Nudity as a disinhibiting cue in a date rape analogue

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to better understand the situational factors involved in date rape. Following the Inhibition Model of Sexual Aggression, I asked Can we observe disinhibition of sexual arousal to nonconsensual cues in heterosexual sexually nonaggressive men by introducing a strong excitatory cue, that is, female nudity? In the first study, young heterosexual men were presented with aural narratives depicting consenting and nonconsenting sexual interactions and nonsexual interactions while their genital sexual arousal was measured. Participants were also presented with pictures depicting clothed and nude women. A second study used videos depicting clothed and nude women exercising. Results suggest that nudity is an excitatory cue that elicits genital arousal; it might also have a small disinhibitory effect for nonconsenting cues, but only for moving images. A discussion of the research findings, implications for future research, and limitations to the research is presented.