Sexual submissiveness in women: costs for sexual autonomy and arousal

Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin
Diana T SanchezOscar Ybarra

Abstract

Women are bombarded with images of women's sexual submission and subservience to male partners. The authors argue that women internalize this submissive role, namely, they associate sex implicitly with submission. The authors propose that this association leads to submissive sexual behavior, thereby reducing sexual autonomy and arousal. Study 1 found that women implicitly associated sex with submission. Study 2 showed that women's implicit association of sex with submission predicted greater personal adoption of a submissive sexual role. Study 3 found that men did not implicitly associate sex with submission. Study 4 demonstrated that women's adoption of a submissive sexual role predicted lower reported arousal and greater reported difficulty becoming sexually aroused; sexual autonomy mediated these effects.

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Citations

Oct 28, 2009·Archives of Sexual Behavior·Ine Vanwesenbeeck
Feb 23, 2010·Archives of Sexual Behavior·Diana T SanchezJennifer Crocker
Apr 9, 2009·Journal of Sex Research·Patricia H Hawley, William A Hensley
Sep 4, 2015·Journal of Sex Research·Peggy M J EmmerinkTom F M Ter Bogt
Sep 14, 2012·The Journal of Sexual Medicine·Ellen LaanUNKNOWN International Society for Sexual Medicine
Sep 23, 2014·The Journal of Sexual Medicine·Marieke BrauerEllen Laan
Oct 8, 2014·Archives of Sexual Behavior·Janell C Fetterolf, Diana T Sanchez
Nov 26, 2015·Archives of Sexual Behavior·Claire Kimberly, Jason D Hans
Apr 23, 2016·Journal of Sex Research·Breanne Fahs, Sara I McClelland
Feb 16, 2013·Archives of Sexual Behavior·Viren Swami, Martin J Tovée
Mar 21, 2015·Women & Health·Caroline C Fitz, Alyssa N Zucker
Dec 31, 2011·Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin·Diana T SanchezJessica J Good
Mar 12, 2015·Violence Against Women·Sara Wigderson, Jennifer Katz
Nov 2, 2016·Socioaffective Neuroscience & Psychology·Osmo Kontula, Anneli Miettinen
Apr 22, 2017·Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy·Huiping Zhang, Paul S F Yip
Nov 15, 2007·Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin·Amy K Kiefer, Diana T Sanchez
Feb 5, 2019·Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy·Chelom E LeavittEmily A Waterman
Aug 27, 2019·The British Journal of Social Psychology·Sarah J GervaisOlivier Klein
May 14, 2018·AIDS and Behavior·Eileen V PitpitanThomas L Patterson
Aug 19, 2021·Archives of Sexual Behavior·Chelom E LeavittSpencer James
Sep 3, 2021·Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy·Daniel K SmedleyErin Kramer Holmes

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