Partner's Pleasure Research Articles

"My Mom Would Always Say Pussy Rules the World": A Qualitative Exploration of Southern Black Women's Sexual Messages.

Exploring southern Black women's sexual messaging is important for appropriately contextualizing their sexual experiences. This study advances the literature on southern Black women's sexuality by analyzing the valence, content, and sources of sexual messages using #HotGirlScience. Twenty-five Black women's semi-s tructured interview responses were analyzed using thematic analysis. Thirteen women reported mixed messages, followed by positive messages (n = 10) and negative messages (n = 2). Seven major content themes were constructed: 1) sex is taboo, 2) sex is painful, harmful, and/or violent for Black women, 3) sex prioritizes male partner's pleasure, 4) consent and safety, 5) agency and sexual pleasure, 6) pleasure expansiveness, and 7) sexual communication.

Measuring the Sexual Acceptability of Contraception: Psychometric Examination and Development of a Valid and Reliable Prospective Instrument

BackgroundPeople's sexual experiences have a strong association with contraceptive satisfaction and continuation, but no measures exist to specifically assess contraceptive-related sexual acceptability. AimThis study developed and examined the psychometric properties of reliability, separation, and item fit of a new Contraceptive Sexual Acceptability (CSA) instrument. MethodsEnrolled participants initiating a new contraceptive method from the HER Salt Lake longitudinal cohort study contributed baseline survey responses for scale development. The study included the Female Sexual Function Index, the New Sexual Satisfaction Scale, measures of physical and mood-related side effects, and self-reported perceptions of contraception's sexual impacts. Items from these measures’ served as the basis for analyses. We analyzed responses using descriptive techniques and modeled using exploratory factor (EFA) and bifactor analyses (BFA). The Masters’ Partial Credit Rasch method modeled reliability, separation, and item fit statistics. Here we evaluate (i) the reproducibility of relative measure location on the modeled linear latent variable, (ii) the number of statistically unique performance levels that can be distinguished by the measure, and (iii) the discrepancy between item responses and expectations of the model. Psychometric findings and theoretical models informed item reduction and final scale development. OutcomesWe developed a 10-item Contraceptive Sexual Acceptability scale that exceeded the thresholds and sufficiently covered domains for use in contraceptive research and clinical settings. ResultsStarting with data on 39-items from 4,387 individuals, we identified 10-items that best measured the CSA latent construct. The Rasch model included a total of 5 calibrations. We reduced items based on bifactor analysis and surpassed unidimensionality thresholds (OH = 0.84, ECV = 0.74) set a priori. The final items included questions with scaled responses about pleasure and orgasm (orgasm quality, orgasm frequency, giving partner pleasure), physical (arousal and function) and psychological (emotional connection, surrender) components, general questions of satisfaction and frequency, and a measure of perceived impact of contraception on sexual experiences in the previous 4 weeks. Clinical ImplicationsThe 10-item CSA instrument covers physical and psychological aspects of contraceptive sexual acceptability and can be used in clinical settings. Strengths & LimitationsThe unidimensional CSA instrument offers a brief, yet comprehensive assessment of sexual acceptability. Given the limited diversity of the sample, implementation of this scale in contraceptive research and clinical interactions should be evaluated and validated in more diverse settings. ConclusionAttuning to sexual acceptability could ultimately help contraceptive clients find methods that better meet their needs and preferences.Sanders JN, Kean J, Zhang C, et al. Measuring the Sexual Acceptability of Contraception: Psychometric Examination and Development of a Valid and Reliable Prospective Instrument. J Sex Med 2022;19:507–520.

Compersion: When Jealousy-Inducing Situations Don't (Just) Induce Jealousy.

