Sexual Strategies Research Articles

Psychosocial contributors to patients' and partners' postprostate cancer sexual recovery: 10 evidence-based and practical considerations.

Sexual recovery after prostate cancer (PCa) treatment is challenging. When expectations are that erectile response will quickly returnto baseline, patients can often struggle when this does not happen. Further difficulty is experiencedwhen patients encounter physical, psychological, and relational barriers to sexual adjustment. Drawing on the psychosocial research literature and on 15 years of clinical experience counseling PCa patients about sexual recovery, this paper outlines considerations for clinical practice. Suggestions include broadening the target for successful outcomes after Pca treatment beyond erectile function to include sexual distress and other sources of sexual concern. Clinicians are urged to consider individual differences such as the larger context of the patient, including their values and preferences, their treatment goals, and their relationship situation and status, in order topromote successful sexual adaptation. When introducing treatment approaches, the role of grief and loss should be assessed, and patients should be supported to foster realistic expectations about the recovery process. Suggestions for how to introduce various sexual strategies to patients are also offered, including ways to support patients in making and sustaining behavioral changes associated with sexual intervention. Clinicians are offered suggestions to promote patients' sexual flexibility, prevent long periods of sexual inactivity, and help patients to identify various sexual motivators. Consideration of these psychological, relational, and social factors are all likely to help facilitate better sexual outcomes for PCa patients.

‘Rape is a man’s issue:’ gender and power in the era of affirmative sexual consent

ABSTRACT The #MeToo movement has shined light on sexual harassment and assault, creating new avenues for survivors to seek justice, outside of the justice system. People (mostly men) accused of sexual assault or harassment are publicly ‘outed’, and the consequence have been serious for many. #MeToo stresses that ‘rape is a man’s issue’, arguing that men can end rape by educating themselves about gendered power, changing their behaviour, and holding other men accountable. In this contentious context, affirmative consent policies are taking root in US universities. In this paper, we ask, How does gender frame the negotiation of consent? We analyse data from our interview project on sexual consent (N = 45) to explore gendered power dynamics in subjects’ reported negotiations of sexual consent. We find that participants’ understandings of consent reinforced – rather than destabilized – hegemonic systems of power. Even when acting in ways that seemed consistent with feminist conceptualizations of bodily autonomy and affirmative consent, men in this study did so to protect their own interests. Affirmative consent was mediated through gender frames that stressed men’s sexual entitlement. We conclude that sexual assault intervention strategies need to be reworked to address systemic, cultural, and individual-level issues.

Effects of Women's Short-Term Mating Orientation and Self-Perceived Attractiveness in Rating and Viewing Men's Waist to Chest Ratios.

Women's mating strategies are dependent on multiple factors, such as identifying which men advertise physical features indicating high genetic quality, as well as identifying which men are willing to invest in offspring. Research has suggested that women pursuing short-term mating prioritize physical attraction to facilitate the acquisition of good genes. Although it is known that physical characteristics are important in mate choice, research investigating the saliency of physical features in assessing male fitness has not been readily explored. The current study used an eye-tracking paradigm to investigate the role of short-term mating in women and their attraction and visual attention to men's waist to chest ratios (WCRs). Women's short-term mating orientation (N = 130) was associated with attraction to men with low WCRs; however, their visual attention was not influenced by their mating strategy. Interestingly, women who perceived themselves as attractive rated men with low WCRs as more attractive and allocated attentional resources to physical features important in mate choice, such as the head and midriff region. The findings from this study lend some support to sexual strategies theory (Buss & Schmitt, 1993) and strategic pluralism (Gangestad & Simpson, 2000), and they suggest that mate preferences may be calibrated as a function of one's mate value.

DISPLACED DISCUSSION: THE IMPLICATIONS OF REDDIT QUARANTINE AND THE MOVEMENT OF THEREDPILL TO SELF-HOSTING

Reddit.com is a social media site with huge volumes and varieties of content, both hosted on their platform, and imported from other providers. It is also a place of counterpublic community action. Sub-Reddits like r/the_donald, and r/theredpill expound, in turn, alt-right and anti-feminist views. Along with various posts, links, and outside content, the communities support millions of words of user discussion. These communities are policed, at least in part, by their exposure to the community at large, and push-back from other people and groups to their content. When a community sees that its action on a site like Reddit is limited, and perceives that its ideas and ideologies are being silenced, what happens? This paper uses data from a digital ethnography of r/TheRedPill, a sub-community of Reddit dedicated to “discussion of sexual strategy in a culture increasingly lacking a positive identity for men.” The community was quarantined by Reddit in September of 2018, and since that time has engaged in regular discussion about the movement of community discussion and forums away from Reddit to their own hosting site www.trp.red. Beyond simply allowing versus limiting speech, the case of r/TheRedPill provides an opportunity to engage in a discussion about whether progressive sanction is the right way to manage the intersection of counterpublic views with the needs of tech firms. This paper hopes to further that discussion using a community that is less generally associated with hate speech, and can therefore exist on the margins of acceptability.

