Effects of gender and sex-role orientation on sexual attitudes among Turkish university students

Abstract

My purpose was to investigate the effects of gender and sex-role orientation on attitudes toward autoeroticism/masturbation, abortion, pornography, homosexuality, premarital sex, and sexual coercion among Turkish university students. Participants were 468 undergraduate students from 3 large urban universities in Ankara. The Turkish version of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1974) and the Sexual Knowledge and Attitude Test for Adolescents (SKAT-A; Fullard, Johnston, & Lief, 1998) were used to collect data. Results revealed no sex-role orientation effect on sexual attitudes. Furthermore, no gender differences were observed in attitudes toward masturbation, homosexuality, and premarital sex. The attitude subscales on which meaningful gender differences were found were abortion, pornography, and sexual coercion. Findings are discussed with respect to the role of Turkish culture in the development of attitudes toward sexuality.