Emotional reactions to a partner's extradyadic romantic interests are assumed to be negative and characterized by jealousy, an emotional state that arises over a perceived threat to one's relationship. Yet, reactions may also be positive, and involve compersion, or taking joy in one's partner's pleasure in other sexual and relational encounters. Although some have argued that compersion is the opposite of jealousy, research suggests that compersion and jealousy may not be opposing constructs, despite being treated this way in both theoretical and empirical research. Using a convenience sample of polyamorous (N = 3530) and monogamous (N = 1358) individuals, we draw on theories of jealousy, emotional ambivalence, and emotional forecasting to examine people's anticipated affective responses to hypothetical situations involving a partner's extradyadic relations and assess whether experience with having a partner engage in extradyadic relations was associated with anticipating less jealousy and more compersion. Results suggest that people in polyamorous relationships report less jealousy and more compersion with their partners, and that personal experience involving a partner's extradyadic romantic interests predicted more compersion and less jealousy, with experience predicting greater increases in compersion among monogamous than polyamorous participants. Finally, while anticipated compersion was associated with greater relationship satisfaction, neither jealousy nor ambivalence was associated with relationship satisfaction. These results further demonstrate that individuals can experience both positive and negative reactions to a partner's extradyadic relations, both based on actual experience and projection of responses to future events, and that real-life experiences are important in anticipating these emotions.

Influencing the importance of health, partners, and hygiene among Zambian women

Intravaginal practices (IVPs) are common in Zambia and are usually practiced for hygiene, partner pleasure, and health. IVPs are associated with HIV acquisition, changes in the vaginal flora, and bacterial vaginosis (BV), making it important to understand the decision-making process behind IVP engagement. The Women's and Sexual Health (WASH) intervention decreased IVP engagement among HIV-infected Zambian women, though change in reasons for engagement has not been assessed. We used conjoint analysis (CA) to quantify the decision-making process of IVP engagement and evaluated how the WASH intervention impacted these factors. Participants were N = 84 women (37 ± 8 years old) randomized to WASH (n = 46) or standard of care plus (SOC+; n = 38) who completed demographic measures and a CA questionnaire at baseline, six months, and 12 months to quantify the importance placed on hygiene, partner pleasure, and health. The importance placed on health increased from baseline to six months (15.5 versus 25.1; p < 0.001) and from baseline to 12 months (15.5 versus 50.5; p < 0.001), and was higher in SOC+ at six months (19.9 versus 30.3; p = 0.003). Hygiene importance decreased from baseline (63.6) to six months (50.3), and from baseline to 12 months (26.1), and was higher in the experimental arm at six months (56.1) compared to SOC+ (44.6; p = 0.029). Importance placed on partner pleasure did not change over time in either group. Findings suggest that both groups exhibited an increase in the importance placed on health and a decrease on hygiene importance for IVP engagement, suggesting that SOC+ may be sufficient to promote attitude changes that may facilitate IVP discontinuation and may prove to be more cost effective by using fewer monetary resources. Findings highlight the potential of interventions to influence attitudes toward IVPs and provide novel avenues for research to improve the design and conduct of interventions aimed at reducing IVPs among Zambian women and contribute to HIV prevention efforts.

Heterosexual Anal Intercourse among Teenagers in the United States

Heterosexual Anal Intercourse among Teenagers in the United States

A Longitudinal Study of Sexual Entitlement and Self-Efficacy among Young Women and Men: Gender Differences and Associations with Age and Sexual Experience.

Many scholars have called for an increased focus on positive aspects of sexual health and sexuality. Using a longitudinal design with two assessments, we investigated patterns of entitlement to sexual partner pleasure and self-efficacy to achieve sexual pleasure among 295 young men and women aged 17–25 years attending one Australian university. We also tested whether entitlement and efficacy differed by gender, and hypothesized that entitlement and efficacy would be higher in older participants and those with more sexual experience. A sense of entitlement to sexual partner pleasure increased significantly over the year of the study, whereas, on average, there was no change in self-efficacy over time. At Time 1 (T1), young women reported more entitlement than young men. Age was positively associated with T1 entitlement, and experience with a wider range of partnered sexual behaviors was concurrently associated with more entitlement and efficacy and was also associated with increased entitlement to partner pleasure and increased self-efficacy in achieving sexual pleasure at T2 relative to T1. A group with the least amount of sexual experience was particularly low in entitlement and efficacy when compared to groups with a history of coital experience. There was no evidence that any association differed between young men and young women. Limitations of the study include a sample of predominantly middle class, Caucasian students at one university and the possibility that students more interested in sex and relationships, and with more sexual experience, chose to participate.

