Seeking Measures of Sexual Functioning Unbiased by Sexual Orientation

What is it about?

Sexual functioning refers to an individual's ability to respond sexually or experience sexual pleasure. This response includes sexual desire, arousal, orgasm, and sexual satisfaction. The Arizona Sexual Experience Scale (ASEX) is a widely used measure of sexual functioning because of its briefness, low intrusiveness, and ease of application, making it a very useful measure in the detection of possible sexual dysfunction. It is common to compare sexual functioning between different groups, for example, according to sexual orientation. In the gay population, differences in sexual functioning have been observed in comparison with heterosexuals, in addition to a higher frequency of sexual relations and a greater variety of sexual practices. However, in order to make such comparisons, it is necessary to have invariant measures between these groups, meaning that they do not distort the information they provide in favor of or against any of the groups. This study examine the invariance of ASEX by sexual orientation. In this work, which involved 1,600 Spanish adults (800 heterosexual and 800 gay people), the authors point out that ASEX was found to be an invariant measure in women with different sexual orientation, but not in men. Therefore, comparisons of sexual functioning by sexual orientation with this scale are not recommended in the case of men. That is, although the scale is assessing the same construct in both groups, the hypothetical differences found between them could be due to a bias of the scale itself. This could be explained, among other reasons, by the fact that the scale does not account for some important aspects of gay men's sexuality, such as relaxation or dilation of the anal area (essential for those who wish to engage in receptive penetrative practices). This is interesting at the clinical perspective, since Sexology professionals should be in continuous training in aspects related to sexual and gender diversity and, in addition, because approaches such as LGBT Affirmative Psychotherapy are increasingly gaining prominence, so it is necessary to have access to instruments with sufficient scientific strength to assess different dimensions of human sexuality in people belonging to these minorities, and also because groups are usually compared on the basis of sexual orientation, without the instruments used having previously shown to be invariant in diverse populations.

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Photo by James A. Molnar on Unsplash

Photo by James A. Molnar on Unsplash

Why is it important?

These findings show that the ASEX is a scale that provides reliable and valid measures of sexual functioning in both heterosexual and gay people, although it would be biased when comparing this construct in men of both orientations. The results of this study highlight the need to continue conducting invariance studies with the aim of validating instruments in the LGBT population.

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