Sex Differences and Their Responses to Erotica - Research Paper Example

? Sex Differences and Their Responses to Erotica Erica Orosz Introduction Men and women are different. This is a widely held truism. It is also a truism which has been backed up by solid researcher on gender differences. The conventional wisdom is that men are more likely to be sexually aroused then women when viewing erotic images, and this conventional wisdom turns out to be correct. The conventional wisdom also states that adolescent boys are more sexually aroused then adolescent girls, which means that these boys are more likely to seek out erotic images. This has also been confirmed through research. The conventional wisdom also states that the media has evolved over the years to show women in ever-unattainable ideals, and that this has harmed women’s psyches. Also true. However, the media has reported less on whether the converse is true, in that men are adversely affected by idealized images of male bodies and penis sizes. The conventional wisdom there is that men probably are not affected by these images. This is partially true – men widely believe that their penis size is average or large, so media images of penis sizes do not affect how men view their genitalia. However, at least one study has shown that men do feel worse about their bodies after viewing other men with idealized bodies, so, perhaps, there is less of a gender inequity in this regard then was previously thought. This paper will explore all these topics in greater detail. How Media Environment Has Changed in the Past 50 or 60 Years The past 50 or 60 years has been marked by a changing standard of ideal beauty in society. According to Calabrese et al., the ideal has changed towards a thinner female body type, one that is unattainable by most women. This is seen in Playboy Magazine centerfold models, Miss America pageant winners and fashion models. As stated above, these ideals are impossible for many women to attain, which makes the average woman have dissatisfaction with their body and overall appearance, and poses risks to the female’s mental and physical health. Moreover, there has been a changing ideal of genital appearance, as viewed through pornography websites and the like. Females are increasingly exposed to these images through these websites. However, the pictures of the female genitalia have been increasingly digitally enhanced, rather than naturally occurring, which causes women further despair that their physicality does not match that which is ideal (Calabrese, et al., 2011). Calabrese et al., examined the impact on the evolution of both ideal body types and the depiction of female genitalia on how women think about themselves. They examined Playboy models from 1953 to 2007 to look at these changing ideals. 647 Playboy centerfold models were the subjects of this research. They found that a Barbie-like thinness has become the norm with the Playboy models and that, in fact, the female genitalia in these magazine spreads have been enhanced and perfected. Larger breasts, as displayed on both Barbie and the Playboy models, is another attribute of this new feminine ideal. Because of this changing ideal, Calabrese et al. states that the image of perfection and definition of physical beauty have changed, and what heterosexual men seek in their partners have also changed. Young girls are also affected, in that they gain a warped perception of the ideal female body type with they receive their first Barbie, and this perception of reinforced by these Playboy images (Calabrese et al.., 2011). Advertising The basis of advertising is simply drawing one's attention to something, or, on the other end, notifying or informing somebody of something (Dyer, 1989, p. 2). This is the basics of advertising. The way that this is accomplished is that the advertiser "magically induces" the consumer to buy the advertised product by selling a fantasy. This is because "we have a cultural pattern in which the objects are not enough but must be validated in fantasy by association with social and personal meanings which in a different cultural pattern might be more directly available" (Dyer, 1989, p. 7). In other words, a simple object is not enough to produce an inducement to buy. This object must be associated with a fantasy whose meaning is both personal and social to the consumer. It is because of this that advertising, as with the Playboy centerfolds, holds up the feminine ideal as impossibly attainable. There are both positive and negative sides to advertising. The negative side of advertising is the effect of mirroring and modeling. Advertisements attempt to model the “good life” - they show you what you should want to have in life, and the kind of lifestyle that you should be leading. They represent an ideal, but this ideal is unattainable by many, if not most, in our society. This brings about sense of inferiority, in that the ads seem to be a mirror of what we should aspire to, and they subsequently cause individuals to look around at their own reality and realize that they are not living the good life that they should. (Dyer, 1989, pp. 3-4). Advertisements, by capitalizing upon psychology, use people's general dissatisfaction with themselves as a basis for persuasion, and capitalize on fear, with the sense that "satisfied customers are not as profitable as discontented ones" (Dyer, 1989, p. 45). The advertisements are particularly hard on women, as they show women that they should aspire to perfection, which causes women to worry about their grey hair or extra pounds, instead of worrying about what is inside. The net effect of the modeling and the mirroring is that individuals are left with a feeling that their life is half-lived, because they do not see themselves in the advertisements