Journal of Sex Research最新文献

Mating represents a suite of fundamental adaptive problems for humans. Yet a community of men, called incels (involuntary celibates), forge their identity around their perceived inability to solve these problems. Many incels engage in misogynistic online hostility, and there are concerns about violence stemming from the community. Despite significant media speculation about the potential mating psychology of incels, this has yet to be formally investigated in the scientific literature. In the first formal investigation of incel mating psychology, we compared a sample (n = 151) of self-identified male incels with non-incel single males (n = 149). Findings revealed that incels have a lower sense of self-perceived mate-value and a greater external locus of control regarding their singlehood. Contrary to mainstream media narratives, incels also reported lower minimum standards for mate preferences than non-incels. Incels (and non-incel single men) significantly overestimated the importance of physical attractiveness and financial prospects to women, and underestimated the importance of intelligence, kindness, and humor. Furthermore, incels underestimated women's overall minimum mate preference standards. Our findings suggest that incels should be targeted for interventions to challenge cognitive distortions around female mate preferences. Implications for incels' mental health and misogynistic attitudes are discussed, as well as directions for future research.

Romantic relationships are an important part of our social identities and well-being. In this paper, we report on qualitative findings with thirty Canadian couples, interviewed together, where it was known that one or both partners sell sexual services for a living. We asked a series of open-ended questions related to the background of the couple's relationship, their day-to-day interactions and work-related stressors. Participants talked about the ongoing negotiations they engage in as a couple, the benefits of being open to each other about working in the sex industry, and how they manage its emotional toll on their partnership. We conclude that there are various ways that sex workers are able to maintain intimacy in their romantic relationships after sex work has been disclosed. Widespread social stigma attached to sex work, complicated by criminalization in countries such as Canada, nevertheless threatens relationship quality in the long run.

Incel refers to an online group of young males who feel frustration and despair at being repeatedly neglected on the dating market. Despite gaining notoriety for a number of public attacks, the majority of incel research is comprised of analyses of their forums rather than of individuals themselves. This provides a good contextual overview of the incel community but does not capture the experiences of incels or identify how and why this group responds so strongly to rejection. A total of 38 incel and 107 non-incel males (M_AGE = 23.60, SD = 4.90) were recruited through Reddit and two institutional forums to participate in the present online study, completing questionnaires pertaining to their dating app experiences and their mental and relational well-being. Large differences between incels and non-incels were found, with the former reporting greater depressive symptoms, rejection sensitivity, relationship status influence, and insecure attachment. These were all associated with perceived popularity, which incels scored lower on. Incels also adopted more liberal dating app strategies, yet reported fewer matches, conversations, and in-person outcomes. The pattern of results reported sheds new light on the role that dating apps may play in incels' efforts to attract mates and how these frustrations manifest. This is integral both to understanding the broader incel discourse as well as any efforts to develop treatment strategies with self-identified incels who seek counseling.

This study examined the internal moral debate that takes place among Israeli men who pay for sex (MWPS) while traveling abroad. We explored how they construct their sense of moral worth and present themselves as moral subjects in light of the intensified stigmatization of their actions. Using the theoretical frameworks of pragmatic morality and boundary work, we conceptualize four main moral justification regimes that MWPS use to construct themselves as moral subjects: Cultural normalization; Conditional freedom of choice; The altruistic act of charity; and Unpacking the Stigma Discourse. The findings highlight how these justification regimes are anchored in three intersecting fields - cultural, spatial, and power relations - which produce various matrices of conflict, compromise, or collaboration in different situations. Thus, the flexible switching between various justification regimes reveals how MWPS define themselves and their activities and negotiate various moral dispositions - akin to various cultural logics - in the context of moral taint and stigma.

The current study provides initial validity evidence for a measure of Transactional Sex (TS). Participants (N = 269) were recruited from a Northeastern University in the United States and consisted of undergraduate and graduate students. Participants completed an online survey through QuestionPro that contained the Transactional Sex Measure (TSM) as well as measures of depression, anxiety, and stress, condom use negotiation self-efficacy and sexual risk, alcohol and drug use, and materialism. Construct and criterion validity were examined. Findings revealed that the TSM provided good criterion validity evidence but the construct validity evidence was minimal. Further studies on the conceptualization of TS and distribution of the TSM across a variety of diverse samples can provide more validity evidence.

