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SEXUAL AGGRESSION HISTORY AND HYPERMASCULINE ATTITUDES
AS RELATED TO MEN’S RESPONSES TO SEXUAL PHOTOS
Yvette N. Hill,
1,2
B.A. ,
Zoë D. Peterson,
2
Ph.D. ,
& Julia R. Heiman,
1,2
Ph.D.
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences1,& The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction1,2
Indiana University; Bloomington, IN
Introduction
Incorrect cognitive appraisals of sexual interactions have been theorized to
contribute to men’s sexually aggressive behavior1. During sexual interactions, a
sexually aggressive man may ignore or misperceive cues from a woman indicating
whether sex is unwanted, or on a more subtle level, signs of lack of enjoyment. In
addition, negative sexual attitudes from some men may perpetuate sexual
aggression against women. Even men who have not engaged in sexual aggression
may hold attitudes that justify and condone sexual aggression. For example,
hypermasculine attitudes have been found to predict violence against women2.
Thus, hypermasculine attitudes may be related to cognitive misappraisals of
sexual interactions even in the absence of a sexually aggressive history.
The study investigated whether men’s history of engaging in sexual aggression—
rated on a scale of severity from 0 (no aggression) to 4 (use of physical force or
restraint)—and men’s scores on the Hypermasculinity Inventory3 are associated
with how they interpret photos of heterosexual couples engaged in sexual
interactions. Participants viewed two pre-tested sets of erotic pictures—a set of 7
“enjoyment” photos depicting a woman who was clearly enjoying the sexual
activity and a set of 7 “ambiguous” photos in which the woman’s facial expression
was unclear.
Table 1. Demographics.
Table 2. Correlations Between Men's Ratings of Pictures & HI Subscales.
Variable
M
Age (years)
No. of female partners in lifetime
HI
Danger as exciting
Violence as manly
Calloused sex attitudes toward women
Full Scale
2.56
5.38
3.88
3.31
1.88
9.06
SD
Dimension
2.3
5.2
2.5
3.0
1.7
6.3
Note. HI = Hypermasculinity Inventory. Danger as exciting range of scores
(0-10), Violence as manly range of scores (0-10), Calloused sex attitudes
toward women range of scores (0-10), Full Scale range of scores (0-30).
Figure 1. Facial expressions from the two sets of erotic pictures.
1) Men with a history of perpetrating more severe sexual coercion will rate the
ambiguous photos as more arousing, less aggressive, and more enjoyable for the
women than would men with no history of sexual aggression.
Example from “ambiguous” picture
Example from “enjoyment” picture
Figure 2. Associations between sexual coercion and sexual response.
Procedure
Participants attended one session in which they completed questionnaires
pertaining to hypermasculinity and demographics (Table 1). During the session,
participants were shown the 14 photos (Figure 1) in random order and asked to
rate each photo on a variety of factors (e.g., How aggressive was the sexual act
depicted in the photo? How much do you think the female character enjoyed the
sexual act depicted in the photo?). Participants also completed a self-report
questionnaire about their sexual response to each photo.
Measures
Hypermasculinity Inventory3 is a 30-item questionnaire that is divided into 3
subscales: Calloused sex attitudes toward women (10 items), Violence as manly
(10 items), and Danger as exciting (10 items).
Film Evaluation Scale4 is a 12-item questionnaire that measured how the
participant felt while viewing each picture. Participants answered the degree to
which they felt a range of sexual responses on a 5-point Likert Scale, from 0 (Very
slightly or not at all), to 5 (Extremely). Sexual arousal and desire to have sex
were computed.
Data Analyses
•1-way Repeated Measures ANOVAs with type of photo (enjoyment vs. ambiguous)
as the factor and ratings of reactions to the photos as the dependent variable.
•Bivariate correlations between level of sexual aggression history and sexual
responses to photos.
•Bivariate correlations between HI scores and men’s ratings of photos.
