Human male sexuality

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Male sexuality" redirects here. For sexuality of non-human male animals, see
Animal sexual behavior
.

Human male sexuality encompasses a wide variety of feelings and behaviors. Men's feelings of attraction may be caused by various physical and social traits of their potential partner. Men's sexual behavior can be affected by many factors, including evolved predispositions, individual personality, upbringing, and culture. While most men are heterosexual, there are minorities of homosexual men and varying degrees of bisexual men.[1][2]

Sexual attraction

Physical factors

Main article: Physical attractiveness § Female

Research indicates that men tend to be attracted to young

women with bodily symmetry.[4] Facial symmetry, femininity, and averageness are also linked with attractiveness.[5] Men typically find female breasts attractive[5] and this holds true for a variety of cultures.[6][7][8] The pigmentation of nipples and breasts appears to be the most important quality of breast attractiveness. Men rated women with dark nipples and dark areola as significantly more attractive than those with light-colored nipppes or areola.[9] Breasts of medium cup size were found to be the most attractive, however authors noted that men focused primarily on the coloration of nipples and areola rather than breast size.[9]

One study found a historical preference for lighter-skinned women.[10] However, the accuracy of this research has been questioned by more recent research, which found a preference for women with darker skin tones.[11] Experimental studies show that White men are more attracted to women with tanned and light-brown skin, rather than pale women.[12] Women in the West believe that men are more attracted to women with tan skin, which likely explain why women are much more likely to tan than men, according to a 2017 study.[13][14] There is a direct correlation between being tan and self-perceived attractiveness among young women.[15]

Skin color contrast has been linked to male sexual preferences across many cultures.[16] Women tend to have darker eyes and lips than men, especially relative to the rest of their facial features, and this attribute has been associated with female attractiveness and femininity,[16] yet it also decreases male attractiveness according to one study.[17] Women may use cosmetics such as lipstick and eye shadow to increase their facial color contrast, or to increase the apparent distance between their eyes and eyebrows.[16] A 2009 study found that East Asian people had more facial skin contrast than White people, owing to their consistently darker eyes.[17]

A comparison of a desirable waist-to-hip ratio (0.7) and an undesirable waist-to-hip ratio (0.9)

Women with a relatively low

waist-to-hip ratio
(WHR) are considered more attractive. The exact ratio varies among cultures, depending on the WHR of the women in the local culture. In Western cultures, a WHR of 0.70 is preferred.

Other physical factors of attraction include full lips, facial femininity, long, lustrous hair, low body mass index, and low waist circumference.[5] Preference for a slim or a plump body build is culturally variable, but in a predictable manner. In cultures where food is scarce, plumpness is associated with higher status and is more attractive, but the reverse is true in wealthy cultures.[5]

Men generally prefer their wives to be younger than they are, but by how much exactly varies between cultures. Older men prefer greater age differences, while teenage males prefer females slightly older than they are.[5]

The exact degree to which physical appearance is considered important in selecting a long-term mate varies between cultures.[5]

Non-physical factors

When choosing long-term partners, both men and women desire those who are intelligent, kind, understanding, and healthy. They also show a preference for partners who have similar values, attitudes, personality, and religious beliefs.[5]

The importance of premarital chastity varies a great deal according to culture, as well as the religious beliefs and sexual orientation of the individual. In Western culture, the importance and value of chastity has generally declined among heterosexual individuals. Among 18 different attributes, chastity was rated 10th most valuable in 1939, but only 17th most valuable in 1990.[5]

Sexual behavior

Many factors influence men's sexual behavior. These include evolved tendencies, such as a greater interest in casual sex, as well as individual and social factors related to upbringing, personality, and relationship status.

Interest in casual sex

Compared to women, men have a greater interest in

prostitutes more often.[18]

Upbringing and personality

One study has several factors that influence the age of first sexual intercourse among youth aged 13–18. Those from families with both parents present, from high socioeconomic backgrounds, who performed better at school, were more religious, who had higher parental expectations, and felt like their parents care, showed much lower levels of sexual activity across all age groups in the study. In contrast, those with higher levels of body pride showed higher levels of sexual activity.[19]

Sociosexuality

Males who are in a

sociosexual orientation, and will have different sexual behavior compared to males who have an unrestricted sociosexual orientation. Males with a restricted sociosexual orientation will be less willing to have sex outside of their committed relationship and behave according to their desire for commitment and emotional closeness with their partner.[20]

Sociosexually restricted males are less likely to approach females who have lower waist-to-hip ratios (0.68–0.72), generally rated as more physically attractive.[21]

