Sexual arousal to rape and consenting depictions: The importance of the woman's arousal
Abstract
143 male and female undergraduates were randomly assigned to read 1 of 8 versions of an erotic passage. The independent variables in the stories were nonconsent vs consent, woman's arousal vs disgust, and woman's pain vs no pain. Sex of S was the 4th independent variable. Data indicate that both in terms of experimentally manipulated variables and individual within-cell perceptual differences, the outcome dimension (arousal vs disgust) was the only variable that significantly affected Ss' sexual arousal. Portrayals that depicted the woman as experiencing sexual arousal, irrespective of whether they portrayed rape or consenting interactions, were reported by Ss to be more sexually stimulating than those depicting disgust. (12 ref)