Sex and Technology

Question 1

What does Erin call “sex + tech”? what are the three kinds?

Answer 1

Technology-Mediated Sexual Activity

1. Non-arousal TMSA
2. Solitary-arousal TMSA
3. Partnered-arousal TMSA

Question 2

What is non-arousal TMSA? What is it comprised of?

Answer 2

not focused on sexually stimulating materials/immediate gratification

it is comprised of
- seeking sexual information (searching)
- seeking potential sexual interactions (online dating)

Question 3

What are two possible sources of sexual information online?

Answer 3

1. professional/evidence-driven sources (ex: planned parenthood)
2. user-generated sources (ex: tiktok, Instagram)
   - getting the info more passively, not seeking out the info

Question 4

What are the pros and cons of seeking sexual information?

Answer 4

Pros:
- affordable
- accessible
- anonymous/private
- fast

Cons:
- unwanted information
- misleading/false information
- social media is a big problem here, anyone can claim to be a professional and we are not likely to fact-check when passively finding it

Question 5

What is an example of false/ misleading sexual health information online?

Answer 5

Misinformation about pornography:
- there is a lot of info out there about it being bad
- many people say that people are addicted to porn (trend to do no nut November to stop this “addiction”)
- porn is not classified as “addictive” under the DSM

@beaupinto: “Porn is the biggest drug addiction on the planet, because when you see an attractive woman, the alpha part of your brain releases a neurotransmitter called dopamine”
- There is no alpha part of the brain and dopamine is a broad thing that we release when experiencing pleasure as a whole

Question 6

Can porn be a source of misinformation?

Answer 6

Yes!
- We see an association/correlation between watching pornography and particular myths about what sex is like
Myth example: one thing that women really like is a sudden unannounced switch to anal sex

This correlation doesn’t prove causation, but some research has led us in the direction of it
ex: A porn literacy program was found to improve adolescents’ knowledge about porn-related misinformation, participants were less likely to endorse misinformation and had improved factual knowledge of sexual activity

Question 7

How are the “pros” of seeking out sexual information relevant for marginalized people (LGBTQ+)?

Answer 7

Compared to their counterparts, they search for sexual help and related info online even more, particularly because info that would be relevant to that population is regularly excluded from our traditional sex education

• finding info online can be good for them if not misinformation
• Social media = source of identity affirmation (provides a positive source of a community)
  
  • during COVID social media allowed them to discover their LGBTQ+ identity, and connect with other LGBTQ+ people

Question 8

Seeking sexual partners - a history of online dating in the early years:

Answer 8

1940-2010
- hetero couples main way of meeting was through friends and bars/restaurants then that began to drop
- before 1997 online meetings were not common because the internet didn’t exist
- rise of online meeting around early 2000’s
ex: happy families planning service (not rly online - 1959), match.com (1995), okcupid+ plenty of fish (2002-2003)

Question 9

1997-2010: difference between hetero and same sex couples meeting online

Answer 9

20% of heter couples were meeting online when 70% of same-sex couples were meeting online

platforms that cam out during this time:
- gaydar & planet romeo (1999-2002)
- grindr & scruff (2009-2010)

Question 10

what was online dating like between 2010-2020?

Answer 10

around 2010, 20% became 40% for hetero couples meeting online (became more popular in 2010’s)
- tinder - 2012
- hinge - 2012
- bumble - 2014

app-based platforms make it so easy for people to carry around their potential partners in their pockets

Question 11

What is a changing trend seen for online dating now? why do we think?

Answer 11

The data stops at 2020, but as of 2023 online dating apps are most popular among millennials (60%) and less among GenX and GenZ

Reason:
worry about rejection has caused over half (56%) of GenZ hinge daters to miss out on their chance with someone (decide not to meet up with someone)

Question 12

Why is there an increase in millennials’ use of dating apps?

Answer 12

1. less stigma around it
2. it’s convenient
3. instant gratification:
   
   • get a hit of dopamine when you match with
     someone and get that notification that
     someone is interested in you
   • 44% of millennials say they use Tinder for a
     confidence- boost (people aren’t using
     it for dating or sex, they use it for self-esteem
     boost)

Question 13

Gamification and ghosting

Answer 13

gamifying the dating process (scoring points, competing, rules)
- matching with someone is like scoring a point

ghosting is when one person suddenly ignores or stops communicating with another person, without telling them why

A study found that Participants rated ghosting as “morally acceptable” when the relationship was shorter and lower intensity (like a relationship on a dating app)
- gamifying makes it a lot easier to ghost - if you see people as a point to be scored it dehumanizes people!

Question 14

What might be a large reason to continue ghosting?

Answer 14

In a study, 70% of women and 20% of men received a disproportionately aggressive response after letting someone down

wanting to avoid that by ghosting

Question 15

Paradox of online dating that we see:

Answer 15

rise of online dating = increase of ingle people and decrease in sexual activity… how does that make sense if its easier than ever to find a partner?

Question 16

The reason for the paradox of online dating:

Answer 16

• choice overload: jam example
• rejection mindset: people are more likely to reject prospective partners when they have more options available
  
  • research shows, the more options people think are available, the harder it is to commit to just one

Question 17

solitary-arousal TMSA

Answer 17

Involve one-way access to sexually explicit/stimulating stimuli; includes:
- porn

Question 18

What are the two broad categories of porn?

