Psychosexual Correlates of Sexual Double Standard Endorsement in Adolescent Sexuality

Endorsement and enactment of the (hetero)sexual double standard (SDS), prescribing sexual modesty for girls and sexual prowess for boys, has been shown to be negatively related to sexual and mental health. To be able to challenge the SDS, more insight is needed into the conditions that shape gendered sexual attitudes. 

A survey was conducted among 465 heterosexual adolescents (aged 16–20 years), examining the relationship between a number of relevant demographic and psychosexual variables and SDS endorsement. SDS endorsement was assessed using a newly developed instrument, the Scale for the Assessment of Sexual Standards Among Youth (SASSY). Gender (being male) and religiousness were significantly associated with increased SDS endorsement. 

For both boys and girls, increased feelings of entitlement to self-induced sexual pleasure (e.g., masturbation) were significantly associated with reduced SDS endorsement, whereas higher gender investment was significantly associated with increased SDS endorsement. Furthermore, increased feelings of entitlement to partner-induced sexual pleasure and more frequent talking about sexuality with peers were associated with increased SDS endorsement among boys but not among girls. 

We conclude that future research should explore peer influence processes through peer communication about sex, gender investment, and feelings of entitlement to both self and partner-induced sexual pleasure.

Scale for the Assessment of Sexual Standards Among Youth (SASSY) Items and Factor Loadings

Item #	Item Content	Factor Loadings
1	Once a boy is sexually aroused, a girl cannot really refuse sex anymore.	.626
2	Girls like boys who take the lead in sex.	.404
3	I think that a girl who takes the initiative in sex is pushy.	.617
4	I think it is more appropriate for a boy than for a girl to date different people at the same time.	.508
5	Girls should act in a more reserved way concerning sex than boys.	.618
6	I think it is more appropriate for a boy than for a girl to have sex without love.	.456
7	A boy should be more knowledgeable about sex than a girl.	.650
8	I think sex is less important for girls than for boys.	.712
9	I think it is normal for boys to take the dominant role in sex.	.506
10	I think sexually explicit talk is more acceptable for a boy than for a girl.	.562
11	Sometimes a boy should apply some pressure to a girl to get what he wants sexually.	.582
12	It is more important for a girl to keep her virginity until marriage than it is for a boy.	.531
13	Boys are more entitled to sexual pleasure than girls.	.640
14	It is not becoming for a girl to have unusual sexual desires.	.536
15	Sex is more important for boys than for girls.	.548
16	It is more important for a girl to look attractive than it is for a boy.	.449
17	Boys and girls want completely different things in sex.	.413
18	I think cheating is to be expected more from boys than from girls.	.533
19	I think it is important for a boy to act as if he is sexually active, even if it is not true.	.641
20	I think it is more appropriate for a boy than for a girl to masturbate frequently.	.434

Note. The instrument was administered in the Dutch language. For international readability the table provides the English translation. Dutch item wording is available upon request.

Below:  Interaction between participant sex and talking about sex with peers (separated by low and high frequency of talk) depicted based on standardized values.

Below:  Interaction between participant sex and feelings of entitlement to partner-induced sexual pleasure (separated by low and high entitlement) depicted based on standardized values

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/lCG0t8

By:  Peggy M. J. Emmerink, a , * Ine Vanwesenbeeck, a , b Regina J. J. M. van den Eijnden, a and Tom F. M. ter Bogt a

aDepartment of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands

bRutgers, Expert Centre for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Utrecht, Netherlands

Correspondence should be addressed to Peggy M. J. Emmerink, Department of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Utrecht University, Martinus J. Langeveldbuilding, Room H2.09, Heidelberglaan 1, Utrecht 3584 CS, the Netherlands.

More at:  https://twitter.com/hiv insight

And: http://twitter.com/Prison Health

The Geography of Gender Inequality

Reducing gender inequality is a major policy concern worldwide, and one of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, our understanding of the magnitude and spatial distribution of gender inequality results either from limited-scale case studies or from national-level statistics. 

