Internet use to meet romantic and/or sexual partners: preferences according to gender and whether or not having a steady partner.
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
A main motive for consuming cybersex is tomeet people for romantic and/or sexual purposes. It seems that gender could be important as modulator in performance of this type of Online Sexual Activity (OSA); however, the data are scarce and do not always point in the same direction. Likewise, the impact of having a steady relationship on the consumption of this type of OSA has not been extensively studied. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyze the influence of gender and having or not having a steady partner in the use and selection of OSAs involving sexual and/or romantic interaction with other online users. For this purpose, 120 people aged 18-48 years (59.17% women, 40.83% men; 56.65% without a steady partner, 43.35% with a steady partner) completed a questionnaire on online sexual behaviors and practices. Flirting and innuendo to other users are the most common interactive OSA among men (55.1%) and women (45.1%). Men tend to prefer those interactive OSA focused on offline sexual contact seeking, while women show preferences for online cybersex. However, gender differences are only statistically significant for online sexual partner seeking (χ2= 3.870; p=.049). Interactive cybersex consumption is very common in people in a stable relationship (89.5%-92.9%), so that no statistically significant differences are seen with respect to singles for any OSA. This paper has allowed us to demonstrate that gender is a clear modulating factor in the use and selection of OSAs to meet people for sexual and/or romantic purposes. Nevertheless, it seems that having o not having a steady partner is not an explanatory factor of this use.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
References
Albright, J. M. (2008). Sex in America Online: An exploration of sex, marital status and sexual identity in internet sex seeking and its impact. Journal of Sex Research, 45, 175- 186. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490801987481
Ballester-Arnal, R., Castro-Calvo, J., García-Barba, M., Ruíz-Palomino, E., y Gil-Llario, M. D. (2021). Problematic and non-problematic engagement in Online Sexual Activities across the lifespan. Computers in Human Behavior, 120. Article 106774. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106774
Ballester-Arnal, R., Castro-Calvo, J., Gil-Llario, M.D., y Giménez-García, C. (2013). Relationship Status as an Influence on Cybersex Activity: Cybersex, Youth, and Steady Partner. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 40(5) 444-456. https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2013.772549
Ballester-Arnal, R., Nebot-García, J. E., Ruíz-Palomino, E., Giménez-García, C. y Gil- Llario, M. D. (2020). ‘’INSIDE’’ Project on Sexual Health in Spain: The Impact of the Lockdown Caused by COVID-19. Sexuality Research and Social Policy. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-020-00506-1
Bélanger Lejars, V. O., Bélanger, C. H., y Razak, J. (2020). Exploring new measures of online sexual activities, device use, and gender differences. Computers in Human Behavior, 108, Article 106300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106300
Byers, E. S., y Shaughnessy, K. (2014). Attitudes towards online sexual activities. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.5817/CP2014-1-10
Castro-Calvo, J., Ballester-Arnal, R., Giménez-García, C., y Gil-Juliá, B. (2017). Comportamiento sexual online en adultos mayores. International Journal of Developmental and Educational Psychology, 2(1), 89-98. https://doi.org/10.17060/ijodaep.2017.n2.v2.1082
Castro-Calvo, J., Giménez-García, C., Gil-Llario, M. D., y Ballester-Arnal, R. (2018). Motives to Engage in Online Sexual Activities and Their Links to Excessive and Problematic Use: a Systematic Review. Current Addiction Reports, 5, 491-510. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-018-0230-y Cooper, A. y Giffin-Shelley, E. (2002). The Internet: The next sexual revolution. In A. Cooper (Ed.), Sex & the internet: A guidebook for clinicians (pp.1-15). Brunner- Routledge.
Daneback, K., Cooper, A., y Mänsson, S.A. (2005). An Internet Study of Cybersex Participants. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 34, 321-328. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508- 005-3120-z
Daneback, K.,Mänsson, S.A., y Ross,M.W. (2007). Using the Internet to find offline sex partners. Cyberpsychology & behavior: the impact of the Internet, multimedia and virtual reality on behavior and society, 10(1), 100–107. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2006.9986
Daneback, K., Sevcikova, A., Mänsson, S.A., y Ross, M.W. (2013). Outcomes of using the internet for sexual purposes: fulfillment of sexual desires. Sex Health, 10(1), 26-31. https://doi.org/10.1071/SH11023
Döring, N. M. (2009). The Internet’s impact on sexuality: A critical reviewal of 15 years. Computers in Human Behavior, 25(5), 1089-1101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2009.04.003
Döring, N. M., Daneback, K., Shaughnessy, K., Grov, C., y Byers, E. S. (2017). Online Sexual Activity Experiences Among College Students: A Four-Country Comparison. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 46, 1641-1652. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-015-0656-4
Giordano, A. L. y Cashwell, C. S. (2017). Cybersex Addiction Among College Students: A Prevalence Study. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 24, 47-57. https://doi.org/10.1080/10720162.2017.1287612
Griffiths, M. D. (2010). Sex on the internet: observations and implications for internet sexual addiction. Journal of sexual research, 38(4), 333-342. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490109552104
Grov, C., Gillespie, B. J., Royce, T., y Lever, J. (2011). Perceived Consequences of Casual Online Sexual Activities on Heterosexual Relationships: A U.S. Online Survey. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 40(2), 429-439. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-010-9598- z
Mondin, A. (2014). Fair-trade porn + niche markets + feminist audience. Porn Studies, 1, 189-192. https://doi.org/10.1080/23268743.2014.888251
Ogas, O. y Gaddam, S. (2011). A billion wicked thoughts. Penguin Seal, D. W., Benotsch, E. G., Green, M., Snipes, D. J., Bull, S. S., Cejka, A., Lance, S. P., y Nettles, C.D. (2015).
The Use of Internet Sexual Chat Rooms to Meet Sexual Partners: A Comparison of Non-Heterosexually Identified Men with Heterosexually Identified Men and Women. International Journal of Sexual Health, 27(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/19317611.2014.918921
Shaughnessy, K., Byers, E. S., y Walsh, L. (2011). Online Sexual Activity Experience of Heterosexual Students:Gender Similarities and Differences. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 40(2), 419-427. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-010-9629-9
Wéry, A. y Billieux, J. (2017). Problematic cybersex: conceptualization, assessment, and treatment. Addictive Behaviors, 64, 238-246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2015.11.007