Women lie about sex
Monday, 7 July 2003
C'mon girls, time to 'fess up )
Surveys suggesting that men are more sexually active than women may be wrong because women are more likely to lie when answering questions about their own sexual activity, a clever new U.S. study has found.
Men typically report engaging in sex at a younger age, having sex more often and with more partners than women do, but the study shows that these reported gender differences might show up because women think they should give answers expected of them, according to Dr Terri Fisher, a psychology professor at Ohio State University, a co-author of the study in the Journal of Sex Research with Dr Michele Alexander, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Maine.
"Women are sensitive to social expectations for their sexual behaviour and may be less than totally honest when asked about their behaviour in some survey conditions," said Fisher. "Women appear to feel pressure to adhere to sex role expectations that indicate women should be more relationship-oriented and should avoid being seen as promiscuous."
"Before the study, we thought men would generally over-report their sexual behaviour and women would under-report it under certain testing conditions. However, we found that women were more likely than men to have different answers depending on conditions when they were surveyed."
The researchers asked 201 unmarried, heterosexual college students to complete questionnaires about their sexual attitudes, experience and behaviour, and the age at which they first had sexual intercourse - but in a twist, the participants completed the questionnaire under three different conditions including one in which they believed they were connected to a lie detector.
In that group, participants had electrodes placed on their hand, forearms and neck and were told they were being attached to a polygraph (lie detector) machine, which in fact was an old model that didn't actually work. They were also told the polygraph was sensitive enough to detect dishonesty even in written responses, then left alone in a room to answer their questionnaires.
A second group filled out the sex surveys alone in a room and were told their answers would be completely anonymous, while the third group was led to believe the researcher might view their responses and the researcher sat right outside the testing room with the door open.
Women's answers were closer to men's in some areas of sexual behaviour when they thought lies could be detected. Men's answers didn't change as much as did women's under different testing conditions.
The women who thought their answers might be read, for example, reported an average of only 2.6 sexual partners, but those who thought they were monitored by the lie detector reported an average of 4.4 sexual partners. Women who were not attached to the lie detector, but who had privacy during testing, gave answers in the middle - an average of 3.4 sexual partners.
Men's answers didn't vary as much: those who thought they were attached to a polygraph reported an average of 4.0 sexual partners, compared with 3.7 partners for those who thought their answers might be seen.
In a media statement, Fisher said it was not entirely surprising that women changed their answers more than men: "We live in a culture that really does expect a different pattern of sexual behaviour from women than it does from men."
The results showed that gender differences still existed and that they needed to be taken into account in a variety of ways, she said.
Many respected sex surveys, for example, were based on face-to-face interviews with participants, which might lead women to rate a socially desirable response as being more important than a completely honest one.
As well, medical professionals needed to be aware of how women respond to questions about their sexuality, she said: "Based on these findings, a doctor may need to ask female patients about their sexual behaviour in different ways than they would for male patients."
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s896698.htm
Monday, 7 July 2003
C'mon girls, time to 'fess up )
Surveys suggesting that men are more sexually active than women may be wrong because women are more likely to lie when answering questions about their own sexual activity, a clever new U.S. study has found.
Men typically report engaging in sex at a younger age, having sex more often and with more partners than women do, but the study shows that these reported gender differences might show up because women think they should give answers expected of them, according to Dr Terri Fisher, a psychology professor at Ohio State University, a co-author of the study in the Journal of Sex Research with Dr Michele Alexander, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Maine.
"Women are sensitive to social expectations for their sexual behaviour and may be less than totally honest when asked about their behaviour in some survey conditions," said Fisher. "Women appear to feel pressure to adhere to sex role expectations that indicate women should be more relationship-oriented and should avoid being seen as promiscuous."
"Before the study, we thought men would generally over-report their sexual behaviour and women would under-report it under certain testing conditions. However, we found that women were more likely than men to have different answers depending on conditions when they were surveyed."
The researchers asked 201 unmarried, heterosexual college students to complete questionnaires about their sexual attitudes, experience and behaviour, and the age at which they first had sexual intercourse - but in a twist, the participants completed the questionnaire under three different conditions including one in which they believed they were connected to a lie detector.
In that group, participants had electrodes placed on their hand, forearms and neck and were told they were being attached to a polygraph (lie detector) machine, which in fact was an old model that didn't actually work. They were also told the polygraph was sensitive enough to detect dishonesty even in written responses, then left alone in a room to answer their questionnaires.
A second group filled out the sex surveys alone in a room and were told their answers would be completely anonymous, while the third group was led to believe the researcher might view their responses and the researcher sat right outside the testing room with the door open.
Women's answers were closer to men's in some areas of sexual behaviour when they thought lies could be detected. Men's answers didn't change as much as did women's under different testing conditions.
The women who thought their answers might be read, for example, reported an average of only 2.6 sexual partners, but those who thought they were monitored by the lie detector reported an average of 4.4 sexual partners. Women who were not attached to the lie detector, but who had privacy during testing, gave answers in the middle - an average of 3.4 sexual partners.
Men's answers didn't vary as much: those who thought they were attached to a polygraph reported an average of 4.0 sexual partners, compared with 3.7 partners for those who thought their answers might be seen.
In a media statement, Fisher said it was not entirely surprising that women changed their answers more than men: "We live in a culture that really does expect a different pattern of sexual behaviour from women than it does from men."
The results showed that gender differences still existed and that they needed to be taken into account in a variety of ways, she said.
Many respected sex surveys, for example, were based on face-to-face interviews with participants, which might lead women to rate a socially desirable response as being more important than a completely honest one.
As well, medical professionals needed to be aware of how women respond to questions about their sexuality, she said: "Based on these findings, a doctor may need to ask female patients about their sexual behaviour in different ways than they would for male patients."
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s896698.htm
get some help, please......
... please make yourself at home ... 