Here, we produce the first high resolution map of gender inequality by analyzing over 689,000 households in 47 countries. Across these countries, we find that male-headed households have, on average, 13% more asset wealth and 303% more land for agriculture than do female-headed households. However, this aggregate global result masks a high degree of spatial heterogeneity, with bands of both high inequality and high equality apparent in countries and regions of the world. Further, areas where inequality is highest when measured by land ownership generally are not the same areas that have high inequality as measured by asset wealth. 

Our metrics of gender inequality in land and wealth are not strongly correlated with existing metrics of poverty, development, and income inequality, and therefore provide new information to increase the understanding of one critical dimension of poverty across the globe.

Below:  Wealth inequality between male- and female-headed households

Below:  Land inequality between male- and female-headed households

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/Kp7cm3

By:  

Brendan Fisher 
Gund Institute, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, Aiken Center, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, United States of America

Brendan Fisher, Robin Naidoo 

World Wildlife Fund, Washington, DC, United States of America

Robin Naidoo 

Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

More at:  https://twitter.com/hiv insight

And: http://twitter.com/Prison Health

Johnny Depp, Reconsidered: How Category-Relative Processing Fluency Determines the Appeal of Gender Ambiguity

Individuals that combine features of both genders–gender blends–are sometimes appealing and sometimes not. Heretofore, this difference was explained entirely in terms of sexual selection. 

In contrast, we propose that part of individuals’ preference for gender blends is due to the cognitive effort required to classify them, and that such effort depends on the context in which a blend is judged. In two studies, participants judged the attractiveness of male-female morphs. Participants did so after classifying each face in terms of its gender, which was selectively more effortful for gender blends, or classifying faces on a gender-irrelevant dimension, which was equally effortful for gender blends. In both studies, gender blends were disliked when, and only when, the faces were first classified by gender, despite an overall preference for feminine features in all conditions. Critically, the preferences were mediated by the effort of stimulus classification. 

The results suggest that the variation in attractiveness of gender-ambiguous faces may derive from context-dependent requirements to determine gender membership. More generally, the results show that the difficulty of resolving social category membership–not just attitudes toward a social category–feed into perceivers’ overall evaluations toward category members.

Below:  Examples of stimuli used in Study 1 as a percentage of the female parent

Below:  Examples of face blends used in Study 2

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/RE2YqJ

By:  Helen E. Owen,1 Jamin Halberstadt,1,* Evan W. Carr,2 and Piotr Winkielman2,3,4,*

¹Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

²Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, United States of America

³Behavioural Science Group, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom

⁴Department of Psychology, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland

Brock University, CANADA

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Conceived and designed the experiments: HO JH PW. Performed the experiments: HO JH PW. Analyzed the data: HO JH PW EC. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: HO JH PW EC. Wrote the paper: HO JH PW EC.

* E-mail: zn.ca.ogato.ysp@sreblahj; Email: ude.dscu@namleikniwp

More at:  https://twitter.com/hiv insight

And: http://twitter.com/Prison Health

In the Name of Brevity: The Problem with Binary HIV Risk Categories

According to the 'Consolidated Guidelines on HIV Prevention, Diagnosis, Treatment and Care for Key Populations' there are five groups of people at elevated risk of HIV, including 'transgender women or transgender men who have receptive anal sex with men'. Although cost effectiveness strategies and best practice lessons recommend targeting specific populations for HIV prevention, existing risk categories lack specificity, and may in fact cause further confusion. 

Existing categories of risk often perpetuate notions of gender and sexuality that can erroneously exclude, alienate, and stigmatise those who are at the highest risk and thus should be prioritised. 

We review the troubled history of the MSM category and the problematic conflation of trans feminine individuals and MSM in much of the existing HIV literature, and how this practice has stymied progress in slowing the HIV epidemic in the most at-risk groups, including those who do not fit neatly into binary notions of gender and sex. We draw from examples in the field, specifically among trans feminine people in Beirut and San Francisco, to illustrate the lived experiences of individuals whose identities may not fit into Euro-Atlantic constructs of HIV prevention categories.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/s29oLt

By:  Kaplan RL1, Sevelius J2, Ribeiro K3.

