126 Chapter 4of the sexual attitudes and behaviors be-
cause studies in the United States typically
had mixed ethnicities; studies outside the
United States typically examined European
Americans leaving little variability in ethnic-
ity. Yet, a few differences appeared. There
were larger sex differences for incidence of
intercourse among African Americans and
smaller differences among Asian Americans
compared to European Americans. There
were smaller sex differences in masturba-
tion among African Americans compared to
European Americans.
One problem with research on sexual-
ity is that the data, for obvious reasons, are
gathered via self-report rather than obser-
vation. Thus the conclusion we reach is that
women and men report differences in sexual
attitudes and behaviors. We must be cautious
in interpreting these findings because demand
characteristics (i.e., men’s and women’s de-
sire to adhere to their gender roles) may in-
fluence the reports. One study demonstrated
the influence of demand characteristics on
sexual behavior with the use of a bogus pipe-
line (Alexander & Fisher, 2003). With a bogus
pipeline, the respondent is hooked up to a non-
functioning polygraph and led to believe that
the machine can detect false answers. When
college students were randomly assigned to
a bogus pipeline condition compared to an
anonymous condition (answers confidential)
or a threatening condition (experimenter may
see responses), the sex difference in reports of
some sexual behaviors disappeared. As shown
in Figure 4.13, reports of sexual behaviors for
which there are gender-related expectations
(i.e., masturbation and viewing pornography)
were similar for males across the three condi-
tions but differed for females. Females admit-
ted to more of these kinds of sexual behaviors
when their responses were anonymous and
even more of these behaviors in the bogus
pipeline condition.high on hypermasculinity (extreme mascu-
linity), have traditional gender-role attitudes,
have a greater desire for dominance, and score
high on benevolent or modern sexism have
the most negative attitudes toward homo-
sexuality (Kite & Whitley, 2003; Whitley &
Egisdottir, 2000). This is not surprising be-
cause homosexual behavior is a threat to tra-
ditional beliefs about men’s and women’s
roles. Men are less tolerant than women of
homosexuality because violation of the male
gender role has more negative consequences.
Because the male gender role has a higher
status in our society, there is more to lose by
violating the role.
Are sex differences in sexual behavior
limited to young people, or do they persist
across the lifespan? Petersen and Hyde (2010)
examined age as a moderator variable but noted
it was difficult to evaluate because most studies
were of adolescents or young adults (i.e., col-
lege students). Sex differences in the incidence
of intercourse, attitudes toward extramarital
sex, and attitudes toward lesbians decreased
with age. Year of publication was an important
moderator of these sex differences. Sex differ-
ences in incidence of intercourse, casual sex, at-
titudes toward casual sex, and attitudes toward
lesbians became smaller with time.
Because the meta-analysis included
data from several countries, the authors ex-
amined whether the gender equity of the
country influenced the size of the sex dif-
ferences. A gender equity measure was con-
structed based on the percentage of women
in parliament, the percentage of women
legislators, and women’s income relative to
men. Countries that scored higher on the
gender empowerment measure revealed
smaller sex differences in incidence of in-
tercourse, oral sex, casual sex, masturbation,
and attitudes toward gay marriage.
The authors were unable to examine
ethnicity as a moderator variable for mostM04_HELG0185_04_SE_C04.indd 126 6/21/11 8:02 AM