and see the people in the advertisements as what they aspire to be, yet cannot achieve. (Dyer, 1989, p. 4). How Media Impacts Teens Our society is not only changing with regards to female body types and advertising, but it is also changing with regards to how teenagers are impacted. Increased sexuality and teens’ exposure to such is dangerous, as teenagers are increasingly at risk for adverse effects which are associated with this exposure, such as sexually transmitted diseases, HIV infection and unplanned pregnancy. Therefore, if sexually explicit content encourages teenagers to have earlier and more sex, then this content exposure would be detrimental to teens (Bleakley, 2011). However, whether or not exposure to sexually explicit conduct actually results in these adverse effects is a subject for debate. Bleakley et al. (2011) conducted a study which determined the impact of exposure to sexually explicit images had on adolescents ages 13 to 18 years old. They found that adolescents actively seek out sexual content via sexually explicit movies, websites, television and music, and that males are more likely to seek this content out then females. Moreover, young males sought out pornography more than young females, indicating that young males are more interested in explicit material then are young females. The researchers theorized that the reason why the adolescents would seek this information and images out is because they are curious or they want validation for their own behavior. They may also want communication with their family or friends about sexuality, and these sites, shows and music provide a springboard for this discussion. There are also normative considerations, in that the adolescents want to know what their peers are doing and what their peers might think that they should be doing (Bleakley et al., 2011). While Bleakley et al. found the rather intuitive results in their study, ie? that young people, especially young males, are interested in sexually explicit content, they did not answer the question as to how this content affects these adolescents, so this is still an open question in their study. How Media Has Created the Ideal Man/Woman Portrayed in Images The above information and research has described how images are created in the media, especially images of women. As stated before, the media, including advertising and magazines, has increasingly portrayed the female body in image of ever-unattainable thinness, with paradoxically large breasts. As stated before, these images have been detrimental to women and girls alike, who see these images, want to attain them, and cannot, which leads to despair. The question is whether media has increasingly portrayed the “perfect” man in the same sort of light, and how this has affected the male ego and perception. Leit et al. (2002) published their study in the International Journal of Eating Disorders which suggested that the media’s emphasis on the male physique has had impact on men, much as it has had impact upon women. Their study centered on a group of college men who viewed advertisements that featured muscular men, and a control group viewed advertisements featuring neutral images. They then had the participants perform a computerized test of body image perception. What they found was that the students who were exposed to the muscular images were significantally more likely to state that there was a great discrepancy between their own musculature and the musculature that they would like to attain. In other words, just like with women, these idealized images make men feel dissatisfied with their own physicality (Leit et al., 2002). Media also potentially affects the perception of penis size, both the perception of men about their own penis size and women about their partner’s penis size. Lever et al. (2006) states that the media emphasizes the importance of a large penis size, both in advertisements for penile enhancers and in pornographic movies. The women in these porn movies, with their overly exaggerated sexual responses to the men with the large penises, could make men feel that their own penis is inadequate. However, Lever et al., found that this was not necessarily the case. In the study cited by them, in which 50,000 men self-reported their own penis size, and women reported their partner’s penis size, 88% of men reported their penises to be either average or large (66% average, 22% large), and 85% of women reported to be satisfied with their partner’s penis size (Lever et al., 2006). Therefore, the media images regarding men’s penis size did not correlate with men feeling inadequate or women finding their partner’s inadequate. Strip Clubs There is no doubt that strip clubs are a considerable attraction for men, judging the sheer volume of clubs around the United States. Some men can be considered regulars to these clubs, as they visit these clubs often enough to consider visiting these clubs to be a significant personal practice. These clubs are not necessarily outlets for sexual release, as contact and sexual release are prohibited, yet fantasy, voyeurism and conversation are the main attractions. The question is, what are these clubs’ appeal? Frank (2003) theorizes that these clubs are a place for a man to lose the dominant persona that he needs to affect in his everyday life in favor of an atmosphere that encourages him to experience his identity and body in a pleasurable way. And, although the relationship between the men and the dancers is one of inequality, the men are not necessarily interested in wielding personal power. Frank also identified other reasons for men to frequent strip clubs, including that these men are trying to escape their work and home, and strip clubs are a form of leisure; the clubs provide the men with both a sense of safety, in