Calloused
attitudes
.73**
Full Scale
Is Picture Aggressive_Ambig
.17
.29
.45
.33
Female enjoyment_Enjoy
.33
.36
.29
.38
Female enjoyment_Ambig
.21
.30
.50*
.36
Arousal_Enjoy
.62*
.56*
.40
.62*
Arousal_Ambig
.53*
.56*
.49
.61*
Desire for Sex_Enjoy
.56*
.57*
.45
.61*
Desire for Sex_Ambig
.50*
.52*
.57*
.60*
Desire to Masturbate_Enjoy
.70**
.56*
.55*
.69**
Desire to Masturbate_Ambig
.54*
.60*
.70**
.68**
Respect for Male_Enjoy
.28
.34
.55*
.41
Respect for Male_Ambig
.35
.40
.66**
.50*
Attractive Female_Enjoy
.68**
.50
.26
.57*
.54*
Discussion
2) Men with high hypermasculinity scores will rate ambiguous photos as more
arousing, less aggressive, and more enjoyable for the women than would men with
lower hypermasculinity scores.
Participants
Sixteen men (ages 18-27), primarily Caucasian, were recruited from a large
university and local community. They were identified based on responses to a
screening measure assessing history of perpetrating sexually aggressive behavior.
Violence
as manly
.51*
Attractive Female_Ambig
.62*
.59*
.45
.64**
Note. Only significant results relevant to the presented hypotheses are
highlighted.
*p < .05, **p < .01.
Hypotheses
Methods
Is Picture Aggressive_Enjoy
Danger as
exciting
.27
Results
•There were within-subject effects for the two sets of pictures such that the
“ambiguous” photos were rated as more aggressive, F(1,15) = 24.239, p < .001; less
consensual, F(1,15) = 20.769, p < .001; and less enjoyable for the female
character, F(1,15) = 24.511, p < .001, as compared to the “enjoyment” photos.
•More severe sexual aggression was associated with more sexual arousal (r = .54, p
< .05), more desire for partnered sex (r = .57, p < .05), and more desire to
masturbate (r = .56, p < .05) in response to the ambiguous photos.
•More severe sexual aggression was associated with more desire for partnered sex
(r = .55, p < .05) in response to the enjoyment photos.
•Subscales of the HI were associated with men’s ratings of the photos (Table 2).
This study examined whether a history of sexual aggression and
hypermasculine attitudes are associated with how men interpret sexually explicit
pictures. We found that the “ambiguous” photos were rated as more aggressive,
less consensual, and less enjoyable for the female character as compared to the
“enjoyment” photos, suggesting that our categorization of photos was valid. It
was not found that men with a history of perpetrating sexual coercion rated the
ambiguous photos as less aggressive or more enjoyable for the women. However, a
history of more severe sexual aggression was associated with more subjective
arousal and desire in response to the ambiguous photos (Figure 2).
Bivariate correlations indicated that higher hypermasculinity scores were
associated with desire to have sex, desire to masturbate, increased arousal,
respect for the male, and attraction to the female in the ambiguous photos.
Additionally, subscales of the Hypermasculinity Inventory were correlated with
how men rated the photos. For example, callousness toward women was
correlated with higher ratings that the female enjoyed the experience in the
ambiguous photos.
The fact that men reporting a history of more severe sexual aggression and
men with higher hypermasculinity scores experienced more arousal and desire in
response to the ambiguous photos suggests that these men's sexual responses were
not inhibited by a woman's cues of discomfort, reluctance or at least less
enjoyment to the same extent as men without an aggressive history. Similarly, the
fact that hypermasculine attitudes were associated with interpreting women's
ambiguous emotional reactions as enjoyment suggests that, in sexual situations,
hypermasculine men may be less sensitive to women's emotional states.
These results need to be interpreted with caution given that this study used a
small convenience sample of men recruited from a university which was
representative of a limited age range. Should future studies confirm these results,
it would be important to investigate the mechanisms involved in perception of
sexual cues.
References
1Hall,
G.C.N., & Hirschman, R. (1991). J Consult Clin Psychol., 5, 662-669; 2Parrott,
D.J., & Zeichner, A. (2003). Psychol Men Masculinity, 4, 70-78; 3Mosher, D.L., &
Sirkin, M. (1984). J Res Pers., 18, 150-163. 4Hackbert, L., & Heiman, J.R. (2002). J
Womens Health Gend Based Med., 11, 155-162.