Racial preferences in sexual attraction among White heterosexual and gay men: Evidence from sexual arousal patterns and negative racial attitudes.

Publisher: Blackwell Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 0142657 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1540-5958 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00485772 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Psychophysiology Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: Malden, MA : Blackwell
Original Publication: Baltimore, Williams & Wilkins.

Race Relations*; Heterosexuality/*ethnology ; Homosexuality, Male/*ethnology ; Sexual Behavior/*ethnology ; White People/*ethnology; Adult ; Humans ; Male ; Racism

Racial preferences in sexual attraction are highly visible and controversial. They may also negatively impact those who are excluded. It is unclear whether these preferences are merely self-attributed or extend to patterns of experienced sexual arousal. Furthermore, some argue that racial preferences in sexual attraction reflect idiosyncratic personal preferences, while others argue that they are more systematically motivated and reflect broader negative attitudes toward particular races. In two studies, we examined these issues by measuring the sexual arousal patterns and negative racial attitudes of 78 White men in relation to their racial preferences in sexual attraction to White versus Black people. For both White heterosexual men (n = 40; Study 1) and White gay men (n = 38; Study 2), greater racial preferences in sexual attraction to White versus Black people of their preferred gender were associated with more subjective and genital arousal by erotic stimuli featuring White versus Black people of their preferred gender, and with more explicit and implicit negative attitudes toward Black people. Findings suggest that racial preferences in sexual attraction are reflected in patterns of sexual arousal, and they might also be systematically motivated by negative attitudes toward particular races.
(© 2021 Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

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Keywords: negative attitudes; penile plethysmography; physiological sexual arousal; racial preferences in sexual attraction; sexual orientation; sexual racism

Date Created: 20210722 Date Completed: 20220207 Latest Revision: 20221207

20240105

10.1111/psyp.13911

34292613