A new study provides evidence that men who more strongly endorse male sexuality stereotypes and traditional gender-role beliefs are more likely to consent to unwanted sexual activities. The findings have been published in the journal Psychology & Sexuality.
Previous research has indicated that engaging in unwanted but consensual sexual activities is relatively common. But most research has focused on the experiences of women. The authors of the new study sought to better understand the predictors of engaging in sexually compliant behaviors among heterosexual men.
“This project emerged from a B.A. Honors thesis by Devinder Khera at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Dave was intrigued by research investigating various aspects of masculinity (e.g., gender-roles, male-sexuality stereotypes, and the precariousness of manhood status) and how these ideologies and beliefs influence sexual behaviors,” said Khera and his co-author Cory Pedersen.
“Men are stereotypically painted as hypersexual beings with insatiable sex drives; always ready to initiate and engage in sexual activity – whenever and wherever. However, research has suggested similar prevalence rates of sexual compliance (i.e., consensual yet undesired sexual activity) in both men and women, providing conflicting research evidence for these hypersexual stereotypes.”
In the study, 426 heterosexual men (ages 16 to 80 years) completed an anonymous and confidential online survey in which they reported their motives for engaging in consensual yet undesired sexual activity. For example, the participants indicated whether they had engaged in unwanted kissing, touching, or intercourse to satisfy the other person’s needs.
“The reported incidence of sexual compliance among men was 61% over the past 12 months – a surprising majority,” the researchers told PsyPost. “Our findings suggest that sexual compliance in heterosexual men is predicted by their endorsement of both traditional gender-role beliefs (of hegemonic masculinity) and male sexuality stereotypes (of insatiability).”
Men who more strongly endorsed traditional gender-role beliefs (such as the belief that women should be mostly concerned with their duties of childbearing and housekeeping) were more likely to report sexually compliant behaviors due to motives of altruism (didn’t want them to feel rejected), intoxication (other person encouraged alcohol/drug use to change your feelings), inexperience (wanted an experience to talk about with friends), peer pressure (friends implied they would think less of you for not doing it), popularity (thought it would make you more popular), and sex-role concerns (afraid to appear gay).
Men who more strongly endorsed male sexuality stereotypes were more likely to report sexually compliant behaviors related to inexperience and popularity, while younger men were more likely to report sexually compliant behaviors related to inexperience and peer pressure.
But the authors of the research believe that their study might have underestimated how often men consent to unwanted sexual activity.
“An unexpected limitation that emerged from our research was pointed out to us from a very astute reviewer. Men in the present sample were not asked whether they had been sexually active within the past year; thus, it may be that some of our participants did not have the opportunity to be sexually compliant over the course of our data collection (i.e., they were single or not sexually active),” Khera and Pedersen explained.
“Further, our study did not include a basic measure of sexual compliance not attached to any motive (e.g., intoxication, inexperience, altruism, etc.). The omission of these considerations may have resulted in underreporting of sexual compliance by our participants – meaning that heterosexual men may be even more sexually compliant than our results suggest. These limitations are important considerations that need to be addressed in future research to determine accurate prevalence rates.”
“Our results suggest that men are held to particularly strict standards in order to appear ‘masculine’ in our Western culture, that in turn may contribute to their engagement in sexual compliance,” the researchers added. “This is unfortunate, and clearly, educational efforts need to be directed at men to help them situate their sexual health and wellness within our culturally restrictive norms. We also believe it is important to continue to investigate sexual compliance from diverse perspectives and experiences, including those of men, women, and sexual and gender minorities.”
The study, “Why men don’t say no: sexual compliance and gender socialization in heterosexual men“, was authored by Devinder Khera, Amanda Champion, Kari Walton, and Cory Pedersen.
