Exploring News Contexts and News Forms of Sexual Double Standard

What is it about?

The Sexual Double Standard (SDS) consists in the judgment of sexual behaviors based on the gender who exhibit it. Traditionally, more sexual permissiveness has been granted for men in comparison to women, in which men are allowed to play a more active role in sexuality and more casual sex. In the last years, this sexist attitude has been transformed into a more modern and subtle form, such as the support of sexual shyness for women but not for men. Therefore, nowadays, SDS comprehends both sexual freedom and sexual shyness. Considering that SDS can be clearly influenced by culture, this study compared the SDS in two countries, that although they share the same language, they are different based on their individualism-collectivism conceptualization: Spain (individualist culture) and Colombia (collectivistic culture). For this reason, using the Sexual Double Standard Scale, we evaluated two dimensions from the SDS (sexual freedom and sexual shyness) in a sample of 1,832 heterosexual adults (46.3% men and 53.7% women), of whom 54.3% were Spanish and 45.7% Colombian. The results showed that men and women from both countries supported greater sexual freedom for themselves in comparison to the other gender. Moreover, Spanish women, in contrast to their Colombian counterparts, supported greater sexual shyness for men. These findings seem to indicate what some authors have labelled as "reverse sexual double standard". That is, we find a SDS with favors women, in contrast to the traditional SDS that used to favor men.

Featured Image

Photo by Etactics Inc on Unsplash

Photo by Etactics Inc on Unsplash

Why is it important?

It is evident the need of egalitarian attitudes towards the assessment of sexual behaviors from men and women, instead of polarized positions.

Perspectives