Attitudes toward sexual behaviors: relationship with gender and sexual orientation

Abstract

Most studies that have compared sexual attitudes between men and women have focused on heterosexual individuals or have not controlled for sexual orientation. In addition, many have used measures of general sexual attitudes, which have more difficulty in predicting sexual behaviors and sexual health than measures of attitudes toward specific sexual behav iors. Therefore, the present study aimed to analyze whether gender and sexual orientation are related to attitudes toward specific sexual behaviors in Spain. The study sample consisted of 1725 participants (55.8% women) aged between 18 and 35 years and of different sexual orientations. All participants completed an instrument to measure attitudes toward specific contextualized sexual behaviors. After controlling for age and current relationship status, the results reveal that while women have more positive attitudes toward solitary sexual behaviors and erotic material than men, men have more positive attitudes toward unconventional and online sexual behaviors than women. Bisexual people have more positive attitudes toward frequent dyadic sexual behaviors with casual partners than homosexual people. Finally, bisexual and homosexual people have more positive attitudes towards solitary sexual behaviors and erotic material, unconventional sexual behaviors, and online sexual behaviors than heterosexuals. It is concluded that gender and sexual orientation are related to attitudes toward different types of sexual behaviors.