Prevalence Rates of Sexual Difficulties and Associated Distress in Heterosexual Men and Women: Results From an Internet Survey in Flanders

As most epidemiological surveys on sexual problems have not included assessment of associated distress, the principal aim of this study was to provide prevalence estimates of both DSM-IV-TR-defined (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2000 American Psychiatric Association . ( 2000 ). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders , (4th ed., text rev.) . Washington , DC : Author .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) and less commonly assessed sexual difficulties and dysfunction (e.g., lack of responsive sexual desire, lack of subjective arousal). A secondary aim was to obtain information about comorbidity between sexual desire and sexual arousal difficulties/dysfunction. This study comprised an online survey completed by 35,132 heterosexual Flemish men and women (aged 16 to 74 years). Results indicated that sexual dysfunctions were far less common than sexual difficulties, and some uncommonly assessed sexual problems (e.g., “lack of responsive desire” in women; “hyperactive sexual desire” in men) were quite prevalent. In women, there was a high comorbidity between “lack of spontaneous sexual desire” and “lack of responsive sexual desire”; between “lack of genital arousal” and “lack of subjective sexual arousal”; and between sexual desire and sexual arousal difficulties/dysfunctions. The implications of these findings for epidemiological research on sexual dysfunction and for the newly defined DSM-5 Female Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder (APA, 2013 American Psychiatric Association . ( 2013 ). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders , (5th ed.) . Washington , DC : Author . [Google Scholar]) are discussed.     

A Streetcar Named “Derousal”? A Psychophysiological Examination of the Desire–Arousal Distinction in Sexually Functional and Dysfunctional Women

Research indicates that desire and arousal problems are highly interrelated in women. Therefore, hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) and female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD) were removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), and a new diagnostic category, female sexual interest/arousal disorder (FSIAD), was created to include both arousal and desire difficulties. However, no research has tried to distinguish these problems based on psychosocial-physiological patterns to identify whether unique profiles exist. This study compared psychosocial-physiological patterns in a community sample of 84 women meeting DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 2000 American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) criteria for HSDD (n = 22), FSAD (n = 18), both disorders (FSAD/HSDD; n = 25), and healthy controls (n = 19). Women completed self-report measures and watched neutral and erotic films while genital arousal (GA) and subjective arousal (SA) were measured. Results indicated that GA increased equally for all groups during the erotic condition, whereas women with HSDD and FSAD/HSDD reported less SA than controls or FSAD women. Women in the clinical groups also showed lower concordance and greater impairment on psychosocial variables as compared to controls, with women with FSAD/HSDD showing lowest functioning. Results have important implications for the classification and treatment of these difficulties.     

Sexuality Examined Through the Lens of Attachment Theory: Attachment,Caregiving, and Sexual Satisfaction

Attachment researchers have proposed that the attachment, caregiving, and sexual behavioral systems are interrelated in adult love relationships (Mikulincer &; Shaver, 2007 Mikulincer , M. , &; Shaver , P. R. ( 2007 ). Attachment in adulthood: Structure, dynamics, and change . New York , NY : Guilford . [Google Scholar]). This study examined whether aspects of partners’ caregiving (proximity, sensitivity, control, compulsive caregiving) mediated the association between their attachment insecurities (anxiety and avoidance) and each other's sexual satisfaction in two samples of committed couples (Study 1: 126 cohabiting or married couples from the general community; Study 2: 55 clinically distressed couples). Partners completed the Experiences in Close Relationships measure (Brennan, Clark, &; Shaver, 1998 Brennan , K. A. , Clark , C. L. , &; Shaver , P. R. ( 1998 ). Self-report measurement of adult attachment: An integrative overview . In J. A. Simpson &; W. W. Rholes (Eds.), Attachment theory and close relationships (pp. 46 – 76 ). New York : Guilford .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), the Caregiving Questionnaire (Kunce &; Shaver, 1994 Kunce , L. J. , &; Shaver , P. R. ( 1994 ). An attachment-theoretical approach to caregiving in romantic relationships . In K. Bartholomew &; D. Perlman (Eds.), Advances in personal relationships (pp. 205 – 237 ). London : Kingsley . [Google Scholar]), and the Global Measure of Sexual Satisfaction (Lawrance &; Byers, 1998 Lawrance , K. , &; Byers , E. S. ( 1998 ). Interpersonal Exchange Model of Sexual Satisfaction Questionnaire . In C. M. Davis , W. L. Yarber , R. Bauserman , G. Schreer &; S. L. Davis (Eds.), Sexuality-related measures: A compendium (pp. 514 – 519 ). Thousand Oaks , CA : Sage . [Google Scholar]). Path analyses based on the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) revealed that caregiving proximity mediated the association between low attachment avoidance and partners’ sexual satisfaction in distressed and nondistressed couples. Sensitivity mediated this association in nondistressed couples only. Control mediated the association between men's insecurities (attachment-related avoidance and anxiety) and their partners’ low sexual satisfaction in nondistressed couples. Attachment anxiety predicted compulsive caregiving, but this caregiving dimension was not a significant mediator. These results are discussed in light of attachment theory and their implications for treating distressed couples.     

