Men's, more than women's, sexual responses may include a coordination of several physiological indices in order to build their sexual arousal to relevant targets. Here, for the first time, genital arousal and pupil dilation to sexual stimuli were simultaneously assessed. These measures corresponded more strongly with each other, subjective sexual arousal, and self-reported sexual orientation in...

Many women with a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) experience difficulties becoming sexually aroused. This study measured cortisol and physiological sexual arousal during exposure to sexual stimuli in women with and without a history of CSA. Childhood sexual abuse survivors showed a smaller decrease in cortisol during sexual arousal than the nonsexually abused, control group potentially ...

Since entering the field of women’s sexuality 18 years ago, my research has focused primarily on understanding women’s sexual arousal. To the extent that desire and arousal mechanisms are closely related in women, my research also has implications for understanding women’s sexual desire. According to the Laumann et al. (1994) random probability sample of over 1,600 women in the US, approximatel...

Based on analytic techniques that collapse data into a single average value, it has been reported that women lack category specificity and show genital sexual arousal to a large range of sexual stimuli including those that both match and do not match their self-reported sexual interests. These findings may be a methodological artifact of the way in which data are analyzed. This study examined w...

INTRODUCTION The role of nipple/breast stimulation in influencing sexual arousal in men and women during lovemaking has only been the subject of opinion-based comment rather than evidence-based study. No attempt to question people about such sexual behavior has ever been undertaken. AIM The study was designed to ascertain the effects of nipple/breast manipulation in young men and women on the...

■ One Advantage of Being Homo sapiens Unlike other mammals, human females are continuously responsive to and available for sexual activity, independent of ovulation. ■ Biological Foundations for Sexual Arousal and Response The brain and central nervous system, including the five senses, play roles of varying importance in human sexual arousal and response. ■ The Sexual Response Cycle There are ...

Conflicting evidence exists regarding whether bisexual-identified men are sexually aroused to both men and women. We hypothesized that a distinct characteristic, level of curiosity about sexually diverse acts, distinguishes bisexual-identified men with and without bisexual arousal. Study 1 assessed men’s (N = 277) sexual arousal via pupil dilation to male and female sexual stimuli. Bisexual men...

INTRODUCTION Female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD) is a complex diagnostic category whose definition continues to evolve. AIM The purpose of this study was to explore the physiological patterns of genital arousal in 31 women with and 30 women without sexual arousal difficulties using a vaginal photoplethysmograph. In addition, subtypes of FSAD, based on a recently proposed redefinition, were ...

The aim of this study was to inform the development of a questionnaire to assess a woman's tendency to respond with sexual excitation/inhibition in different situations. Nine focus groups, involving 80 women (M age = 34.3 years; range, 18-84), were conducted. Women described a wide range of physical (genital and nongenital), cognitive/emotional, and behavioral cues to arousal. The relationship ...