Archives of Sexual Behavior最新文献

Perceived risk for HIV acquisition among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) may not align with their actual sexual HIV exposure. Factors associated with low/moderate perceived risk among GBMSM eligible for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) (based on their high estimated HIV exposure) have been poorly described in Latin America. This is a secondary analysis of a 2018 web-based cross-sectional survey in Brazil, Mexico, and Peru. Participants were ≥ 18 years old, cisgender men, not living with HIV, had sex with other men in the previous six months, and had an HIV Incidence Risk Index for MSM score ≥ 10. We performed a multivariable logistic regression to identify factors associated with low/moderate perceived risk for HIV acquisition for each country. A total of 9900 GBMSM were included, and the majority (85.7%) reported low/moderate perceived risk for HIV acquisition. The mean age was 28.8 (SD = 7.7) years, and 77.7% had high school or more. Having ≥ 5 sex partners, daily use of geosocial networking (GSN) apps, and having sex (including condomless insertive anal sex) with a person living with HIV decreased the odds of low/moderate perceived risk for HIV acquisition, but an HIV test in the last year increased the odds only in Mexico. Latin GBMSM with high sexual HIV exposure (eligible to use PrEP) showed a massive gap with their perceived risk. HIV prevention counseling should explore HIV testing history and the frequency of use of GSN apps to promote an objective self-assessment of HIV exposure among Latin GBMSM.

Prior cross-sectional research established that four distinct responses to sexual rejection are associated with sexual and relationship well-being among couples affected by Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder (SIAD). Examining these associations daily and prospectively will provide insight into within-person variations, temporality, and directionality. Women and gender-diverse individuals diagnosed with SIAD and their partners (N = 232 couples) completed a baseline survey, 56-day diary, and 6-month follow-up survey, assessing responses to sexual rejection, sexual satisfaction, dyadic sexual desire, sexual distress, and relationship satisfaction. Post hoc exploratory analyses controlled for non-physical sexual coercion and sexual rejection frequency. On days when individuals with SIAD perceived or their partners reported greater understanding responses than usual, they both reported higher relationship satisfaction, but also greater sexual distress. Daily perceived or reported greater resentful or insecure responses were associated with lower sexual and relationship satisfaction, and greater sexual distress. Enticing responses showed mixed results. For partners, all daily self-reported response types were positively associated with their own dyadic sexual desire. Prospectively for individuals with SIAD perceiving greater understanding and lower resentful and enticing responses at baseline predicted their own greater sexual and relationship satisfaction and perceiving greater insecure responses predicted their partners’ greater sexual satisfaction, six months later. For partners, greater insecure responses at baseline predicted their own lower sexual satisfaction and greater sexual distress six months later. Results suggest that partner responses to sexual rejection may be useful intervention targets aimed at promoting the sexual well-being and relationship satisfaction of couples coping with SIAD.

The visibility and number of people identifying as asexual—those with little to no sexual attraction—have been increasing in recent years. In the current study, we examined variation in experiential and developmental milestones and psychosocial functioning in 1,726 individuals on the asexual spectrum (61.2% women, 15.0% non-binary, 14.2% men, 9.0% other gender). A lack of sexual attraction was a lifelong orientation—most (i.e., often half to two-thirds) asexual individuals reported never experiencing sexual attraction or acting on it. Identity formation processes and romantic feelings tended to be most salient in adolescence. People are identifying as asexual more recently, such that 18–22-year-olds did so recently in adolescence (ages 13–17), 23–29 year-olds did so recently in young adulthood (ages 18–24), and 30 + year-olds did so recently in adulthood (ages 25–34). This may be consistent with the visibility of asexuality increasing in recent years, providing a useful label for people. Asexual people were more out to other members of the LGBTQIA+ community but less to family, coworkers, and the heterosexual community. Being out and lower levels of internalized acephobia were associated with higher life satisfaction. We discuss these findings in the context of identity development and the mechanisms linking individual and relational characteristics to well-being in asexual populations.

This study evaluated the association between HIV risk perception and sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics among cisgender female sex workers in the five regions of Brazil. A cross-sectional, multicenter study using respondent-driven sampling was used. Sex workers over 18 years of age and who reported commercial sex in the past four months were included. All participants completed a questionnaire with sociodemographic and behavioral factors. In addition, the participants were offered a rapid HIV antibody test. Unweighted bivariate analyses and multivariable logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association of sociodemographic and behavioral factors. Overall, 794 HIV-negative participants were included (mean age = 34.44 years [SD = 6.49]). Most participants were brown/pardo (59.47%), from social class D–E (82.24%), and with medium education (57.12%). Most women perceived themselves to be at low to moderate risk (68.26%), 7.56% at no risk, and 24.18% at high risk for HIV infection. Those who frequently or always had sexual intercourse under the influence of alcohol had a 2.36 times higher probability of having a high HIV risk perception compared to those who never had sexual intercourse under the influence of alcohol. The data from this study aid in a better understanding of HIV risk perception and its impact on sexual behaviors among female sex workers. Although the majority considered themselves to be at low to moderate risk for HIV, some higher vulnerability behaviors were prevalent.