Differences in Sexual Guilt and Desire in East Asian and Euro-Canadian Men

Differences in sexual desire between individuals of East Asian and European descent are well-documented, with East Asian individuals reporting lower sexual desire. The mechanisms that underlie this disparity have received little empirical attention. Recent research has found that sex guilt, “a generalized expectancy for self-mediated punishment for violating or for anticipating violating standards of proper sexual conduct” (Mosher &; Cross, 1971 Mosher , D. L. , &; Cross , H. J. ( 1971 ). Sex guilt and premarital sexual experiences of college students . Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , 36 , 27 – 32 . doi: 10.1037/h0030454 [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], p. 27), mediates the relationship between culture and sexual desire in East Asian and Euro-Canadian women. The goal of this study was to explore this role of sex guilt in men. Male Euro-Canadian (n = 38) and East Asian (n = 45) university students completed online questionnaires. The East Asian men reported significantly lower sexual desire and significantly higher sex guilt. Sex guilt was a significant mediator of the relationship between ethnicity and sexual desire, as well as a significant mediator between mainstream acculturation and sexual desire. Among the East Asian men, mainstream acculturation was significantly and negatively correlated with sex guilt such that increasing mainstream acculturation was associated with less sex guilt. The diagnostic and clinical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Rereading Canonical Identity: A Sexual Ethics of Bible Interpretation

This article is a response to Lisa Baraitser's Maternal Encounters: The Ethics of Interruption (2009 Baraitser , L. ( 2009 ). Maternal Encounters: The Ethics of Interruption . Hove , UK, and New York, NY : Routledge . [Google Scholar]). It focuses on the concept of encounter as part of an emerging subjectivity or a subjectivity in production. By putting Baraitser's maternal encounters alongside art encounters the discussion starts to open up thinking on the different potential ways for humans to be interrupted and the implications of such potential subjective and ethical awakenings in this late capitalist contemporary era.     

Permeable Masculinities: Gender Reverie in Richard Serra's Torqued Sculptures

Given this opportunity to reflect on The Bonds of Love (Benjamin, 1988 Benjamin , J. ( 1988 ). The Bonds of Love . New York , NY : Pantheon . [Google Scholar]) 25 years later, I read Benjamin's text as a bridge between political theory and psychoanalytic practice. In so doing, I hope to recognize Benjamin's profound influence on my thinking about recognition and destruction in collective erotic experience. I suggest that Benjamin opens the door to the investigation of eros in a collective unconscious. Yet, perhaps because The Bonds of Love predates the rise of the Internet, aspects of recognition that connote libidinization by an erotic collective are sequestered from intrapsychic phenomena and housed in a protointersubjective realm, the ideal, sustaining a long held psychoanalytic priority on loss and narcissistic injury in subject formation. I champion opening the intrapsychic realm to the fantasmatic collective by discussing Grindr, an iPhone app that provides public space for homoerotic desire.     

Critical Flaws in the Female Sexual Function Index and the International Index of Erectile Function

