Men's enjoyment of explicit erotica: Effects of person-specific attitudes and gender-specific norms

• Published in: The Journal of sex research Vol. 32; no. 4; pp. 275 - 288
• Main Authors: Lopez, Peter A., George, William H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Taylor & Francis Group 01.01.1995; Society for the Scientific Study of Sex; Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality
• Subjects: Attitudes; Enjoyment; Eroticism; Genitalia; Guilt; Human sexual behavior; Males; Men; Normativity; Norms; Personality psychology; Pleasure; Pornography; Pornography & obscenity; Psychological attitudes; Sex Differences; Sexual Arousal; Sexual Behavior; Sexuality; Social psychology; Social research
• ISSN: 0022-4499; 1559-8519
• DOI: 10.1080/00224499509551801

Through three studies, we examined how person-specific sexual attitudes and gender-specific sexual norms influence men's erotica enjoyment (operationalized as self-regulated viewing of erotic slides). In Study 1, men viewed more erotica than did women, supporting a gender-typing interpretation that legitimizes erotica enjoyment for men but condemns it for women. In Study 2, gender was a situational variable; men viewed erotica while alone, with a female co-participant, or with a male co-participant. As expected, female (but not male) presence inhibited men's enjoyment, suggesting that the female presence was associated with negative sentiments about erotica. In Study 3, the co-participants explicitly expressed either a positive or negative sentiment about pornography. As predicted, only these expressed sentiments influenced erotica enjoyment; the gender-based norms were no longer salient. Overall, the findings suggest that erotica enjoyment is a gender-typed behavior and that a man's enjoyment is influenced by both predisposition and normative situational cues.