• 1 Department of Obstetrics , Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, Gynecology, & Reproductive Sciences, University of California , San Francisco , CA , USA.
• 2 Department of Medicine , Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, Center of Excellence for Transgender Health, University of California , San Francisco , CA , USA.
• 3 CRESPPA-LabToP, Université Paris 8 , Villejuif , France.
• Glob Public Health. 2016 Jan 29:1-11. 

More at:  https://twitter.com/hiv insight

And: http://twitter.com/Prison Health

Correlates of Gender Characteristics, Health & Empowerment of Women in Ethiopia

Background

The low status of women prevents them from recognizing and voicing their concerns about health needs. This study aimed to examine the relationship between gender characteristics, health and empowerment of women in an attempt to understand between 2005 and 2011.

Methods

Data from the Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) 2005 and 2011 were used. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to determine the relative contribution of the predictor variables. The hypotheses tested in this study were that gender (men and women), health and empowerment of women in region are highly significant with women’s education and work status.

Results

Study findings showed that the low status of women and their disempowerment are highly associated with poor health outcomes. In both 2005 and 2011 men school ages were positively associated with their attainment in primary education, whereas for women it was negatively related with their attainment in some education. In both 2005 and 2011 women in the richest wealth quintile had the highest odds ratio of relating to some education. The results show that the odds ratios of women with some education (within the richest wealth quintile) has improved from 6.39 (in 2005) to 10.90 (in 2011), whereas among men there has been a decrease from 10.33 (in 2005) to 2.13 (in 2011). The results indicated that in 2005 and 2011, when comparing the percentage distribution of both genders on employment status and type of occupation, the percentage of men who were employed was higher than women. The percentage of males who were engaged in the agricultural-type of occupation was higher than that of women. Men and women knowledge about family planning methods have been improved, yet, there are wider gender gaps in family planning users.

Conclusions

The officials such as policy makers, planners, program managers and government and non-government organizations need to addressed. The issue of child marriages in order to minimize the number of girls who never attend school or drop out to become wives Planners should also work on improving family planning to empower women. There was a significant relationship between status of women and quality of healthy life, and this relationship appeared to differ by education and work status.

Full article at:  http://goo.gl/dVjQnj

By:  Yishak Abraham Lailulo, A Sathiya Susuman^* and Renette Blignaut

Department of Statistics & Population Studies, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa

More at:  https://twitter.com/hiv_insight

And:        http://twitter.com/Prison_Health

Sexual Intercourse Debut & Associated Factors in Mexican Students Aged 14-19 Years in Public Schools

To estimate the mean age of sexual intercourse debut (SID) and associated family and individual factors in 14-19-year-olds of both sexes in the 32 states of Mexico in 2007.

A cross-sectional study was conducted of a representative sample of 9,893 students aged between 14 and 19 years old. The data were collected through a self-administered, anonymous and voluntary questionnaire. Logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) by category: no SID, SID at 10-15 years and SID at 16-19 years.

The national mean age of SID was 16 years, being 15 years for boys and 16 years for girls. Factors associated with SID in boys were disadvantaged socioeconomic level, living with parents, less offensive communication between parents and boys/girls, and high social self-esteem. Factors associated with SID in girls were traditional gender beliefs, high depressive symptoms, and high family self-esteem.

In Mexico, SID occurred early in boys. In addition, the findings of this study show that in Mexico, the age of SID and associated factors differ in boys and girls. The age of SID is strongly influenced by gender and cultural beliefs.

Purchase full article at: http://goo.gl/syn8hO

By: Rivera-Rivera L1, Leyva-López A2, García-Guerra A3, de Castro F1, González-Hernández D1, de Los Santos LM1.

• 1Centro de Investigación en Salud Poblacional, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca, Morelos, México.
• 2Centro de Investigación en Salud Poblacional, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca, Morelos, México. Electronic address: leyvalop@insp.mx.
• 3Centro de Investigación en Nutrición y Salud, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca, Morelos, México.  

More at:  https://twitter.com/hiv_insight