The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI; Rosen et al., 2000 Rosen , R. C. , Brown , C. , Heiman , J. , Leiblum , S. , Meston , C. , Shabsigh , R. , … D'Agostino , R. ( 2000 ). The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI): A multidimensional self-report instrument for the assessment of female sexual function . Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy , 26 , 191 – 208 . doi: 10.1080/009262300278597 [Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF; Rosen et al., 1997 Rosen , R. C. , Riley , A. , Wagner , G. , Osterloh , I. H. , Kirkpatrick , J. , &; Mishra , A. ( 1997 ). The International Index of Erectile Dysfunction (IIEF): A multidimensional scale for assessment of erectile dysfunction . Urology , 49 , 822 – 830 . doi: 10.1016/S0090-4295(97)00238-0 [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) are two of the most widely used measures of sexual dysfunction. However, they have potential measurement and psychometric flaws that have not been addressed in the literature. This article examines the measurement capabilities of these measures based on data collected from an online study in 2010. A convenience sample of 518 sexually active adults (65% female) drawn from the general community were included in the analyses. Both measures displayed critical theoretical and measurement problems for the assessment of sexual problems beyond sexual arousal, and for the sexual desire domains in particular. Based on these results, we encourage clinicians and researchers to think critically about whether the FSFI and IIEF are appropriate measures for their practice and research. In particular, these measures are inappropriate for use among individuals who are not currently sexually active, and research with a focus other than sexual arousal should consider supplementary measures of sexual function. The psychometric properties of these measures should be reassessed in clinical samples, but the theoretical issues with the measures raised in this article are relevant across clinical and research contexts.     

On Social Capital and Diversity in a Feminized Industry: Further Developing a Theory of Internal Public Relations

Women's work relationships with other women in public relations management settings provide context for further developing Kennan and Hazleton's (2006 Kennan , W. R. , & Hazleton , V. ( 2006 ). Internal public relations, social capital, and the role of effective organizational communication . In C. H. Botan and V. Hazleton (Eds.) Public relations theory II (pp. 311 – 338 ). Mahwah , NJ : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates . [Google Scholar]) conception of internal public relations (IPR) theory. To date, undertheorized in the public relations literature are intra-management relationships, social capital-diversity links, and connections between practitioners’ day-do-day lives and organizational contexts. Interviewed were 42 senior-level female public relations managers (African American, Asian American, Caucasian, and Hispanic) whose experiences reveal outcomes of woman/woman dyad work relationships over the past 5 decades and ways these may impact IPR in feminized industries. Explication of IPR theory and suggestions for further development are offered.     

Explicating Public Diplomacy as Organization–Public Relationship (OPR): An Empirical Investigation of OPRs between the US Embassy in Seoul and South Korean College Students

Based on a theoretical proposition that public diplomacy can be explicated as management of organization–public relationship (OPR) between an organization concerned and foreign publics, practical and functional utility of OPR measures was empirically investigated in this preliminary study within a public diplomacy context involving the US embassy in Seoul and South Korean college students. Validating reliability and validity of Hon and J. E. Grunig's (1999 Hon , L. C. , & Grunig , J. E. ( 1999 ). Guidelines for measuring relationships in public relations . Gainesville , FL : Institution for Public Relations . [Google Scholar]) OPR measures in evaluating the quality of relationships between the US embassy and South Korean college students, the findings help further advance the theoretical and practical convergence of public relations and public diplomacy. In addition, with statistically significant links between South Korean college students' perceived relationships with the US embassy and their attitudes and behavioral intentions toward the United States and its citizens, the findings suggest that public diplomacy outcomes are related to OPR management, to some degree.     

Toward a Publics-Driven,Emotion-Based Conceptualization in Crisis Communication: Unearthing Dominant Emotions in Multi-Staged Testing of the Integrated Crisis Mapping (ICM) Model

To better understand not only the minds, but also the hearts of key publics, we have developed a more systemic approach to understand the responses of audiences in crisis situations. The Integrated Crisis Mapping (ICM) model is based on a publics-based, emotion-driven perspective where the publics' responses to different crises are mapped on 2 continua, the organization's engagement in the crisis and primary publics' coping strategy. This multistage testing found evidence that anxiety was the default emotion that publics felt in crises. The subsequent emotions felt by the publics varied in different quadrants involving different crisis types. As far as coping strategies were concerned, conative coping was more evident than cognitive coping across the 4 quadrants. Evidence also suggested strong merit that conative coping was the external manifestation of the internal cognitive processing that had taken place. Cognitive coping was thus the antecedent of conative coping. Although both the publics and the organizations agreed that the crises were relevant to the organizations' goals, they differed on who should assume more responsibility. The findings, although still very much exploratory, suggest theoretical rigor in the model, with room for further refinements to generate what Yin (2003 Yin , R. K. ( 2003 ). Case study research (3rd ed.) . Thousand Oaks , CA : Sage .  [Google Scholar]) termed “analytic generalization” (p. 33) for the ICM model.     

