Sexual bondage: a review and unobtrusive investigation.

To investigate unobtrusively how individuals experience sexual bondage, we analyzed all messages about sexual bondage (N = 514) mailed to an international computerized discussion group on sexual bondage in 1990. The most frequent individual experience reported (n = 60) was playful use of bondage to explore new areas of sexual pleasure. Other frequent experiences were the exchange of power, intensified sexual pleasure, and tactile stimulation and bodily sensations. Preference for the dominant-initiator role was expressed in 71% of the messages by male heterosexuals, 11% of the messages by heterosexual females, and 12% of the messages by homosexual males. Preference for the submissive-recipient role was expressed in 29% of the messages by heterosexual males, 89% by heterosexual females, and 88% by homosexual males. In 33% of messages subjects stated that sexual bondage occurred simultaneously with sadomasochism or was perceived as part of it.

When gay is pretty: physical attractiveness and low homophobia.

Photographs of physically attractive men and women were presented as depicting homosexuals and heterosexuals to subjects on the University of California at Berkeley campus who were generally judged to be nonhomophobic opposite-sexed students. Analysis showed that the 62 women rated 3 men as significantly more physically attractive when they believed the men were homosexual than when they believed the men were heterosexual. The 65 men did not rate photographs of 3 women as more physically attractive when they believed the women were lesbian compared to when they believed the women were heterosexual. The results illustrate an effect of the "gay-pretty-boy stereotype," namely, that women judged to be nonhomophobic perceived homosexual men as more physically attractive than comparable heterosexual men.

Asphyxiophilia and autoerotic death.

Eight cases of autoerotic asphyxia deaths on Oahu are reviewed. Distinguishing features typically separate these deaths from intentional suicides or homicides. The sexual nature of these incidents is a salient feature of the death. The etiology of the practice is unknown but worth investigation.

Biological explanation, psychological explanation, and tolerance of homosexuals: a cross-national analysis of beliefs and attitudes.

Controversies are commonplace among scientists who endorse different ideas about the determinants of homosexual orientation and their concomitant social and political implications. To measure the relationship between beliefs about the determinants of homosexual orientation and attitudes toward homosexuals, we asked 745 respondents in four societies about their beliefs concerning the origins of homosexual orientation. Analysis indicated that subjects who believed that homosexuals are "born that way" held significantly more positive attitudes toward homosexuals than subjects who believed that homosexuals "choose to be that way" and/or "learn to be that way."

Asphyxiophilia in Scandinavia.

Asphyxiophilia, the desire for a state of oxygen deficiency in order to enhance sexual excitement and orgasm, is a very precarious form of sexual gratification. Asphyxiophilia has been difficult to document since it is mostly practiced in secrecy and solitude and is usually not discovered until the practitioner has been found dead. Most of the information about asphyxiophilia is found in police reports and medicolegal investigations by doctors of forensic medicine. Our study is based on information from 18 doctors of forensic medicine in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Six sources indicate similar frequencies (0.5-1 cases per million inhabitants per year) of observed deaths in Scandinavia. Although the frequency of observed deaths is different from the true mortality rate, this study gives a good illustration of the estimated prevalence. This accuracy is enhanced by the length of the observation periods (10-40 years).

The relationship between affective and cognitive components of homophobic reaction.

The affective component of homophobia was explored by a factor-analytic study and related to the cognitive component. Eighty-one undergraduate students read an anecdote with either homosexual or heterosexual content. Subjects' affects were measured with an adjective checklist, and subjects' cognitions were measured as to their attitudes toward homosexuality with the Attitudes Toward Homosexuality Scale (ATHS). Results suggest two affective homophobia factors: homophobic anger and homophobic guilt. Homophobic anger correlates strongly with the cognitive component (ATHS), r = -0.73, whereas homophobic guilt does not correlate with the cognitive component (ATHS), r = 0.02. Homophobic guilt seems unrelated to homophobic attitude. Adjective checklists appear useful for measuring affective components of homophobia.