Use of the Bogus Pipeline Increases Sexual Concordance in Women But Not Men

Abstract

Sexual concordance-the agreement between physiological (genital) and psychological (emotional) sexual arousal-is, on average, substantially lower in women than men. Following social role theory, the gender difference in sexual concordance may manifest because women and men are responding in a way that accommodates gender norms. We examined genital and self-reported sexual arousal in 47 women and 50 men using a condition known to discourage conformity to gender norms (i.e., a bogus pipeline paradigm). Participants reported their feelings of sexual arousal during a sexually explicit film, while their genital arousal (penile circumference, vaginal vasocongestion), heart rate (HR), and galvanic skin (GS) responses were recorded. Half of the participants were instructed that their self-reported sexual arousal was being monitored for veracity using their HR and GS responses (bogus pipeline condition; BPC); the remaining participants were told that these responses were recorded for a comprehensive record of sexual response (typical testing condition; TTC). Using multi-level modeling, we found that only women's sexual concordance was affected by testing condition; women in the BPC exhibited significantly higher sexual concordance than those in the TTC. Thus, we provide the first evidence that the gender difference in sexual concordance may at least partially result from social factors.

Keywords: Bogus pipeline; Gender differences; Sexual arousal; Sexual concordance; Social role theory.