Cliteracy for him: effectiveness of bibliotherapy for heterosexual men’s sexual functioning

Abstract

The current study examined whether reading the chapter titled “Cliteracy for Him” from the book Becoming Cliterate is an effective intervention for increasing young heterosexual men’s sexual functioning. Specifically, this study compared an intervention group (i.e., those who read the chapter) to a waitlist control group at three points in time: before reading the chapter, immediately after reading the chapter, and three weeks later. Outcome measures included clitoral knowledge, sexual self-esteem, sexual depression, communication during sexual activity, and dysfunctional beliefs about sexuality (e.g., beliefs about women’s satisfaction, about being “macho,” and sexual conservatism). Participants who read the bibliotherapy chapter showed immediate improvement on clitoral knowledge, dysfunctional beliefs about women’s sexual satisfaction, and sexual communication. Longer-term improvements were found on clitoral knowledge, and dysfunctional beliefs about both women’s sexual satisfaction and being “macho.” Additionally, compared to the waitlist control group, men in the intervention group demonstrated better sexual communication and fewer dysfunctional beliefs about women’s sexual satisfaction immediately after reading the chapter, and more clitoral knowledge, fewer dysfunctional beliefs about women’s sexual satisfaction, fewer dysfunctional macho beliefs, and lower sexual depression three weeks after reading the chapter. Clinical implications and future research directions are discussed.