Answer 18

• independednt/femenist/queer porn: Produced for and caters to non-traditional audience (women, LGBTQ+ etc…)
• mainstream pornography: produced for and caters predominantly to men
  
  • most likely to find, what we think about

Question 19

What is the most searched term on Pornhub 2023? do we know why?

Answer 19

Term: Hentai

thought because of it being able to depict illegal things (13% of content) and impossible scenarios(5% of content)… but doesn’t seem significant in the data

We don’t know why!
- maybe because of the fandom, there are many searches on characters and videogames

Question 20

Reason for the decrease in pornhub traffic compared to an average day?

Answer 20

The holiday season, when people are busy doing other things they are not watching porn

Question 21

Which gender watches more porn each month than the other?

Answer 21

Males (75-85% of them)

Females (25-30%)

Question 22

Are [cis] women less aroused by pornography than men?

Answer 22

No, they are equally as aroused by porn BUT porn is:

1. a more acceptable part of sexual expression for men than for women
2. largely made by and for men (mainstream kind of pornography)
   - Women aren’t being aroused to porn based on
   the content is shown so they don’t watch it

Question 23

Objectification:

Answer 23

The act of treating a person as an object/thing
- E.g., depiction or use of a person’s body/body parts for sexual gratification, taking the body away from the human (dehumanization)

According to Pornhub top searches…women are probably being objectified

Question 24

Fetishization: a form of objectification

Answer 24

The act of making someone an object of sexual desire based on some aspect of their identity (e.g., race/ethnicity; sexual orientation)
- racist, rude, dehumanizing

people report experiencing this while using dating apps, but we can’t say that porn and the fetishization that occurs while people watch it is causing it, they seem to be associated though

Question 25

what is shown in pornography relating to differences in women and men according to objectification (what Erin found to be interesting)? Does this demonstrate social learning theory?

Answer 25

Orgasms: a larger % of men are shown to have an orgasm than the % of women

Yes, In real life, 35% of women regularly experience an orgasm vs. 85% of men regularly experiencing them
- reflects what is shown in the porn

men: good sex = orgasm
women: good sex = no pain

Question 26

Orgasm/pleasure gap:

Answer 26

Gender differences in the amount of orgasms [cis] women and men usually experience during sexual activity (men > women)

It is not anatomy:
- exists for women in mixed-sex relationships, but not same-sex relationships
- lesbian women experience orgasms during sex in >85% of all sexual encounters

What women want is not what they see in porn!!!

Question 27

Partnered-arousal TMSA

Answer 27

Interactive and requires the participation of at least two people for the activity to occur; includes:
TM Sexual Interaction: Any interpersonal interaction with a specified other person(s) that occurs through communication technology and includes the exchange of self-created, sexually explicit content
- Phone sex
- Cybersex (zoom, facetime)
- Sexting

Question 28

Gender difference with TMSI? who do people engage in TMSI the most?

Answer 28

Men engage in TMSI more than women in general across all sexualities (more acceptable for men)

They engage with all different kinds of partners (committed, FWB, stranger)
- found to be the most common with a committed partner rather than a stranger
- probably due to privacy + security concerns (sharing photos)

Question 29

What is said about TMSI and its impact on relationship satisfaction?

Answer 29

Mixed options on it, Erin wondered if it depended on a person’s motivations!

Question 30

Approach Motives:

Answer 30

drive us towards positive outcomes
Ex: coming to class because you want to learn and gain knowledge
Ex: Approaching sexual activity because you want to experience sexual pleasure
- When people use approach motives to guide their sexual behavior with a romantic person, they tend to experience positive outcomes

Question 31

Avoidance Motives:

Answer 31

doing something because we want to avoid a negative outcome
Ex: coming to class because if you don’t, you’ll miss something that may be on the exam
Ex: I’m going to sext with my partner because I’m afraid he’ll cheat on me if I don’t
- When people use approach motives to guide their sexual behaviour with a romantic person. They tend to experience more negative outcomes

Question 32

Are these approach and avoidance motives for TMSIs associated with different outcomes (measures of sexual, relationship, and life satisfaction)? How do they connect?

Answer 32

• When people used approach motives to engage in TMSI, they reported higher sexual satisfaction and higher relationship satisfaction
• When people used avoidance motives to engage in TMSI, they reported lower sexual satisfaction and lower relationship satisfaction

Question 33

When the desire for in-person sexual activity was added to the mix, how did that affect the 3 different outcomes?

Answer 33

Approach motives: people want to engage in in-person sex with their partner which in turn means that they experience higher sexual, relationship, and life satisfaction

Avoidance motives: people want to engage LESS in in-person sex with their partner which in turn means that they experience lower sexual, relationship, and life satisfaction

Question 34

Erobotics

Answer 34

Artificial robotic agents; don’t just mediate sexual experiences, but are also interactive partners in sexual experiences
- Virtual/augmented partners
- Erotic chatbots
- Sex robots

Question 35

Uncanny Valley

Answer 35

Uncanny Valley: artifacts that approach human likeness that aren’t quite human-like can elicit aversive reactions like eeriness, disgust, creepiness
- Close to human likeness but not close enough which gives us the uncanny valley effect

Question 36

What happens when we cross the uncanny valley related to sex robots?

Answer 36

When you cross that valley, when things kind of approach human likeness in a way that is pretty much human (Westworld robots) it is likely that our reactions become more positive and it’s possible that when we get past that uncanny valley feeling, we might be more willing to have sex with a robot, but because it’s so human-like it doesn’t elicit the feeling of disgust