Cindy M. Meston

Social, occupational, relational, and hormonal changes across midlife—a period ranging from the late 30s to 50s (Gottschalk et al., 2020)—carry important implications for women’s sense of self and ...

The intertwining of religion and sex, particularly sexual shame, is a pertinent but underexplored phenomenon among survivors of nonconsensual sexual experiences (NSEs). Sexual shame, defined as shame related to one's sexual self, experiences, thoughts, and desires, is a commonly reported outcome of sexual violence and is known to negatively impact future sexual well-being. Purity culture - a strict sexual ethic rooted in Evangelical Christianity - may independently exacerbate sexual shame. The present online study examined associations between childhood purity culture exposure, adulthood acceptance of purity culture beliefs, and sexual shame in child sexual abuse survivors (n = 100), adult NSE survivors (n = 101), and controls (n = 100). Data were analyzed using General Additive Models with bootstrapped confidence intervals. As hypothesized, sexual shame was significantly higher among both NSE groups. Adulthood acceptance of purity culture beliefs independently predicted sexual shame for both men (β = 0.01, p < .001) and women (β = 0.004, p < .001), whereas childhood exposure to purity culture was a significant predictor only for men (F(2.11, 114) = 4.313, p = .01). These findings underscore sexual shame as a clinically relevant outcome of NSEs and highlight the influential role of religious sexual messaging in shaping that shame.

Introduction: Sexual shame, a nuanced subset of general shame, is relatively nascent in the sexual wellbeing literature. Resulting from negative self-evaluation, sexual shame may be activated by sexual experiences, thoughts, desires, and behavior and involves feeling inherently flawed and abnormal as a sexual being. Sexual shame’s impact on sexual wellbeing can be intuited from related research. Trauma-related shame, for example, is a critical target for clinical treatment, and sex guilt is known to impact sexual wellbeing. Sexual shame, while related to these concepts, is distinct and deserves a deeper understanding of its unique role in sexual wellbeing. Objectives: This narrative review provides an overview of the sexual wellbeing research that intentionally measures sexual shame. Methods: A literature search was conducted through PsychInfo, PsycARTICLES, and PubMed using the search term sexual shame. Articles were included if they were empirical studies published in English that presented original findings and explicitly measured sexual shame as a key variable. Results: Sexual shame is linked to numerous facets of sexual wellbeing. It is a significant consequence after nonconsensual sexual experiences and acts as a mechanism for sexual dysfunction. Sexual shame plays a key role in the cycle of hypersexuality, either perpetuating it or promoting help-seeking behavior. Sexual shame may be an important contributor to general sexual dysfunction, especially in women, but the results are mixed. When individuals believe they are transgressing religious sexual norms, sexual shame is higher, especially regarding pornography use and masturbation. Conclusion: A clearer understanding of sexual shame’s role in sexual wellbeing is vital as it holds significant relationships to numerous components of sexual wellbeing. The current research has methodological limitations regarding measurement (eg, unvalidated measures, conflation with related concepts). Future research must prioritize justified, validated measures of sexual shame to better understand this key factor in sexual wellbeing.

Duty Sex—the act of engaging in sex out of a sense of duty or obligation to a partner—is a commonly reported reason why women have sex, with studies indicating associations between Duty Sex and sexual dysfunction, as well as nonconsensual sexual experiences (NSEs). This study sought to examine the associations between Duty Sex frequency, sexual function, and NSEs using comprehensive, validated measures of sexual function and NSE histories in a large community sample of women. Six hundred and fifty-eight women with (n = 293) and without (n = 365) NSE histories completed measures of sexual function and sexual motivations. Women with NSE histories reported more sexual pain, lower sexual satisfaction, and more frequent Duty Sex. The relation between NSE history and Duty Sex remained after controlling for the variance in sexual function. The type of NSE behavior, but not the timing of the first NSE nor the perceived impact of the experience, predicted Duty Sex frequency. Clinicians should consider sexual motivations, particularly Duty Sex, when treating women with NSE histories or who experience sexual dysfunction. To our knowledge, this was the first study to examine how NSEs relate to all domains of sexual function and sexual motives, revealing a link between NSEs, sexual function, and Duty Sex. However, we were unable to account for what percentage of sexual encounters are considered Duty Sex. Therefore, our measurement of Duty Sex lacks specificity, which may explain the relatively low variance accounted for by the models in our analyses. There are consequences of NSEs, including difficulties with communicating sexual boundaries and impairment of sexual function, that may contribute to the increased likelihood of engaging in Duty Sex.

It remains unclear if mandatory reporting (MR) of sexual violence (SV) in universities impacts student reports of SV. MR may deter students from disclosing SV under certain circumstances (e.g., alcohol, perpetrator). This study evaluated students’ likelihood of reporting SV under MR policy across perpetrators, violence, and alcohol use. Female students received instructional manipulations describing either confidential or mandatory reporting policies before reading four vignettes describing SV. They rated their likelihood of reporting each vignette. Significant differences arose across vignettes, conditions, and alcohol consumption. This indicates MR can significantly decrease reporting likelihood in some cases, while alcohol consumption may increase the likelihood.