family history of hypertension influences middle-aged men's and women's stress responses, and that family history of myocardial infarction influences men's stress responses. Results suggest the importance of parental history of cardiovascular diseases in understanding acute psychophysiological responses of middle-aged adults.     

Physiological and Subjective Sexual Arousal in Pre- and Postmenopausal Women and Postmenopausal Women Taking Replacement Therapy

Twenty premenopausal, 14 postmenopausal, and 14 postmenopausal women receiving replacement estrogen therapy were studied to determine whether differences in hormone status were associated with differences in physiological and subjective sexual responses. All subjects viewed a neutral, an erotic, and a second neutral videotape while photoplethysmographic vaginal pulse amplitude was continuously recorded. Self-report ratings of sexual arousal and affective response were collected. Serum levels of testosterone, estradiol, estrone, and luteinizing hormone were obtained. The three groups did not differ in either average or maximum vaginal pulse amplitude to the videotapes nor in latency of sexual response. The postmenopausal women not taking replacement estrogen reported significantly less vaginal lubrication in response to the erotic videotape than the higher estrogen premenopausal and replacement hormone groups. Estradiol level was significantly correlated with ratings of vaginal lubrication in response to the erotic videotape but not with vaginal pulse amplitude. Results thus suggest that estrogen is important in maintaining vaginal lubrication and the perception of sexual arousal but not in determining vaginal vasocongestion.     

Determinants of subjective experience of sexual arousal in women: Feedback from genital arousal and erotic stimulus content

Sixty-two women participated in a study designed to explore the association between gential and subjective sexual arousal. Four stimulus conditions were created, designed to evoke differential patterns of genital arousal over time. Subjects were instructed to report sensations in their genitalia while being exposed to the same erotic stimulus on repeated trials or to a series of varying erotic stimuli. Detection of genital arousal was facilitated by the occurrence of changes in genital arousal over trials. That is, genital and subjective sexual arousal were linearly related in conditions that resulted in large differences in genital arousal over trails, whereas such a relation was absent in conditions in which genital arousal levels remained relatively constant. In women, peripheral feedback from consciously detected genital arousal seems to be a relatively unimportant determinant of subjective sexual arousal.     

Psychological Treatments for Provoked Vestibulodynia: Integration of Mindfulness‐Based and Cognitive Behavioral Therapies

Provoked vestibulodynia (PVD) is a chronic and distressing genital pain condition involving sharp pain to the vulvar vestibule with lifetime prevalence as high as 12%. PVD is the most prevalent cause of pain during sexual intercourse (dyspareunia) in premenopausal women, and gives rise to considerable sexual and relational concerns. As intercourse for women with PVD is either painful or impossible, PVD has pronounced negative effects on women's romantic relationship adjustment and sexual intimacy, as well as their emotional well‐being and sense of sexual self‐efficacy. Given the low efficacy and high side‐effect profile of medications for the treatment of PVD, attention has shifted toward psychological interventions over the past decade. Psychological treatments for PVD have the advantage of targeting both the experience of pain and its many psychosexual consequences, such as reduced desire and arousal. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) currently represents one of the most popular first‐line psychological interventions for PVD. Mindfulness has been increasingly used alongside, or instead of CBT for a variety of health‐related conditions, particularly with respect to chronic pain disorders and more recently in women with PVD. This review provides a detailed overview of CBT and mindfulness‐based approaches in treating PVD.