Journal of Sex Research最新文献

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.

Departures from monogamy are socially discouraged and met with negative judgments, and being a target of stigmatization has consequences for the way individuals in consensual non-monogamous (CNM) relationships connect to others, including their partner(s). However, social support seems to be an important factor associated with increases in wellbeing and relationship quality. Aligned with this reasoning, results of a cross-sectional study showed that participants in CNM relationships who endorsed more internalized negativity reported less commitment to partner one (P1), less disclosure of their relationship agreement to others, as well as less acceptance and more secrecy toward P1 and partner two (P2). Results further showed that perceiving more social support was associated with more commitment to P1, less disclosure to people from the extended social circle, and more acceptance of the relationship with P1 and P2 among participants with higher internalized negativity. Perceiving more social support was also associated with more disclosure to people from the close social circle, as well as more acceptance and less secrecy toward the relationship with P1 and P2 among participants with lower internalized negativity. These results demonstrate that relationships embedded in social contexts of support can be a protective factor, even for individuals who report higher internalized negativity. Hence, for individuals in CNM relationships, fostering a positive and supportive social network seems to increase positive personal and relationship outcomes.

The sexual incentive motivation model suggests that attractive stimuli activate the sexual response system. Attraction toward one's partner has been linked to greater sexual satisfaction, but no quantitative studies have examined its links to sexual desire or distress among those with sexual dysfunction. We examined associations between daily attraction toward one's partner and sexual satisfaction, desire, and distress for individuals with Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder (SIAD) and their partners. Participants (N = 227 couples) completed daily online surveys measuring attraction for one's partner, sexual desire, satisfaction, and distress. Multilevel models showed that on days when women and gender diverse individuals with SIAD reported higher attraction for their partner, they and their partners reported higher sexual satisfaction and desire, and their partners reported lower sexual distress. On days when partners reported higher attraction, both they and participants with SIAD reported higher sexual desire and partners reported lower sexual distress; however, women and gender diverse individuals with SIAD reported higher sexual distress. Daily fluctuations in attraction may be important for daily fluctuations in sexual wellbeing among couples coping with SIAD. Findings may inform novel treatment targets for SIAD.

While early uses of technology in the sex industry centered on increasing accessibility to pornography or expanding advertising opportunities for direct service sex workers, the growing prevalence of personalized, platform-based sexual technologies reflects the postindustrial paradigm of sexual labor in which "authentic" emotional and physical connection is increasingly prioritized. In this study, we explored how erotic webcam modeling platforms (e.g. LiveJasmin) exemplify "bounded authenticity" by offering clients an experience of "genuine" intimacy that is nevertheless constrained by both its transactional nature and technological reality. We conducted a web-based survey of LiveJasmin clients (N = 2,047) in 2020. We assessed participants' perceptions of the authenticity of their emotional bonds with models - and the boundaries that potentially constrain these relationships - via quantitative and qualitative measures. Quantitative results revealed that 65% of participants reported having ever experienced an emotional bond with a model, with over half of participants (51.6%) reporting that they believed the models cared about their lives outside the platform. Providing nuance to these findings, qualitative results illustrated the ways in which participants' perceptions of the emotional authenticity and boundaries of these relationships varied, with participants reporting a range of experiences that extended from perceived "real" connections to those that feel transactional and hollow, but nevertheless shaped by the platform. Our findings ultimately underscore how camsite clients' perceptions of these relationships mirror the tension between desiring genuine feelings of emotional intimacy from the models and the market and technological constraints of these experiences.

When searching for a partner, people often rely on social cues to determine partners' suitability, finding those who attract attention from others particularly appealing. While people continue to evaluate their partners beyond relationship initiation, existing research has predominantly concentrated on the effects of observing others' choices during the stage of partner selection, neglecting to consider whether viewing others' attention toward current partners yields similar effects or instead elicits defensive devaluation. In three experiments, we exposed Israeli participants to situations where their partners received unsolicited flirtatious advances, utilizing visualization, virtual reality, and recall techniques. Participants then rated their desire for their partner and mate retention efforts. Results indicated that attention to partners led to decreased desire for them, subsequently predicting reduced relationship investment. These findings suggest that witnessing current partners receiving attention holds a different meaning than observing potential partners in a similar situation, making salient the risk of losing the partner.