Dysfunctional Sexual Beliefs: A Comparative Study of Heterosexual Men and Women, Gay Men, and Lesbian Women With and Without Sexual Problems

AbstractWe are among the first to use American time-use data to investigate non-market behavior in gay and lesbian households. We contribute to a literature that has documented a gay disadvantage and lesbian advantage in the labor market. Many have proposed that this pattern reflects, relative to their heterosexual counterparts, higher levels of household labor among gay men and lower levels of household labor among lesbian women. Results show that gay men, parents in particular, spend more time in household production than heterosexual men. We find evidence of different time-use patterns for lesbians, but they are driven by characteristics not sexual orientation. These results also contribute to the economics of the household showing that time use in same-sex households with weaker gender constructs does not conform to the predictions of models that highlight comparative advantage as a source of specialization.

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Gender, sexual orientation and body dissatisfaction: a meta-analysis covering four decades of research

10.31234/osf.io/5hdkr ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Monica Huerga Malillos ◽

Elena Theofanous ◽

Keith R. Laws ◽

Paul Jenkinson

Keyword(s):

Sexual Orientation ◽

Body Dissatisfaction ◽

Gay Men ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Future Research ◽

Heterosexual Men ◽

Pairwise Comparisons ◽

Lesbian Women ◽

Heterosexual Women ◽

Meta Analyses

Background: Four decades of research has assessed how gender and/or sexual orientation contribute to levels of body dissatisfaction (BD). The findings have proven somewhat equivocal and little attention has been paid to potential moderators. Method: The current meta-analysis compared BD in gay and heterosexual men (38 overall effects), and lesbian and heterosexual women (25 overall effects). Additional pairwise comparisons explored differences between heterosexual men and heterosexual women, gay men and lesbians, gay men and heterosexual women, and heterosexual men and lesbian women. Results: Random effects model meta-analyses revealed greater levels of BD in gay men compared to heterosexual men (g = -0.36, 95% CI -0.43, -0.29). By contrast, BD was greater in heterosexual women than lesbians (g = 0.09 95% CI 0.03, 0.15). Year of publication and mean difference in age between gay and heterosexual samples moderated the relationship between BD and sexual orientation, but only for men. Pairwise comparisons indicated that BD is highest in heterosexual women and lowest in heterosexual men.Conclusions: Findings indicate that both gender and sexual orientation influence BD. We identified a number of limitations in the existing research base, and make recommendations for future research.

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Heterosexual, gay, and lesbian people’s reactivity to virtual caresses on their embodied avatars’ taboo zones

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-81168-w ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Martina Fusaro ◽

Matteo P. Lisi ◽

Gaetano Tieri ◽

Salvatore Maria Aglioti

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Gay Men ◽

Real Life ◽

Heterosexual Men ◽

Immersive Virtual Reality ◽

Lesbian Women ◽

Artificial Agent ◽

Male And Female ◽

Social Features ◽

Somatosensory Stimuli

AbstractEmbodying an artificial agent through immersive virtual reality (IVR) may lead to feeling vicariously somatosensory stimuli on one’s body which are in fact never delivered. To explore whether vicarious touch in IVR reflects the basic individual and social features of real-life interpersonal interactions we tested heterosexual men/women and gay men/lesbian women reacting subjectively and physiologically to the observation of a gender-matched virtual body being touched on intimate taboo zones (like genitalia) by male and female avatars. All participants rated as most erogenous caresses on their embodied avatar taboo zones. Crucially, heterosexual men/women and gay men/lesbian women rated as most erogenous taboo touches delivered by their opposite and same gender avatar, respectively. Skin conductance was maximal when taboo touches were delivered by female avatars. Our study shows that IVR may trigger realistic experiences and ultimately allow the direct exploration of sensitive societal and individual issues that can otherwise be explored only through imagination.

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