Предпочтения в выборе брачного партнера у мужчин и женщин в индийской диаспоре Танзании

The article presents the results of a study conducted among the Indian diaspora in Tanzania. The data obtained confirm the existence of universal gender differences in the mating preferences and are consistent with the predictions of the theory of sexual strategies. Indian men tend to pay more attention to a woman's reproductive abilities, thus evaluating physical indicators of fertility, health and age, as well as the potential to be a caring mother. Women appreciate those male qualities that reflect his ability to provide for a family (and therefore joint children), such as intelligence, good education, social status, diligence, financial security, etc. At the same time, cultural components typical for Indian society influence the mating preferences. Caste and the role of parents’ opinion regarding the future marriage partner remain important criteria. Instead of a one-way movement towards Western marriage practices, as suggested by family change theories and as can be seen in other Asian contexts (such as China), trends in Indian society point to a combination of traditional Indian and Western practices.

Female copulation calls vary with male ejaculation in captive olive baboons

Abstract Copulation calls are mating-associated vocalizations that are common in primates, with females vocalizing after copulation in several Old World monkeys and apes. Baboon females typically produce copulation calls that correlate with fertile phase. Calls are, thus, regarded as an upshot of cycle physiology and sexually selected calls. Here, we describe three captive troops of olive baboons wherein, against expectation, females suppressed vocalizing during copulations. Vaginal cytology, together with sexual swelling observations, confirmed that females experienced full receptive cycles. Ovulation did not affect vocal probability during sex, while copulation calls were predicted by male ejaculation just as in other Old World primate species. Results cast doubt on the existence of physiological triggers for baboon copulation calls. Social factors may instead play a larger role. Alterations in social structure (as typically observed in the wild) may be implemented strategically as captive enrichment in order to reveal how females in highly social primates change sexual strategies and, therefore, the use of their copulation calls.

Prevalencija, vrste i prediktori seksualne agresije u studenata

Sexual aggression refers to the use of various ways (verbal pressure, physical force, etc.) in order to compel another person to sexual activities without his/her consent. To understand more profoundly sexual aggression among Croatian students, the study was conducted with the aim of determining prevalence, types, and risk factors for sexual aggression on a sample of college students. In the online research, 458 students from various Croatian universities took part. Sexual aggression was measured by the Croatian translation of the Sexual Strategies Scale (SSS; Strange et al., 2013). The results have shown that students who use aggressive sexual strategies are more prone to gender prejudices, are more likely to engage in risky behaviors (alcohol consumption and impersonal sex), perceive greater peer pressure to have sex, and are higher on personality traits of psychopathy and narcissism, compared to students who do not use these strategies. The results of testing the predictive contribution of sets of variables assert the significant contribution of narcissism, peer pressure to have sex, sociosexuality, and alcohol consumption in explaining the variance of the number of sexually aggressive strategies used.

The care provided to the sexual partners of people living with the human immunodeficiency virus

Objective: to analyze the care provided to sexual partners of people living with the human immunodeficiency virus. Methods: cross-sectional study with 173 participants, carried out in a service specialized in the treatment of people with the human immunodeficiency virus, submitted to a statistical analysis (chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test). Results: having the partner invited to attend the health service (p<0.001), receiving guidance on prevention in the health service (p<0.001), and being seen at the specialized service as a couple for counseling on sexual practices and preventive strategies (p<0.001) showed statistical differences. Conclusion: there are gaps in the care provided to sexual partners on strategies for preventing infection by the human immunodeficiency virus.

No evidence for a relationship between MHC heterozygosity and life history strategy in a sample of North American undergraduates

Although allelic diversity at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) has implications for adaptive immunity, mate choice, and social signalling, how diversity at the MHC influences the calibration of life history strategies remains largely uninvestigated. The current study investigated whether greater MHC heterozygosity was associated with markers of slower life history strategies in a sample of 789 North American undergraduates. Contrary to preregistered predictions and to previously published findings, MHC heterozygosity was not related to any of the psychological life history-relevant variables measured (including short- vs. long-term sexual strategy, temporal discounting, the Arizona life history battery, past and current health, disgust sensitivity, and Big Five personality traits). Further, no meaningful effects emerged when analysing women and men separately. Possible reasons for why the current results are inconsistent with previous work are discussed.