Development of the Virginity Beliefs Scale

Past research on first sexual intercourse experiences and virginity has largely focused on using demographics such as age at first intercourse as predictors of future sexual behaviors and beliefs. Carpenter (2002 Carpenter , L. M. ( 2002 ). Gender and the meaning and experience of virginity loss in the contemporary United States . Gender and Society , 16 , 345 – 365 . doi: 10.1177/0891243202016003005 [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 2005 Carpenter , L. M. ( 2005 ). Virginity lost: An intimate portrait of first sexual experiences . New York , NY : New York University Press . [Google Scholar]) suggested a model of three virginity metaphors that describe how individuals perceive their virginity: gift, stigma, and process. Using Carpenter's framework as a starting point, scale items were developed based on the conceptual understanding of the three metaphors. In Study 1 (N = 223, mean age = 19.9, SD = 2.4), 50 items were factor analyzed, yielding 22 items found to be strong indicators of the three metaphors; ten items for gift, eight for stigma, and four for process. The three subscales were validated using measures of gender-role beliefs and affective reactions to first intercourse. In Study 2 (N = 359, mean age = 19.7, SD = 2.4), confirmatory factor analysis was used to confirm the 22-item factor breakdown. The resulting Virginity Beliefs Scale is discussed in terms of how it applies to Carpenter's original framework and its future research potential.     

The National Association of Manufacturers' Community Relations Short Film Your Town: Parable,Propaganda, and Big Individualism

In the aftermath of the Great Depression, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) faced growing antibusiness sentiment. In 1940, as part of a widespread propaganda campaign to assuage public concerns about industry and rehabilitate big business's reputation, NAM created and distributed the community relations short film, Your Town. The movie, pursuing an integration propaganda strategy, appealed to Americans' individualistic values by portraying industry as a beneficent fellow traveler who was a big individual—a heroic, larger-than-life figure who could make the land profitable and guard the citizenry against evil, antibusiness influences. Applying Vogler's (1997) synthesis of Campbell's (1949 Campbell , J. ( 1949 ). The hero with a thousand faces . Princeton , NJ : University Press . [Google Scholar]) heroic narrative form, this article shows that NAM's portrayal of industry as a hero has continued to resonate with strains of contemporary American thought that (a) sees business as the foundation for societal progress and stability and (b) conceptualizes the corporate entity as a person. Finally, this study finds that, although the language of corporate personhood has been implied in organizational community relations rhetoric for at least six decades, more recent events reveal a public that is more circumspect about the beneficence of the corporate persona.     

Princess of Networks: Lisa Baraitser's Object-Oriented Maternities

This response to Lisa Baraitser's Maternal Encounters: The Ethics of Interruption (2009 Baraitser , L. ( 2009 ). Maternal Encounters: The Ethics of Interruption . London , UK, and New York, NY : Routledge . [Google Scholar]) puts the book in conversation with recent speculative realist thinking and object-oriented philosophies. Drawing on the democratizing onticology of Levi Bryant, Graham Harman's object-oriented philosophy, Ian Bogost's alien phenomenology, and Jane Bennett's political ecology of matter, I argue that Baraitser develops a “vibrant maternality” and an object-oriented feminism that gives nonhuman actants their due in a constellation of relations between maternal subjects and the objects they encounter.     

Sexual Esteem in Emerging Adulthood: Associations with Sexual Behavior,Contraception Use,and Romantic Relationships

Sexual esteem is an integral psychological aspect of sexual health (Snell &; Papini, 1989 Snell, W. E. Jr., &; Papini, D. R. (1989). The Sexuality Scale: An instrument to measure sexual‐esteem, sexual‐depression, and sexual‐preoccupation. Journal of Sex Research, 26, 256–263. doi:10.1080/00224498909551510[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), yet it is unclear whether sexual esteem is associated with sexual health behavior among heterosexual men and women. The current analysis used a normative framework for sexual development (Lefkowitz &; Gillen, 2006 Lefkowitz, E. S., &; Gillen, M. M. (2006). “Sex is just a normal part of life”: Sexuality in emerging adulthood. In J. J. Arnett &; J. L. Tanner (Eds.), Emerging adults in America: Coming of age in the 21st century (pp. 235–256). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Tolman &; McClelland, 2011 Tolman, D. L., &; McClelland, S. I. (2011). Normative sexuality development in adolescence: A decade in review, 2000–2009. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21, 242–255. doi:10.1111/j.1532-7795.2010.00726.x[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) by examining the association of sexual esteem with sexual behavior, contraception use, and romantic relationship characteristics. Participants (N = 518; 56.0% female; mean age = 20.43 years; 26.8% identified as Hispanic/Latino; among non-Hispanic/Latinos, 27.2% of the full sample identified as European American, 22.4% Asian American, 14.9% African American, and 8.7% multiracial) completed Web-based surveys at a large Northeastern university. Participants who had oral sex more frequently, recently had more oral and penetrative sex partners (particularly for male participants), and spent more college semesters in romantic relationships tended to have higher sexual esteem than those who had sex less frequently, with fewer partners, or spent more semesters without romantic partners. Sexually active male emerging adults who never used contraception during recent penetrative sex tended to have higher sexual esteem than those who did use it, whereas female emerging adults who never used contraception tended to have lower sexual esteem than those who did use it. Implications of these results for the development of a healthy sexual self-concept in emerging adulthood are discussed.     