that the men are free to explore their sexual feelings in an atmosphere where actual sexual contact is prohibited, and excitement, in that these clubs provide a break from the routine and the clubs can be perceived as somewhat dangerous; men who frequent the clubs are looking for personal and sexual acceptance in the dancers; and these clubs are an ego boost for the men, as they get to interact with beautiful women (Frank, 2003). Therefore, men have a variety of reasons for frequenting these clubs, and most of these reasons do not focus upon sex. Arousal There is not a doubt that men and women have different sex drives and react differently to sexual stimuli. Why this is the case is the subject of the research conducted by Hyde and Petersen (2011). They note there are a variety of theories as to why there are gender discrepancies when it comes to sexual imagery and sexualty. One of the theories in grounded in evolution, which states that men might be more promiscuous then women because, through the ages, men have had an interest in spreading his seed as far and wide as possible, whereas women have had an interest in having fewer partners because the woman is invested in pregnancy and childbirth and has considerably fewer ovum then a man has sperm. Cognitive social learning theory is another theory expounded, and this theory state that humans learn by observing others, and each sex observes behavior patterns of members of their own sex, and this is what they learn. Therefore, ingrained behavioral patterns of one’s gender influences one’s own ideas about sexuality. Social structural theory states that society’s power hierarchy between men and women influences gender behavior, and women are frequently in the submissive role so behavior reflects this (Hyde & Petersen, 2011). Therefore, these are all possible reasons why sexes might approach sexuality and arousal in different ways. Costa et al. examined arousal in the brains of men and women, and other changes, when these men and women were exposed to nude images. Their study focused upon 12 men and 12 women, and these men and women were exposed to images of nudes. They noted that the women, when shown nudes of both males and females, were only slightly aroused by these images, whether the images were of the opposite or the same sex. On the other hand, men showed, in their brains, considerably more arousal when seeing these nude, and the pictures of the opposite sex were considered to be highly arousing to them, much more arousing then pictures of the same sex (Costa et al., 2003). While Costa et al. demonstrated that there was a considerable difference in the arousal patterns of men and women when showed nudes, both of the opposite and same sex, Janssen et al. (2003) showed that there is also a difference in the arousal patterns within males and females when shown erotic films. They selected five male and six female research assistants, and asked these assistants to choose a pornographic movie to view. The restrictions were that the porn movies could not portray sadomasochistic images, nor the use of sex toys. They found that the females much preferred the femal-selected clips, the male the male-selected clips, which means that there is definitely a difference in gender as to what is thought to be arousing. They also found that, regardless of the kind of clip was shown, females consistently showed less arousal then men when viewing these films (Janssen et al., 2003). Conclusion Perhaps to the surprise of nobody, men and women have differing views on sexuality. It has long been known that men have evolved differently then women, and this might be part of the reason why there is such a difference. The studies have definitively showed, however, that men are more aroused by sexual images then women. This apparently starts from a young age, as adolescent males are more likely to seek out erotica then are adolescent females. However, perhaps somewhat surprising is the fact that men are also shamed by idealized images, just as women are. This is surprising, as the focus has consistently been on how women are harmed by idealized images. Men also pursue strip clubs not for the obvious reasons necessarily, but also because they need a place to relax and have their ego boosted. These findings show the difference between men and women, but they really just confirm widely held beliefs. References Bleakley, A., Fishbein, M. & Hennessy, M. (2011) A model of adolescents’ seeking of sexual content in their media choices. The Journal of Sex Research, 48.4: 309-322. Calabrese, S., Rima, B. & Schick, V. (2011) Evulvalution: the portrayal of women’s external genitalia and physique across time and the current Barbie Doll ideals. The Journal of Sex Research, 48.1: 74-80. Costa, M., Braun, C. & Birbaumer, N. (2003) Gender differences in response to picture of nudes: a magnetoencephalographic study. Biological Psychology 63: 129-147. Frank, K. (2003) “Just trying to relax”: Masculinity, masculinizing practices, and strip club regulars. The Journal of Sex Research, 40.1: 61-75. Hyde, J. & Petersen, J. (2011) Gender differences in sexual attitudes and behaviors: a review of meta-analytic results and large datasets. The Journal of Sex Research, 48.2-3: 149-165. Janssen, E., Carpenter, D. & Graham, C. (2003) Selecting films for sex research: Gender differnces in erotic film preference. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 32.3: 243-251. Leit, R., Gray, J. & Pope, H. (2002) The media’s representation of the ideal male body: A cause for muscle dysmorphia? International Journal of Eating Disorders, 31.3: 334-338. Lever, J., Frederick, D. & Peplau, L. (2006) Does size matter? Men’s and women’s views on penis size across the lifespan. Psychology of Men and Masculinity, 7.3: 129-143. Read More