Fertility as a cue for attractiveness in homo- and heterosexual men

According to the sexual strategy theory (SST), men pursue short-term mating strategies to enhance their reproductive fitness. To do so, heterosexual men search for women who signal high reproductive value through multiple fertility cues. We hypothesize that, due to an interplay of mating strategies derived from a person's biological sex and the sexual orientation of a person (which develops independently of biological sex), not only heterosexual but also homosexual men should find high fertility more attractive in others. Accordingly, in Study 1 (N = 124), we found that hetero- as well as homosexual men rated the physical attractiveness of a female stimulus person to be greater when she was portrayed to be of high (versus low) fertility. Interestingly, in Study 2 (N = 224), we found that only homosexual-, but not heterosexual men perceived a male stimulus to be less attractive when information was provided that pointed at his low (versus high) fertility and when no information was given. We discuss these findings against the background of evolved adaptive mating motives in humans. Overall, the present results indicate that fertility appears to be an important cue for perceived physical attractiveness for both hetero- and homosexual men.

Psychosocial Factors Influence Sexual Satisfaction among Women with Vulvodynia

Vulvodynia affects about 8% of women, many of whom report a negative impact on their ability to have sexually satisfying relationships. In this study, we examined predictors of sexual satisfaction in 207 women with clinically confirmed vulvodynia. We adapted a model examining resilience in chronic pain patients originally developed by Sturgeon and Zautra to include resilience factors (communication with partner about sexual health and coping strategies) and vulnerable factors (abuse history, pain intensity, rumination). These variables were regressed onto sexual satisfaction. In the full model, only emotion-based rumination was predictive of sexual satisfaction. Thus, focusing on emotion-based rumination in clinical intervention may improve sexual satisfaction.

Dominance status and copulatory vocalizations among male stump-tailed macaques in Thailand

Male copulation calls sometimes play important roles in sexual strategies, attracting conspecific females or advertising their social status to conspecific males. These calls generally occur in sexually competitive societies such as harem groups and multi-male and multi-female societies. However, the call functions remain unclear because of limited availability of data sets that include a large number of male and female animals in naturalistic environments, particularly in primates. Here, we examined the possible function of male-specific copulation calls in wild stump-tailed macaques (Macaca arctoides) by analyzing the contexts and acoustic features of vocalizations. We observed 395 wild stump-tailed macaques inhabiting the Khao Krapuk Khao Taomor Non-Hunting Area in Thailand and recorded all occurrences of observed copulations. We counted 446 male-specific calls in 383 copulations recorded, and measured their acoustic characteristics. Data were categorized into three groups depending on their social status: dominant (alpha and coalition) males and non-dominant males. When comparing male status, alpha males most frequently produced copulation calls at ejaculation, coalition males produced less frequent calls than alpha males, and other non-dominant males rarely vocalized, maintaining silence even when mounting females. Acoustic analysis indicated no significant influence of status (alpha or coalition) on call number, bout duration, or further formant dispersion parameters. Our results suggest that male copulation calls of this species are social status-dependent signals. Furthermore, dominant males might actively transmit their social status and copulations to other male rivals to impede their challenging attacks, while other non-dominant males maintain silence to prevent the interference of dominants.

Sexual identity management of GLB emerging adults in social support contexts

This study examined the sexual identity management strategies employed by GLB emerging adults when interacting with their parents, siblings, and close peers. For each context, perceived acceptance of sexual orientation and relationship closeness were examined as predictors of being explicitly out. Being explicitly out was also examined as a predictor of psychological well-being. Data were collected from 98 self-identified GLB individuals, who ranged from 18 to 22 years old and were currently college students from the Philippines. Results showed significant differences in the use of sexual identity management strategies depending on who they are interacting with. There was a greater likelihood to be explicitly out to close friends rather than family members. Perceived acceptance was a consistent predictor of being explicitly out across contexts although relationship closeness was not. However, relationship closeness significantly moderated the relationship between perceived acceptance and being explicitly out to parents. As hypothesized, being explicitly out significantly predicted psychological well-being with parents and siblings. This study expands the scope of the Identity Management Theory by showing how sexual identity is managed differently across various contexts.

How intercourse frequency is affected by relationship length, relationship quality, and sexual strategies using couple data.

How intercourse frequency is affected by relationship length, relationship quality, and sexual strategies using couple data.

Risk factors for being a victim of online grooming in adolescents.

The risk of child grooming has spread exponentially with the massive access of adolescents to social networks and the internet. The aim of the study was to examine the personal factors (body self-esteem and disinhibition) and erotic-sexual factors (sexual initiation strategies and erotic-pornographic sexting) that predict grooming. The sample was comprised of 1,200 adolescents aged between 12 and 16 years (M = 14.54, SD = 1.17; 50.83% girls). A cross-sectional design with self-report data was used and structural equation modeling (SEM) with mediation analysis was performed. The results indicated two paths explaining child grooming: 1) physical attractiveness and disinhibition are indirectly associated with grooming through erotic sexting and direct sexual initiation strategies; both of which partially mediate this relationship; 2) disinhibited behavior has an indirect impact on grooming; pornographic sexting and coercive strategies acting as mediators. The semi-partial mediation model explains 54% of the variance of grooming. These findings highlight the urgent need to implement prevention programs considering these attitudes and behaviors that function as precursors of victimization and the risk of falling into pedophile networks.