P2-S9.05 Qualitative assessment of anal intercourse and rectal lubricant use among women in Los Angeles

BackgroundThere is increasing evidence that anal intercourse (AI) is a relatively common sexual practice among women. Although AI has a high probability of transmission of STIs/HIV, circumstances surrounding AI and...

T10-O-31 Portuguese women's sexuality and biopsychossocial determinants: a focus on sexual well-being

Over the past decade the linear model of human sexual response has been successfully called into question for women. However, the major research emphasis has remained on sexual dysfunction rather than on positive aspects of women's sexual experiences. Following this, our main goal is to understand how Portuguese women assess their sexuality and how components of their sexual well-being may interact with psychological, relationship, biological and contextual factors. Participants were 497 women from the general population, ages between 18 and 75 and relationship for 6 months or more. Questionnaires assessed: Sexual well-being, including sexual self-esteem, satisfaction (GRISS) and pleasure; sexual functioning (FSFI); sexual activity; relationship satisfaction (GRIMS); affect (PANAS-X); general well-being (SES; WLS; GBD); sexual beliefs (QCSD), focus of attention and sexual fantasies; psychopathology (BSI); medical conditions; life habits; contextual aspects. The study was cross-sectional. We found that women who scored higher on sexual satisfaction also scored significantly higher on sexual self-esteem, pleasure, functioning and positive emotions during sexual activity, particularly self-assurance, joviality and serenity. Findings also indicate as main predictors of women's sexual satisfaction: relationship status, focus of attention on own pleasure and behaviour and on partner's pleasure during sexual activity, partner's sensitiveness, physical and emotional attraction for the partner, less conservative sexual beliefs (particularly sexual desire as sin). Problematic relationships were associated with age and relationship duration but that association became insignificant after controlling for sexual satisfaction. Findings will be discussed in terms of implications for promotion/protection of sexual well-being.

The Discursive Condition of Viagra

This research investigates the socio-cultural implications of Viagra as a biomedical solution to a medically defined problem. This New Zealand-based research involved interviews with 33 men, to examine how they discursively constituted meanings around masculinity, erections, and the role of Viagra. It is argued that the relationship between discourses of mechanistic functionality of erections, the primacy of the male as performer, and the partner's pleasure as measure of success, create the conditions of possibility for a pharmaceutical solution directed at the male. The problem is configured as the uncertainty accompanying the instability evident in the relationship between these discourses. The men's discourse on the solution, Viagra, confirms this analysis.

Male Responsibility in Sexual Activity and Family Planning: Perspectives of a College Mental Health Professional

Social movements of the previous 2 decades have forced a reevaluation of the traditional male role in sexual activity and family planning. Men are now expected to be active responsible participants in decisions and actions concerning contraception child care pregnancy partner satisfaction and emotional bondings. While a number of rational shoulds have been advanced as guidelines for health responsible male functioning the actual behavior exercised is often a function of more irrational or conflicted motivations. The focus of this paper is an examination of motivations underlying maladaptive decisions by college males in the areas of sexual intercourse contraception and partner pleasure. The motivations involved in decisions to engage in sexual intercourse are classified and discussed along interpersonal and intrapersonal dimensions. The motivations involved in the use of nonuse of contraceptives are classified and discussed through use of Horneys interpersonal nomenclature. The sexual character types adapted by the author from Millons personality typology. A societal influence on male lovemaking is also addressed. Concluding remarks address the difficulty of precisely defining male responsibility in sexual activity and family planning. (Authors Modified)