People with pedophilia (PWP) can deal with their sexual desires by relieving sexual arousal without sexually exploiting children. Study 1 investigated whether public reactions toward nonoffending pedophilic men are affected by their strategies to relieve sexual arousal (nonsexual pictures vs. child sex dolls) or to reduce their sex drive via testosterone lowering medication in legally nonproblematic ways. A sample of German-speaking participants (N = 143) read three vignettes describing PWP using either of these strategies. Participants' (59.4% females) mean age was 39.7 (SD = 15.6). Although no significant difference was detected between the nonsexual pictures and sex dolls conditions on cognitive (except for dangerousness), affective, and behavioral levels, both consistently elicited more stigmatizing reactions than the testosterone-lowering medication condition. To investigate if this effect was driven by disapproving any relief of sexual arousal or the use of actual child stimuli in particular, Study 2 (N = 151) added two conditions with PWP using adult child-like stimuli to relieve sexual arousal: adult-as-schoolgirl porn and adult partner with childlike appearance. Here, Participants' (57.6% females) mean age was 28.0 (SD = 13.3). Results indicate that stigmatization was driven by disapproving the use of child stimuli rather than the relief of sexual arousal in general. Individuals with a sexual interest in children face strong stigmatizing reactions, which are only alleviated when they are described as undergoing treatment lowering sex drive or - to a lesser extent - being able to mate with an adult partner or using porn with adult actors posing as schoolgirls.

This study examined how consumerism shapes the identity construction processes of Israeli men who pay women for sex (MPWS). Using the theoretical framework of symbolic interaction and the theoretical concept of extended self, we explored how Israeli MPWS extend their selves through sex-consumption. To this end, we conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 23 Israeli MPWS. An interpretive epistemology and a constructivist grounded theory methodology guided the data-analysis. We conceptualized three dynamics of self-identity construction processes through sex-consumption: Extending the self through assimilation of products or experiences, Extending the self through the purchasing process, and Extending the self through consuming the imagined. The findings revealed a complex process, whereby MPWS attribute various and contradictory meanings to their possessions, their consumerist experiences, and their purchasing processes. We conclude that consumerism is central to the meanings that MPWS attribute to their engagement in the sex industry. Thus, the theoretical framework of consumerism should be further applied to future studies in this field in order to gain a nuanced and deeper understanding of MPWS and the phenomenon of sex consumption.

We examined whether Moral Foundations Theory helps explain Americans' reactions to violations of age-related sexual norms. Attitudes toward sexual relationships between two adolescents, an adolescent and a young adult, and two adults of highly discrepant ages were obtained from a nationally representative sample of 1,117 adults in the United States. The sex of the older person was manipulated in the age-discrepant scenarios. We found that respondents for whom purity was an important value were generally more likely to be bothered by these sexual activities. The reaction to sexual relationships between adolescent girls and young men was an exception. For this type of relationship, the negative reaction was related to the fairness foundation, suggesting that respondents thought the relationship involved exploitation. Reactions to violations of age norms were unrelated to whether respondents had a strong harm foundation, suggesting that their reactions were not motivated by concern that such relationships are harmful to participants. Finally, we found that male respondents were less likely to react negatively to age violations than female respondents, particularly when the sexual relationship involved an adolescent boy and a young woman.

Sugar dating arrangements involve an older partner ("sugar daddy/mommy") who provides financial support to a younger partner ("sugar baby") in exchange for intimacy. The current study recruited a U.S. and Canadian sample of sugar babies (n = 45) and sugar benefactors (n = 32) through social media sources to survey them about perceived power in their sugar arrangement, gender roles, and stigma. Sugar benefactors did not differ in perceived power from sugar babies, nor in endorsement of traditional gender roles or stigma. Directed content analysis analyzing open-ended responses about associated outcomes indicated that both partners placed strong emphasis on companionship despite the importance of sex within arrangements. Sugar babies reported that money drives participation, although arrangements fulfill other needs, such as pleasure. Other benefits include having an arrangement with clear boundaries and expectations. Disadvantages include concerns for safety, that being physical safety for babies, and reputation and being used for money for daddies. Notably, both groups perceived sugar babies as having equal or more power than sugar benefactors, although this was often attributed to sugar babies' attractiveness and youth. Findings include insights from both babies and benefactors, and support perspectives that sugar dating is distinct from traditional sex work.

The growth of digital technologies has enabled the creation of online platforms for sex workers to share, create, and gather information. To elucidate how this community leverages social media, the current study analyzed how sex workers and related groups (e.g. clients) communicate in a pseudonymous online space - r/SexWorkers. A content analysis of 103 posts and 967 comments submitted to r/SexWorkers between March 13, 2021, and February 22, 2022 was performed, evaluating 1) the prevalence of risk (i.e. to sex workers and clients) within the community's discourse, 2) types of information shared within the community (e.g. legal, health, and support), 3) features of information exchange (e.g. seeking and providing), and 4) the emergence and confrontation of stigma. The findings of this study indicate that users took specific interest in the risks sex workers face (as opposed to clients), providing information predominantly about economic and health concerns, discussing potential abuses, and providing support to one another. Moreover, while stigma was not commonly discussed by the community, users who did engage with stigma (especially professional stigma) sought to counteract prevailing beliefs about sex work. Accordingly, r/SexWorkers seemingly provides a beneficial online space for sex workers and clients to discuss risk, safety, and stigma.