Representation of Islamic value in Verbal Communication of Ayat-Ayat Cinta Movie’s Character

ABSTRACT: Since at least 170 thousand years ago, humans have begun to use clothing and attach meaning to it. The contemporary socio-religious dynamics of the phenomenon brought back robes among people in Indonesia, especially men. The author uses Peirce's triadic semiotic analysis theory of robes and clothing to determine whether there has been a shift in the meaning of robes worn in Arabic with robes worn in Indonesia. The picture of the robes of the two cultures is analysed by looking at the icons, indexes, and symbols that make up the meaning of the robes. Culture itself is defined as a system of behaviour that is transmitted socially to the symbol as the highest cultural element. Many of them do not understand the basic principles of Islam itself, such as how Islam regulates the way of life between men and women. Their misunderstanding starts from their failure to understand the wrong concept which causes them to understand the wrong concept. correct understanding is needed to make things clear. The Qur'an has a certain section on matters of the lives of men and women. From the results of the analysis shows that the robe in Arabic means: shows the practical value of doing business, shows the Arabic rules over other nations, to build Arab unity, become a protective family, lead a relaxed life, simplicity, pattern, religiosity, conformity, social status, and worship. Comparison with the robes worn in Indonesia found that nine of these eleven meanings have shifted while two meanings: simplicity and worship, still remain the same as in Arabic, even stronger. The meaning of robes in Indonesia includes race leadership, diversity of clothing, low understanding of Islam, part of the strength, which includes violations, acculturation, identity, religiosity, simplicity, sexual strategy, social status, enlightenment, repentance, daily life in pesantren and tolerance. The factors that cause the shift in the meaning of this form are physical and cultural factors, with qualitative methods and Charles Sander Pierce's semiotic theory. This journal will discuss about these matters, how it is in an Islamic perspective based on the Surah Al-Ahzab verse 59 which deals directly with the shari'i dress.KEY WORDS: Islamic Concepts; Islamic Perspective; Qur’an interpretation; semiotics; pierce; Islamic values, verbal communication

Male flowers in Tulipa pumila Moench (Liliaceae) potentially originate from gender diphasy

AbstractWe found functionally male individuals in an otherwise hermaphroditic population of Tulipa pumila (Liliaceae) located in Tuscany (central Italy). We investigated the sex ratio of this population, followed by morphometric analyses of the scape, leaves and flowers, and tests on pollen germinability and seed number and mass, in order to infer which sexual strategy produced the observed co‐occurrence of male and hermaphrodite individuals. We found that sex ratio deviated from 1:1, and functionally male individuals showed a smaller plant size and a reduced pollen fitness (germinability and siring ability) compared to hermaphrodites. These findings point to a resource‐dependent sexual allocation strategy, probably associated with gender diphasy.

Testing the effects of pathogen threat and sexual strategies on political ideology.

Disgust has been consistently associated with greater political conservatism. Two explanations have been proposed for this link. According to a pathogen threat model, disgust serves a pathogen-avoidance function, encouraging more conservative ideology, whereas a sexual strategies model suggests that this link is explained by variability in short-term versus long-term mating goals. In two preregistered studies using a college student and community sample (total N = 1,950), we examined whether experimentally manipulating pathogen threat and mate availability produced differences in political ideology and whether these differences were explained by disgust and sociosexual attitudes. Across both studies, we did not find evidence that manipulating pathogen threat or mate availability resulted in change in political ideology. In Study 1, manipulating mate availability was indirectly associated with greater political conservativism through stronger sociosexual attitudes that favor monogamy. These findings failed to replicate in Study 2. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.

Author Correction: Oppression or Opportunity? Sexual Strategies and the Perception of Sexual Advances

Author Correction: Oppression or Opportunity? Sexual Strategies and the Perception of Sexual Advances

Oppression or Opportunity? Sexual Strategies and the Perception of Sexual Advances

From an evolutionary perspective, the perception and interpretation of sexual advances depend on sex-specific mechanisms, individual differences in the perceivers’ mating strategies, and the actor’s attractiveness. In two studies (N = 1516), participants evaluated hypothetical situations of sexual advances from a coworker varying in attractiveness (study 1) and physical appearance or status (study 2). In both studies, men perceived sexual advances as less negative than women, especially when the advances arise from a (physically) attractive actor. Furthermore, the higher the sociosexual orientation of the participants, the less harmful these sexual advances are perceived. Finally, the same behavior from an attractive or physically attractive actor is perceived as less harmful than from an unattractive actor. Results are discussed from an evolutionary perspective on the perception of sexual advances.