Female Sexual Arousal: How do Women React to a Threat to Their Sexual Performance?

What is it about?

There is a Theory that explains the mechanisms that lead a person to become sexually aroused and to inhibit that arousal: it is the Dual Control Model of sexual response. According to this model, if we were a vehicle, the excitation would be the acceleration pedal and the inhibition would be the brakes. This system proposed by Bancroft and Janssen has been mostly tested with men. This study applied the principles of this model to the experience of sexual arousal of women, particularly when they face a threatening situation such as the threat of sexual performance failure. In this research 22 women who attended the Human Sexuality Laboratory - LabSex UGR were studied. In lab they were exposed to a sexually explicit film, while their genital arousal was being measured (vaginal pulse amplitude). During this presentation, a bogus negative feedback, aimed at increasing women's anxiety about their sexual performance, was provided. Vaginal photopletismography, self-report questions, and the propensity to become sexually aroused and sexually inhibited were used as means to evaluate women's genital, subjective sexual arousal, and personality traits, respectively. Sexual arousability may prevent women of lowering their subjective sexual responses in a sexually demanding situation, while sexual inhibition may have the opposite role.

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Photo by Atikh Bana on Unsplash

Photo by Atikh Bana on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This work provides new data on the Dual Control Model of sexual response, and specifically on its role in women's sexual functioning.

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