Sexual Self-Concept: Testing a Hypothetical Model for Men and Women

One theoretical concept receiving modest attention in contemporary sex research is the sexual self-concept (SSC). However, a lack of cohesion within this research has culminated in a collection of SSC models which overlap one another but which are not exactly the same. Therefore, a unified conceptual model of SSC needs to be established. In addition, little research has examined potential differences between genders in SSC, as most SSC research has focused on women. Using Buzwell and Rosenthal's 1996 Buzwell , S. , & Rosenthal , D. (1996). Constructing a sexual self: Adolescents’ sexual self-perceptions and sexual risk-taking. Journal of Research on Adolescence , 6, 489–513.[Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] sexual selves model as a theoretical basis, a six-factor higher-order latent SSC model was tested using confirmatory factor analysis. Lower-order factors for this model included multidimensional sexual self-esteem and sexual self-efficacy factors, as well as unidimensional arousal, anxiety, exploration, and commitment factors. A five-factor latent model (after removing the commitment and the resistance sexual self-efficacy factors) was the best-fitting model. This model was then tested for measurement and structural invariance between genders. Results indicated that while the measurement of SSC was similar between men and women, structural invariance did not hold, as men had a significantly higher latent SSC score compared to women. These findings have important implications for sexual self-concept research, as well as contributing to better understanding of human sexuality.     

To Encounter a Child: Maternal Subjectivity and the Aesthetics of Reading

This article offers an outline and preliminary analyses of key aspects of Lisa Baraitser's (2009 Baraitser , L. ( 2009 ). Maternal Encounters: The Ethics of Interruption . London, UK, and New York , NY : Routledge . [Google Scholar]) Maternal Encounters as a situating opening piece in a special feature arising from an intensive seminar on Baraitser's work held in Dublin in September 2010. The first section opens out some of the psychoanalytic implications of Baraitser's theory of maternal subjectivity. The second section considers the importance of temporality and the interruption of the “seamless” thinking subject for the emergence of a maternal subject and considers Baraitser's maternal subject in relation to some key queer and feminist positionings of maternity. The final section assesses the text's contribution to philosophical debates. First, it discusses how Baraitser attends to the everyday in developing an aesthetics of ordinariness. Second, it looks at deconstruction and inhabitation. Finally, it considers cultural phenomenology, objects, and the magic Baraitser locates in things.     

Sexual Aggression among Brazilian College Students: Prevalence of Victimization and Perpetration in Men and Women

Despite the increased attention devoted to sexual aggression among college students in the international research literature, Brazil has no systematic studies on the prevalence of sexual aggression in college populations. The present research measured the prevalence of sexual aggression and victimization since age 14 among 742 first-year college students in Brazil (411 women). A Portuguese version of the Short Form of the Sexual Experiences Survey (Koss et al., 2007 Koss , M. P. , Abbey , A. , Campbell , R. , Cook , S. , Norris , J. , et al. . ( 2007 ). Revising the SES: A collaborative process to improve assessment of sexual aggression and victimization . Psychology of Women Quarterly , 31 , 357 – 370 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) was administered to collect information from men and women as both victims and perpetrators of sexual aggression. The overall prevalence rate of victimization was 27% among men and 29% among women. Except for sexual coercion and attempted sexual coercion, there were no significant gender differences in victimization rates concerning nonconsensual sexual acts and aggressive strategies. In contrast, perpetration rates were significantly higher among men (33.7%) than among women (3%). The findings challenge societal beliefs that men are unlikely to be sexually coerced. Explanations are proposed for the disparity between male victimization and female perpetration rates based on traditional gender roles in Brazil.