Abstract
Sanders (1978) asked college students what word, if any, they would use in a private conversation with their spouse or lover to refer to each other's genitalia and to the act of copulation. She found gender differences in words used to refer to male genitalia. Women were more likely to use scientific terms and less likely to use slang terms. Also, less variation was found in words used to refer to the act of copulation than in words used to refer either to male or female genitalia.
The present study replicated Sanders's (1978) findings, but there were differences between students then and now. Students now were less likely to use scientific terms (e.g., penis and intercourse) and gross terms (e.g., cunt), and they were more likely to use no word at all to refer to their own or their partner's genitalia.
The use of scientific terms was expected to increase and the use of no word at all to decrease after a class in Human Sexuality. This was clearly so for male genitalia. Use of “penis” did increase, and use of no word at all decreased. There were trends in the expected direction for female genitalia but not for intercourse, as the latter term is simply not used by students.