Asexuality: Its Relationship to Sibling Sex Composition and Birth Order.

While recent research has advanced our understanding of asexuality, very little effort has been devoted to examining biomarkers and possible prenatal correlates of asexuality. In response, we recruited a large international sample (N = 1634 women and men) to explore associations between sibling composition and asexual sexual orientation (n = 366) and to replicate previously reported sibship effects in individuals with a same-sex attracted orientation (n = 276) and bisexual sexual orientation (n = 267) compared to heterosexual individuals (n = 725). Our analyses used two of the most recent statistical approaches that attempt to disentangle older sibling effects from family size effects (Ablaza et al.

Exploring Women's State-Level Anxiety in Response to Virtual Reality Erotica.

Virtual Reality (VR)-based treatments for anxiety disorders are efficacious but there is a lack of research examining anxious responses to VR erotica, which could innovate treatments for sexual difficulties. We examined erotica features that elicited anxiety and sexual presence in women. Thirty-eight women viewed erotic videos from different modalities (2D, VR) and points of view (1, 3 person) and completed anxiety and sexual presence measures before and after each video.

Examining Attentional Biases Elicited by Sexual Stimuli Using MouseView.js: An Online Paradigm to Mimic Eye Movements.

Attention is a key mechanism underlying many aspects of sexuality, with eye-tracking studies revealing that attention is both sustained by sexual stimuli and corresponds with sexual interest. Despite its utility, eye-tracking experiments typically require specialized equipment and are conducted in a laboratory setting. The overarching objective of this research was to assess the utility of a novel online method, MouseView.

The Impact of Loosening COVID-19 Restrictions and Live-in Partner Status on Sexual and Mental Health in a Canadian Sample.

Objectives: We examined changes in frequency of sexual behaviors, dyadic sexual desire, relationship satisfaction, and COVID-19 stress in Canadians across the pandemic, considering partner status.

Methods: Participants completed online questionnaires.

Results: Participants with live-in partners and single participants decreased in dyadic sexual behaviors.

Examining Visual Attention Patterns among Asexual and Heterosexual Individuals.

Asexuality has garnered much attention, and empirical data support its classification as a sexual orientation. Asexuality is defined as a lack of sexual attraction to others, with approximately 1% of the population falling in this category. As theoretical models situate attention as a central component of sexual response, the current study examined attentional processing of erotic stimuli in asexuals and heterosexuals.

Gynephilic Men's and Androphilic Women's Visual Attention Patterns: The Effects of Gender and Sexual Activity Cues.

Men and women differ in the degree of specificity of sexual response and differences in attention to sexual cues may be a mechanism underlying these gendered patterns. The majority of previous research has examined attention using static images, which differ considerably from the dynamic videos used in studies of sexual response. To test attention as a potential mechanism involved in gendered sexual response, we used eye-tracking to examine visual attention patterns of 33 gynephilic men and 36 androphilic women to videos depicting preferred and nonpreferred gender targets engaging in varying sexual activities.

Virtual Reality Erotica: Exploring General Presence, Sexual Presence, Sexual Arousal, and Sexual Desire in Women.

Virtual reality (VR) media using a three-dimensional (3D) camera facilitates an immersive experience compared to traditional two-dimensional (2D) formats. In this novel study, we used high quality, women-centered erotica and examined whether stimulus modality (VR vs. 2D) and point of view (POV: first-person vs.

Impact of COVID-19 Related Stress on Sexual Desire and Behavior in a Canadian Sample.

Objectives: We evaluated various facets of sexual health in Canadians across phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Online questionnaires every four weeks from April-August 2020.

Results: Higher COVID-19 stress predicted higher baseline dyadic sexual desire, lower relationship satisfaction, higher desire for solitary sexual behavior, and higher likelihood of experiencing sexual coercion among people with a live-in romantic partner.

Visual attention and sexual arousal in women with and without sexual dysfunction.

Attention to sexual stimuli is a prerequisite to process such stimuli as sexually-meaningful and is an important means to facilitate sexual arousal. Attending to sexual cues is crucial for healthy sexual functioning. Studies suggest that sexual dysfunction is associated with less attention towards sexual stimuli.

Visual Attention to Sexual Stimuli in Women With Clinical, Subclinical, and Normal Sexual Functioning: An Eye-Tracking Study.

Background: Visual attention to sexual stimuli is an important means to facilitate sexual arousal and is thereby relevant for healthy sexual functioning. Experimental studies suggest that sexual dysfunction is associated with less attention toward sexual stimuli.

Aim: The goal of this study was to use an eye-tracking-based free-viewing paradigm to investigate whether women in the clinical range of sexual function attend to a genital area in visual sexual stimuli differently than women with subclinical sexual function or those with normal sexual functioning.