Sex, sex guilt, and authoritarianism: Differences in responses to explicit heterosexual and masturbatory slides

The relationships of sex, sex guilt, and authoritarianism to affective and arousal responses after viewing explicit heterosexual and opposite‐ and same‐sex masturbation slides were investigated. Compared to females, males expressed more positive affect and higher sexual arousal in response to all but the same‐sex masturbatory theme. Participants with higher sex guilt expressed less positive affect about the stimuli, with the least positive affect expressed by high‐guilt participants after exposure to slides showing same‐sex autoeroticism. Authoritarianism was also negatively related to positive feelings about the same‐sex slides. The association of these affective responses with attributions about, and attraction toward, the experimenter were explored. Compared to other groups, females with low positive feelings about the heterosexual and same‐sex masturbation pictures accepted less responsibility for slide‐watching and expressed more derogation and dislike of the experimenter. The Sexual Behavior Sequence provided an integrative theoretical model for this research. The theory outlines the behavioral response sequence to external erotic stimuli, with dispositional variables, arousal, and affect as intervening variables. The contributions of each of these variables to self‐reported responses to erotica are described, with implications for understanding the psychological processes involved in them.