Sexual Satisfaction, Solitary, and Dyadic Sexual Desire in Men According to Sexual Orientation

ABSTRACT

Research on male sexual desire and satisfaction according to sexual orientation remains insufficient. An online survey was fulfilled by 415 men (142 gay; 273 heterosexual), and participants completed the SDI-2 and the GMSEX. Main findings suggested that gay men scored significantly higher on both solitary sexual desire and attractive person-related dyadic sexual desire subscales, but not on a partner-related dyadic sexual desire subscale, compared to heterosexual men. Despite sexual orientation, partner-related dyadic sexual desire positively predicts sexual satisfaction, whereas solitary and attractive person-related dyadic sexual desire negatively predicts sexual satisfaction in men. Overall, gay men appear to experience higher levels of both attractive person-related dyadic and solitary sexual desire. Also, experiencing sexual desire toward a partner predicts positively, whereas experiencing desire to engage in sexual behavior with oneself and toward an attractive person predict negatively sexual satisfaction in men.

KEYWORDS:

• Dyadic sexual desire
• gay men
• heterosexual men
• sexual desire
• sexual orientation
• sexual satisfaction
• solitary sexual desire

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank to Tiago Pereira, MSc candidate, for helping in data collection. This study was conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho.

Additional information

Funding

This study was conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), the University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653).