Autogynephilia is a natal male’s propensity to be sexually aroused by the thought or fantasy of being a woman. Both male cross-dressers and transfeminine individuals (a broad range of individuals born male with a feminine gender identity; e.g., trans women) have been shown to be motivated or characterized by autogynephilia. Although there is a lack of research on whether other potentially related aspects of sexuality are comparable between them, the conceptual framework of autogynephilia offers several predictions that can be tested empirically. Following these predictions, the present study examined whether 10 diverse aspects of sexuality differed between 519 male cross-dressers and 288 transfeminine individuals recruited from online communities, as well as between both groups and 293 cisgender men and 301 cisgender women recruited as control groups. The overwhelming majority of male cross-dresser and transfeminine participants identified as heterosexual, bisexual, asexual, or pansexual. Compared with transfeminine participants, male cross-dressers reported more core and general autogynephilia, paraphilic interests, sociosexual orientation, sexual compulsivity, and problematic pornography use, but less bisexual attraction. Compared with cisgender men and women, male cross-dressers and transfeminine participants as a combined sample reported more bisexual attraction, sexual orientation ambiguity, core and general autogynephilia, paraphilic interests, analloeroticism, sexual compulsivity, and problematic pornography use, but less perceived desirability as a partner. Differences were larger comparing male cross-dressers and transfeminine participants with either control group than with each other. Results suggest that while autogynephilia is especially important to the sexuality of male cross-dressers, it also figures importantly in the sexuality of transfeminine individuals, even if it is expressed and organized differently.

“Partner number sexuality” (P#S) refers to how many partners individuals have/are interested in having. Those with P#S outside of monogamous desires and/or practices commonly face stigma in North America and elsewhere. Yet theories of sexuality do not always make room for diverse P#S. One theory that does is sexual configurations theory (SCT), which visually models gender/sex and sexuality (van Anders, 2015). In this study, we investigated what insights SCT could provide into P#S, whether SCT was useful to those with minoritized P#S, and how those with minoritized P#S made use of SCT. To do so, we conducted online interviews, asking participants (N = 26) to complete two SCT diagrams and report on their experience. We used template analysis to analyze transcripts and compiled “SCT heatmaps,” aggregates of SCT diagrams. We constructed 11 major themes, including diverse understandings of eroticism and romantic/platonic relationships, the impacts of hermeneutical injustice (the injustice of knowledge systems) on participants’ abilities to conceptualize and discuss their P#S, and how SCT facilitated conversations about P#S. The heatmaps showed that participants made use of most of both SCT diagrams, showing branchedness in P#S between “eroticism” and “nurturance,” and between status, identity, and orientation. Our study highlights that the lived experience of partnering, especially of those with minoritized P#S, extends far beyond commonly understood categories, and that SCT is a useful tool that can accurately reflect diversity in P#S.

We examined whether beliefs about autonomic arousal sensations and sexual sensation seeking explain some of the gender differences in self-reporting paraphilic sexual interests in 672 university students. A serial mediation model was used to test the direct association of gender and the indirect associations of positive interpretations of autonomic arousal sensations and sexual sensation seeking on paraphilic sexual interests. Anxiety sensitivity (e.g., the belief that anxiety sensations are dangerous) was included in the serial mediation model to evaluate the relationship between negative interpretations of autonomic arousal sensations and paraphilic interests. As predicted, men reported more paraphilic interests, sexual sensation seeking, positive beliefs about autonomic arousal sensations, and lower anxiety sensitivity than women. Participants' gender was indirectly related to paraphilic interests through positive beliefs about autonomic arousal sensations and sexual sensation seeking. Notably, positive interpretations of autonomic arousal sensations had a greater association with paraphilic sexual interests than anxiety sensitivity. When autonomic arousal sensations are interpreted positively, they may facilitate sexual sensation seeking, and people may endorse more paraphilic sexual interests. Future research on paraphilias should further examine positive interpretations of autonomic arousal sensations as they may relate to sexual sensation seeking and the endorsement of paraphilic interests.