Sex Differences in Gender, Orientation, and Identity John Scofield and Dr. Bogdan Kostic

Evolutionary Psychology Deals with psychological adaptations that have helped a species better survive their environments. Involves our perceptions of our surroundings, potential dangers, etc Also involves things we like. (Food, sexual partners, etc.) Evolution selects for adaptations that facilitate passing on genes Men and women pass on genes differently, so they have evolved different strategies Women benefit from picking mates carefully (limited) Men benefit from having sex indiscriminately (not limited)

So what do we find attractive? Both sexes like people who are intelligent, kind, funny, symmetrical features and indicators of good health Men Preference for younger partners, value physical attractiveness Women Value social status, preference for older partners

These basic sex differences also appear in both heterosexual and homosexual individuals People tend to line up more with their biological sex regardless of sexual orientation We reported our replication of these findings, and our report can be found on PsychFileDrawer.org: Sex and sexual orientation differences in mating. Scofield and Kostic http://www.psychfiledrawer.org/replication.php?attempt=MjM4

Current Project In the current project we basically expanded the analysis of sex differences. We not only included heterosexual and homosexual people, but also investigated bisexual men and women as well.

Current Project An online questionnaire was distributed on Reddit r/sex, r/LGBT, r/samplesize Participants answered a variety of questions dealing with sex, sexual orientation, sexual identity, sexual behavior/history, and sexual preferences including scales adopted from previous research by Bailey et al. (1994).

Questionnaire items Sexual orientation Relationship status Frequency of sex/masturbation/pornography/prostitutes Number of sexual partners Importance of… Good financial prospects Good looks Chastity Ambition and Industriousness

Questionnaire items (cont.) Seeking short-term/long-term mate Preference for Younger Partners Interest in Uncommitted Sex Interest in Visual Sexual Stimuli Importance of Partner Status Importance of Partner’s Physical Attractiveness Sexual vs. Emotional Infidelity

3,296 participants included in the current analyses of different sexual orientations Males: 1,675 heterosexual, 54 homosexual, 131 bisexual Females: 1,039 heterosexual, 33 homosexual, 364 bisexual Analyses consisted of a 2x3 (sex vs sexual orientation) MANOVA, as well as independent samples t-tests between heterosexual and homosexual participants of each sex. Chi squares were calculated for the sexual vs. emotional infidelity item

Sex differences Replicated sex-based differences between males and females on all measures regardless of sexual orientation , F(5, 2793) = 38.45, p < .001, ηp2 = .06. (Chi square (1) = 100.77, p < .001 on the sexual vs. emotional infidelity item.) So these are things like men value youth and physical attractiveness, where women value things like older partners and social status. However, there were a couple of exceptions Namely that men reported wanting more sex per week, but women actually had more sex per week than men.

Sexual Orientation in Men For the most part, homosexual participants responded similarly Some differences include Straight men had more sex and wanted more sex than homosexual men Homosexual men were more interested in long-term mates and social status Homosexual men were not as upset by sexual infidelity as straight men No differences in preference for younger partners scales But when asked directly to report an ideal age, straight men chose younger partners than gay men.

Sexuality in Women Did not find any significant differences overall between heterosexual and homosexual women. So why are we seeing these male differences in sexual orientation but not for women? It could have something to do with that it’s more socially acceptable for women to be flexible in their sexual orientation than it is for men. That might mean there’s already less of a difference between hetero and homosexual women than in men Alternative reasons? We’re currently investigating

Bisexual Individuals Looking at bisexual men and women Bisexual individuals slightly more attracted to opposite sex Bisexual women reported having more sex per week, wanting older partners, valued social status more Bisexual men valued short-term mates, were more okay with casual sex, higher interests in visual stimuli, and valued physical attractiveness more than bisexual women.

F(1, 3239) = 15.86, p < .001, eta = .01

 F(1, 3239) = 180.77, p < .001, eta = .05

F(1, 3239) = 74.14, p < .001, eta = .02

F(1, 3239) = 58.40, p < .001, eta = .02.

Overall Results largely support prior findings that sex differences are larger than sexual orientation differences However, sexual orientation does play more of a role than we think!

Conclusion Shortcomings Future Directions We used an online sample from Reddit, so you can think of this as kind of a biased sample How representative is this sample? What about transgender individuals? Are there differences? Do transgenders identify more with their biological sex or their identity? Difficult to target this demographic

Thank you! Questions?