1. Baumeister & Tice Chapter 2 How Much Sex Is Going On?

2. Sexual Frequency l How many sexual partners have you had? l How many would you like to have? l How many partners do most people have? l Class 2003: M = 5.48 l Current class: M = 3.29

3. Sexual Frequency l Important information l Need to understand ourselves, relative standing l Want to be relatively normal l Socially normal (like everyone else) l Sexuality key aspect of how we see ourselves l Frequency, partners, preferences l Hard to evaluate our own sexuality (what is normal?)

4. Social Comparison Theory (Festinger) l Need to evaluate our status/normality l Attitudes, behaviors, preferences (SEX) l Evaluate by comparing ourselves with others l How many sex partners should I have? l 1?5?50? l Feelings about self based on results of comparisons

5. Sexual Comparison l Difficult l Sex is private l Shifting standards of ‘normal’ l Victorian era women thought frigid l Homosexuality thought to be a ‘disease’ until 1970s l Sexual revolution in 1970s v. virginity pacts in 2000 l Great confusion/interest about what is ‘normal’ l Frequency & partners

6. How Many Partners? Janus Report NHSLS Median 193 Women w/ > 10 partners 55%9% Elderly had sex > 1/week 70%7% l Why the difference? l Sampling, volunteer bias l NHSLS ~best

7. Class Data 03 (N = 103, Female = 71) FemalesMales Miller & Fishkin (1997) # desired (M)2.764 # desired (Mdn) 11 ----------------------Class results---------------------- # partners (M)5.54 ( NHSLS = 2 ) 5.31( NHSLS = 6 ) # partners (Mdn)4.52 # desired (M)6.83 a 83.04 a # desired (Mdn) 45.5 a p <.01

8. Class Data 04 (N = 93, Female = 71) FemalesMales Miller & Fishkin (1997) # desired (M)2.764 # desired (Mdn) 11 ----------------------Class results---------------------- # partners (M)4.18 ( NHSLS = 2 ) 2.95( NHSLS = 6 ) # partners (Mdn)2.02 # desired (M)4.19 a 9.14 a # desired (Mdn) 4.05.0 a p <.05

9. Class Data 03 (N = 103, Female = 71) FemalesMales Too many (M)23.55 a 21,025 a Too many (Mdn)1110.5 Too few (M) 1.03 † 3.25 † Too few (Mdn) 01 l † p <.08, a p <.01

10. Class Data 04 (N = 93, Female = 71) FemalesMales Too many (M)16.61 a 29.74 a Too many (Mdn)102.0 Too few (M) 1.182.05 Too few (Mdn) 0.01.0 l † p <.05

11. Class Data? l Sexuality students different? l Volunteers who completed survey different? l Honest responses? FemalesMales Miller & Fishkin (1997) # desired (M)2.764 # desired (Mdn) 11 WHY?

12. Mean v. Median l Extreme scores impact mean NOT median l Most men & women desire similar number of partners (1) l Minority of men want many partners l Inflates mean for men l Example: 5 men & 5 women l Men: 1, 1, 1, 1, 100 (M = 20.8) l Women: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 (M = 1.0)

13. Gender Difference l Men report more sexual partners (6 v. 2) l Mathematically impossible (females~male in pop) l 10 men and 10 women l All men report 10 partners all women have to also l Assuming only heterosexual sex l Why?

14. Gender Difference l 1. Homosexuality ~No l Lesbian sex also occurs and counter-acts the difference l Not enough homosexual sex l 9% men ever had homosexual sex (NHSLS) l 5% had homosexual sex > = 1 time since age 18 (NHSLS) l 3% exclusively homosexual (NHSLS) l Average man needs to have 5 male partners (NOPE!)

15. Gender Difference l 2. Uncounted (female) prostitutes ~No l Frequency would show up for males not for females l Einon (1994) l Number of prostitutes not counted > most liberal estimates of existing prostitutes l Philis & Gromkp (1985) l No evidence that prostitutes or promiscuous women caused the gender difference

16. Gender Difference l 3. Social Desirability ~ No l Men might exaggerate, women might underreport l Men want more partners than do women l NHSLS concluded little confabulation l Several checks failed to reveal lying l Responses consistent l Honest but mistaken?

17. Gender Difference l 4. Differential criteria ~Yes l Personal criteria used to maintain positive self- perception l Standards favor many partners for men, few for women l Men want more partners than do women l Men use more liberal standards & count more than do women

18. Gender Difference FemalesMales l Hand-Genital12.2%19.2% l Oral-genital37.7%43.9% l JAMA (1999)

19. Gender Difference l 5. Selective forgetting ~ Yes l Memory bias for self-esteem-boosting experiences l Forget experiences that reflect poorly on us l May forget bad sexual experiences l Downey et al. (1995) found people ‘forgot’ risky sex l ANY sex may boost male self-esteem (conquest) l Most sex may reduce female self-esteem (lapse in judgement) l Selective forgetting by women

20. Gender Difference l 6. Computation ~Yes l Different computation strategies are used l Men estimate, tending to round up which inflates their number l Women count

21. Conclusions l Socially compare to evaluate our own sexuality l Difficult to do and reveals social/cultural influence on our sexuality l Attitudes, preferences for number of partners l Gender difference not due to different behaviors l Men & women report and desire similar sexual lives l Gender difference likely due to methodology l Self-reports not always reliable