Robust but Plastic: Gender Differences in Emotional Responses to Sexual Debut

Data reported by Sprecher (2014 Sprecher , S. ( 2014 ). Evidence of a change (over three decades) in men's and women's emotional reactions to first sexual intercourse: A 23-year study in a human sexuality course at a Midwestern university . Journal of Sex Research . Advance online publication . doi: 10.1080/00224499.2013.867923 [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) indicate that gender differences in emotional responses to sexual debut should be included among the handful of exceptions to Hyde's (2005 Hyde , J. S. ( 2005 ). The gender similarities hypothesis . American Psychologist , 60 , 581 – 592 .[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) gender similarities hypothesis, which states that men and women are similar on most but not all psychological variables. While these gender differences have been relatively robust over the three decades of data collection reported by Sprecher (2014 Sprecher , S. ( 2014 ). Evidence of a change (over three decades) in men's and women's emotional reactions to first sexual intercourse: A 23-year study in a human sexuality course at a Midwestern university . Journal of Sex Research . Advance online publication . doi: 10.1080/00224499.2013.867923 [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]), the evidence of historical change in the magnitude of these gender differences indicates that they are still plastic. The experience of first intercourse has become generally more positive over that time, with more pleasure and less guilt among women and less anxiety among men. In this commentary, gender differences in pleasure, anxiety, and guilt in response to first intercourse are discussed in connection with the system of compulsory heterosexuality.