(068) Women Are More Affected by Partner’s Sexual Double Standards: Evidence from an Experimental Study

Introduction Individuals who reject the sexual double standard (SDS) typically report greater sexual self-disclosure (SSD) and more confidence in initiating sexual activity (Greene & Faulkner, 2005). However, some studies have also found that egalitarian sexual attitudes do not always translate into practice (Dai et al., 2022; Zhang & Yip, 2018). Partner’s Perceived SDS can, for example, hinder this translation (Muehlenhard & McCoy, 1991). Given that Partner’s Perceived SDS may vary depending on the partner’s reactions to disclosure and initiation, experimental designs are needed to test the directionality among the variables. To our knowledge, this is the first study to adopt an experimental approach to examine the relationships among SDS, SSD, rejection sensitivity to SSD, and the initiation of sexual activity. Objective We examined how heterosexual men’s and women’s SDS and Partner’s Perceived SDS affect their SSD, rejection sensitivity to SSD, and initiation of sexual activity. Methods Single, sexually experienced heterosexual adult women (n = 548) and men (n = 530) completed a measure assessing SDS (Caron et al., 1993) before randomly reading one of three vignettes. The vignettes directed participants to imagine interacting with a virtual opposite-sex intimate partner, with the virtual partner shown liking posts on social media that expressed SDS (SDS group), a sexually equal standard (SES group), or were unrelated to SDS (control group). Subsequently, participants completed measures of SSD, rejection sensitivity to SSD, and initiation. Linear regression was used to analyze the data, and simple slope analysis was conducted to examine the moderating role of gender. Results Women with higher own SDS reported less SSD (for sexual likes, p < .001; for sexual dislikes, p = .005), higher levels of rejection sensitivity to self-disclosure (for sexual likes, p < .001; for sexual dislikes, p = .006), and less initiation of sexual activity (p < .001). Women whose virtual partner was high on SDS reported less sexual likes self-disclosure (p = .011) and less initiation (p < .001) compared to women in the SES group. Women in the SES group were also more likely to initiate sexual activity than those in the control group (p = 0.002). Additionally, both men and women whose virtual partner was high on SDS group reported higher levels of rejection sensitivity to sexual dislikes self-disclosure than those in the SES group (p = .003). Conclusions The results indicate that SDS has stronger effects on SSD, rejection sensitivity to SSD, and initiation among women than among men. Women who endorse SDS engage less in SSD, are more rejection sensitive to disclosure, and are less likely to initiate sexual activity. When women perceive that their partners endorse SDS (vs. equal standard), they are less likely to disclose their sexual likes, feel greater rejection sensitivity when disclosing sexual dislikes, and initiate sex less often. We also found that perceiving one’s partner as endorsing an egalitarian sexual standard (vs. the control condition) increased women’s initiation of sexual activity. These findings suggest that egalitarian beliefs about sexual interactions held by both partners help women be more proactive and communicative during sexual encounters. Disclosure No