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Movie-Inspired Sexual Practices

1984; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 54; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2466/pr0.1984.54.1.328

1558-691X

Wayne J. Wilson, Valette Liedtke,

Media, Gender, and Advertising

Although researchers favor using pornographic movies to study sexual arousal, theatrical films possess a more meaningful though complex means for examining this experience. One possibiliq concerns the influence of major films on the practices of masturbation, intercourse, and oral-genital contact. W e conducted two surveys to determine the kinds of films which led to these practices and to classify the frequency of such acts among male and female college students. Survey 1 included 47 males and 60 females enrolled in sexuality classes. We compiled a list of 603 movies to represent the most notable titles which appeared between 1930 and 1981, excluding pornographic fate. Students recorded their sexual acts, but only if a film proved a significant stimulus for the acts to occur. Five fictitious titles were inserted, one for each decade of movies to check accuracy. Survey 2 was of 70 males and 76 females from the same course a year later, and 42 males and 50 females enrolled in introductory psychology but not human sexuality. W e used a revised list of 56 movies which included 14 newer releases, and we added a questionnaire to learn of the students' sexual habits, their preferences for different types of films, and their choice of the movie which most aroused them sexuallv. Combining responses of men and women from both surveys, four films ranked high on all lists: 10, Endless Love, The Blue Lagoon, and Satusdq Night Fever. These films contributed most reliably to sexual activity, with the sharpest gender differences occurring between the men's favorite, 10, and the women's favorite, Endless Love. When asked in Survey 2 to select the most arousing film, 20% of all males chose 10, with 19% opting for a pornographic movie (compared to 8 % females). Females in Survey 2 selected An Officer and a Gentleman as most arousing (37961, followed by Endless Love ( 14% ) . Concerning sexual practices, 64% of males in both surveys reported a total of 682 aas, compared to 569 acts noted by 39% of all females. Despite greater consistency among men in listing movie-inspired pracuces, women led in the average number of sexual acts per participant, 7.79 to 6.75. However, men and women expressed the same partern of practices: intercourse (53% and 56% of the total acts), oral-genital behavior (26%, 2 4 % ) , and masturbation (21 %, 20%) . Our findings indicate that more men than women are likely to engage in sexual activity after viewing an arousing film, but that a group of women can rival men in che frequency of their sexual practices. Women appear to prefer their eroticism within a romantic context (at least in major films), particularly if the context includes young lovers. This condition prevailed in the movies that women associated most often with sexual behavior yet did not occur in 10, the film most favored by men.