Does Sexual Double Standard Harm Sexual Satisfaction?

What is it about?

Sexual satisfaction, an essential component of well-being, is an affective response derived from sexual relations, although it depends not only on them but also on personal, interpersonal and sociocultural factors. Among the personal factors is included the attitude of sexual double standard (SDS), which refers to the different evaluation of the same sexual behaviour depending on whether it is performed by a man or a woman. The scientific literature shows that the SDS in favour of greater sexual freedom for men implies lower levels of sexual satisfaction in both men and women, while an egalitarian sexual standard would favour it. A theoretical model of sexual satisfaction in the context of the couple, called the Interpersonal Exchange Model of Sexual Satisfaction (IEMSS), has been validated in Spain. This model proposes that sexual satisfaction is explained by four components: (1) balance between sexual rewards (gratifying and pleasurable elements) and sexual costs (elements that require physical or mental effort, or that produce pain, shame or anxiety); (2) the comparative level between the expected sexual rewards/costs and actual sexual rewards/costs, (3) equality of sexual rewards and costs between the members of the couple and (4) relationship satisfaction. In the absence of studies that analyse the relationship between SDS and the components of the IEMSS, this study has the main objective of comparing the components of the IEMSS between three typologies of SDS adherence (i.e., man-favourable, woman-favourable, and egalitarian) for two sexual behaviour areas (i.e., sexual freedom and shyness sexual). This research involved 1,165 heterosexual adults (594 men and 571 women) from the general Spanish population. The results indicated differences in the components of sexual satisfaction according to the SDS adherence type. Men showed higher scores on equal sexual rewards in the egalitarian compared to the man-favourable typology for the sexual freedom area. Women had higher scores on the equal sexual costs component in the egalitarian compared to the man-favourable typology for the sexual shyness area.

Featured Image

Photo by Zhivko Minkov on Unsplash

Photo by Zhivko Minkov on Unsplash

Why is it important?

These findings confirm the association of SDS with sexual satisfaction and show that the equality standard leads to greater sexual satisfaction for both men and women. They also reflect the relevance of the area of sexual behaviours in this association, with the sexual freedom sexual being more susceptible for men and the sexual shyness area for women.

Perspectives