An exploration of genital arousal category-specificity and sexual concordance in men and women
Date
2012
Authors
Suschinsky, Kelly D.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Psychology, 2012
Abstract
There are substantial differences between the sexual arousal patterns of men and women.
Men’s genital and subjective sexual arousal are category-specific; different sexual stimuli
elicit different degrees of arousal. Women’s subjective sexual arousal is also categoryspecific,
but their genital arousal is category-nonspecific; different sexual stimuli produce
similar arousal. Men also exhibit a high concordance or correlation between their genital and
subjective arousal, whereas women exhibit much lower sexual concordance. I conducted five
studies with 219 participants to further explore these sex differences and test different
explanations for their occurrence. The results confirm the existence and stability of sex
differences in arousal patterns, provide support for a functional explanation of the sex
difference in genital category-specificity, provide mixed support for an informationprocessing
model of sexual arousal in relation to sexual concordance, and provide no support
for the notion that sexual concordance is another manifestation of sex differences in
interoception.
Description
xvi, 212 leaves ; 29 cm
Keywords
Sexual excitement , Sex differences , Sex (Biology) , Sex (Psychology) , Men -- Sexual behavior , Women -- Sexual behavior , Dissertations, Academic