Expected parental investment

Elizabeth Cashdan[22] proposed that mate strategies among both genders differ depending on how much parental investment is expected of the male, and provided research support for her hypotheses. When men expect to provide a high level of parental investment, they will attempt to attract women by emphasising their ability to invest. In addition, men who expect to invest will be more likely to highlight their chastity and fidelity than men who expect not to invest. Men with the expectation of low parental investment will flaunt their sexuality to women. Cashdan argues the fact the research supports the idea that men expecting to invest emphasise their chastity and fidelity, which is a high-cost strategy (because it lowers reproductive opportunities), suggests that that type of behaviour must be beneficial, or the behaviour would not have been selected.[22]

Paternity certainty

See also: Sexual jealousy

Paternity certainty is the extent to which a male knows or believes that a woman's child is his.[23]

In polygamous societies, men feel greater sexual jealousy when there is low paternity certainty.[24] This is because they do not want to risk wasting time, energy and resources on a child that is not theirs.[25]

Socio-economic differences between cultures also affect paternity certainty.[26] In a "natural fertility" country such as Namibia, 96% of males show sexual jealousy.[27]

Additionally, there is a greater likelihood of paternity loss and paternity uncertainty when there is a lack of contraceptives.[27]

Sexual violence

Main article: Causes of sexual violence

Far more men than women commit

evolutionary selection in the ancestral environment in some cases favored males who raped, resulting in rape itself being an adaptation.[32] Scholars from several fields have criticized this idea.[33] David Buss states that clear-cut evidence either way is lacking.[29]

Homosexuality

Sexual orientation and sexual identity

Sexual orientation
Sexual orientations
Related terms
Research
Animals
Related topics
Main article: Sexual orientation
See also:
Gay male culture

Sexual orientation refers to one's relative attraction to men, to women, or to both. Most researchers studying sexual orientation focus on patterns of attraction rather than behavior or identity, because culture affects the expression of behavior or identity and it is attraction that motivates behavior and identity, not the other way around.[1]

Aside from being

bisexual.[1][34] Bailey et al. stated that they expect that in all cultures the vast majority of people are sexually predisposed exclusively to the other sex, with a minority being sexually predisposed to the same sex, whether exclusively or not.[1] In Western surveys, about 93% of men identify as completely heterosexual, 4% as mostly heterosexual, 0.5% as more evenly bisexual, 0.5% as mostly homosexual, and 2% as completely homosexual.[1][34] An analysis of 67 studies found that the lifetime prevalence of sex between men (regardless of orientation) was 3–5% for East Asia, 6–12% for South and South East Asia, 6–15% for Eastern Europe, and 6–20% for Latin America.[35] The World Health Organization estimates a worldwide prevalence of men who have sex with men between 3 and 16%.[36]

Sexual orientation can be measured via self-report or physiologically. Multiple physiological methods exist, including measurement of penile erection, viewing time,

FMRI, and pupil dilation. In men, these all show a high degree of correlation with self-report measures,[1] including men who self report as "mostly straight" or "mostly gay".[34]

What impact same-sex sexuality has upon one's social identity varies across cultures. The question of precisely how cultures through history conceptualized homosexual desire and behavior is a matter of some debate.[37][38]

In much of the modern world, sexual identity is defined based on the sex of one's partner. In some parts of the world, however, sexuality is often socially defined based on sexual roles, whether one is a penetrator ("

bottom").[36][39]

Causes

Main article: Biology and sexual orientation

Although no causal theory has yet gained widespread support, there is considerably more evidence supporting nonsocial causes of sexual orientation than social ones, especially for males. This evidence includes the cross-cultural correlation of homosexuality and childhood

Sambia ritually require their boys to engage in homosexual behavior during adolescence before they have any access to females, yet most of these boys become heterosexual.[40][41]

It is not fully understood why the genes for homosexuality, or allowing it to develop, whatever they may be, persist in the gene pool. One hypothesis involves kin selection, suggesting that homosexuals invest heavily enough in their relatives to offset the cost of not reproducing as much directly. This has not been supported by studies in Western cultures, but several studies in Samoa have found some support for this hypothesis. Another hypothesis involves sexually antagonistic genes, which cause homosexuality when expressed in males but increase reproduction when expressed in females. Studies in both Western and non-Western cultures have found support for this hypothesis.[1][5]

It has been hypothesized that homosexual behavior may itself be an

bonobos, for example), alliances of this kind would only occur as often as mutual sexual attraction, and such variability would seem to indicate a lack of design by natural selection.[44]

See also

References

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External links