Sunday, July 1, 2018

Impact of the menstrual cycle on women’s engagement in activities that could negatively affect their health, including sexual behavior & alcohol & tobacco consumption, as well as their ability to recognize & avoid potentially threatening people & situations

Do Women Expose Themselves to more Health-Related Risks in Certain Phases of the Menstrual Cycle? A Meta-analytic Review. Jordane Boudesseul, Kelly A. Gildersleeve, Martie Haselton, Laurent Bègue. July 02, 2018. https://psyarxiv.com/k8s5y/

Abstract: Over the past three decades, researchers have increasingly examined the menstrual cycle as a potential source of day-to-day variation in women’s cognitions, motivations, and behavior. Within this literature, several lines of research have examined the impact of the menstrual cycle on women’s engagement in activities that could negatively affect their health, including sexual behavior and alcohol and tobacco consumption, as well as their ability to recognize and avoid potentially threatening people and situations. However, findings have been mixed, leaving it unclear whether women may expose themselves to more health-related risks during certain phases of the cycle. To address this question, we conducted a meta-analysis of 23 published and 4 unpublished studies (N = 7,527). The meta-analysis revealed some shifts across the menstrual cycle in women’s sexual behavior and risk recognition and avoidance, whereas patterns were less clear for alcohol and cigarette consumption. These findings help to clarify the proximate physiological and evolutionary mechanisms underlying women’s health-related risk-taking and may inform new interventions.

Clinical & informal sperm donation markets: Factors that impact female’s decision to choose specific donors, and the characteristics, personality and behaviour of males who choose to donate

Decision-making in mate choice markets. Stephen Whyte. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for Doctor of Philosophy (Economics), School of Economics & Finance. Queensland University of Technology, https://eprints.qut.edu.au/118622/2/Stephen_Whyte_Thesis.pdf

Abstract: This thesis contributes to the behavioural economic and behavioural science  literature by providing empirical evidence of factors that  impact  large scale decision making in mate choice settings. The thesis consists of five studies. The first three explore human decision making in the online dating market. They utilise both stated preference and actual decision outcomes to explore differences between preference and choice, positive assortment, and specificity of preference for different sexes. Studies four and five concern male and female behaviour in the clinical and informal (online) sperm donation markets. These studies explore factors that impact female’s decision to choose specific donors, and the characteristics, personality and behaviour of males who choose to donate.

58.4% of the sampled women experienced a more intense orgasm depending on their partner’s ejaculation intensity (loud moaning, strong thrusting), but 65.1% did not experience a more intense orgasm depending on the subjectively assessed ejaculation volume

The importance of male ejaculation for female sexual satisfaction and orgasm ability. A. Burri1, J. Buchmeier2, H. Porst. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, Volume 15, Issue 7, Supplement 3, July 2018, Pages S123, Proceedings of the 21st World Meeting on Sexual Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2018.04.005

Objective: Previous research has shown that female sexual functioning and overall relationship quality is also in fluenced by the partner’s sexual problems such as premature ejaculation (PE). Therefore, the aim of the study was to assess the importance of intravaginal ejaculation characteristics including as subjectively assessed ejaculation intensity and ejaculation volume and its importance for female sexual satisfaction (FSS) and female orgasm ability.

Material and Methods: A total of N = 245 women between 18 and 75 years meeting the criteria of “previous experience of sexual activity” and “absence of a sexual pain disorder” were included in this cross-sectional online study. Validated questionnaires were administered to assess the relevant study information. Furthermore, a study-specific, self-constructed questionnaire consisting of 29 items asking about women’s sexual and ejaculatory preferences (items responded to on a 5 to 7-pointed Likert-type scale). Relationships between the variables of interest were investigated using partial Spearman correlations controlling for age.

Results:
1) Women with a high orgasmic ability considered the ejaculation during intercourse to be more important than women with a low orgasmic ability (rs = 0.15, p < 0.05).

2) Women subjectively reporting minor problems regarding their male partner’s ejaculatory characteristics were more sexually satisfied than women reporting major problems.

3) 56.6% of the women said they experienced a more intense orgasm depending on their
partner’s presence of ejaculation.

4) 29.4% of the women never focused on the ejaculation volume during intercourse and 65.1% did not experience a more intense orgasm depending on the subjectively assessed ejaculation volume.

5) 58.4% of the sampled women experienced a more intense orgasm depending on their partner’s ejaculation intensity (loud moaning, strong thrusting).

6) No significant difference regarding the importance of ejaculation was detected between women preferring intra-vaginal intercourse and women preferring other sexual activities (p > 0.05).

Conclusions: The findings provide insight to importance and perception of different ejaculation aspects and their association with the female partner’s sexual function and satisfaction. The results have clinical relevance, as the treatment of ejaculatory dysfunctions should consider a stronger involvement of the the female partner.


h/t: Rolf Degen https://twitter.com/DegenRolf

Women: Sexual conservatism, rather than age, predicted more unpleasantness attributed to the pictures; findings point to the use of erotica as aviable tool aimed at increasing women’s subjective sexual arousal, including in older ages

003 Effects of age on the subjective sexual response and emotional appraisal of sex pictures in women. J. Carvalho, L. Ferreira, R. Rico, I.M. Santos. The Journal of Sexual Medicine. Volume 15, Issue 7, Supplement 3, July 2018, Pages S124, Proceedings of the 21st World Meeting on Sexual Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2018.04.007

Objective(s): Age is expected to influence women’s sexual functioning and behavior, not only due its impact at the organic level, but also given the strong cohort effects that shape women’s beliefs regarding sexuality and relationships. However, most of the current assumptions about the effects of age in women’s sexual response and behavior, relate to the influence of health issues on the propensity for sexual difficulties. Indeed, broader aspects such as sexual and relationship satisfaction, have only recently fallen under the scope of scientific research. Similarly, other aspects relating to the appraisal of sexual contents by older women have been completely dismissed. Accordingly, the aim of the current study was to test the effect of age on the sexual and emotional responses to sex stimuli, as well as to test the adding effects of women’s beliefs regarding sexuality, on the appraisal of these stimuli.

Material and Method(s): Seventy-three heterosexual women, ranging from 18-77 years old, were exposed to a series of romantic, sexually moderate and sexually explicit pictures in a laboratorial context. Women reported on the levels of emotional valence, subjective sexual arousal, and level of sexual content attributed to the pictures in each set. Additionally, women completed a self-report questionnaire aimed at measuring women’s beliefs regarding female sexuality.

Result(s): Findings from hierarchical regression analyses (age entered at step 1 and sexual beliefs entered at step 2) revealed that age did not predict the emotional valence attributed to the sexual pictures; instead, sexual conservatism predicted more unpleasantness attributed to the s exually explicit pictures. Also, age predicted higher levels of subjective sexual arousal to all types of pictures and was further related to the appraisal of romantic and sexually moderate pictures as being more “sexual

Conclusion(s): Contrary to some myths supporting the negative effects of age on women's sexuality, the current results have shown that age was actually a significant (positive) predictor of subjective sexual arousal to all types of pictures (romantic, sexually moderate and sexually explicit pictures), and did not have a negative effect on the emotional valence attributed to the sex pictures. Indeed, sexual conservatism, rather than age, predicted more unpleasantness attributed to the pictures. Accordingly, findings point to the use of erotica as aviable tool aimed at increasing women’s subjective sexual arousal, including in older ages, while sexual beliefs should be monitored at all ages.