Designing Effective Digital Advertisements to Prevent Online Consumption of Child Sexual Exploitation Material.

The necessity of developing effective and innovative primary prevention strategies is a pressing objective in stemming the harm caused by the production and consumption of child sexual exploitation material (CSEM). Digital media interventions - including search engine advertisements - hold promise as prevention tools to deflect potential users away from CSEM and redirect them to therapeutic services. This study aimed to establish an evidence base for effective advertising in this context by creating mock-up helpline advertisements and testing them in focus groups and interviews with staff and clients of New Zealand's major treatment service providers for harmful sexual behavior. Prior to testing these advertisements in situ (on online platforms), this paper reports on a foundational creative and qualitative investigation of effective advertisements - what imagery, text, and design features are most likely to succeed in diverting people away from seeking CSEM and encouraging them to reach out to a helpline? The findings of this study offer deeper understanding of the mindset, emotions, and barriers to reaching out that are experienced by onset CSEM users, as well as suitability of certain imagery and text for advertising in this context, and thereby contribute to strengthening primary prevention efforts in combatting CSEM consumption.

Pupillary Responses to Static Images of Men and Women: A Possible Measure of Sexual Interest?

The pupil dilates to images that are arousing. In Experiment 1, we examined if the pupil's response to brief presentations (2,000 ms) of static images could be used to identify individuals' sexual orientation. Participants were grouped according to their self-reported gender and sexual orientation (male heterosexual, N = 20; male bisexual, N = 13; male homosexual, N = 19; female heterosexual, N = 28; female bisexual, N = 21; female homosexual, N = 17). Pupil size was monitored to images of men in seminude poses, women in seminude poses, or neutral images. Every group showed the same pattern of responses, with the greatest dilation to male images, then female images, and least dilation to the neutral images. Experiment 2 used more tightly controlled stimuli and tested at two different image durations (150 and 3,000 ms). Both heterosexual men (N = 18) and women (N = 20) showed greater pupil dilation to images of nude men than to nude women. However, in Experiment 3, where we reduced the erotic content by using images of clothed models, both heterosexual men and women showed greater pupil dilation to images of women. The results showed that while the pupil does dilate strongly to sexual imagery, its response to these brief static images does not correspond to a person's sexual orientation in a simple manner.

One Session of Autogenic Training Increases Acute Subjective Sexual Arousal in Premenopausal Women Reporting Sexual Arousal Problems.

BACKGROUND: Below average heart rate variability (HRV) has been associated with sexual arousal dysfunction and overall sexual dysfunction in women. Autogenic training, a psychophysiologic relaxation technique, has been shown to increase HRV. In a recent study, sexually healthy women experienced acute increases in physiologic (ie, genital) and subjective sexual arousal after 1 brief session of autogenic training. AIM: To build on these findings by testing the effects of a single session of autogenic training on sexual arousal in a sample of women who reported decreased or absent sexual arousal for at least 6 months. METHODS: Genital sexual arousal, subjective sexual arousal, and perceived genital sensations were assessed in 25 women 20 to 44 years old before and after listening to a 22-minute autogenic training recording. HRV was assessed with electrocardiography. OUTCOMES: Change in genital sexual arousal, subjective sexual arousal, and perceived genital sensations from the pre-manipulation erotic film to the post-manipulation erotic film. RESULTS: Marginally significant increases in discrete subjective sexual arousal (P = .051) and significant increases in perceived genital sensations (P = .018) were observed. In addition, degree of change in HRV significantly moderated increases in subjective arousal measured continuously over time (P < .0001). There were no significant increases in genital arousal after the manipulation. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: The results of this study suggest that autogenic training, and other interventions that aim to increase HRV, could be a useful addition to treatment protocols for women who are reporting a lack of subjective arousal or decreased genital sensations. STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS: There are few treatment options for women with arousal problems. We report on a new psychosocial intervention that could improve arousal. Limitations include a relatively small sample and the lack of a control group. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that autogenic training significantly improves acute subjective arousal and increases perceived genital sensations in premenopausal women with self-reported arousal concerns. Stanton AM, Hixon JG, Nichols LM, Meston CM. One Session of Autogenic Training Increases Acute Subjective Sexual Arousal in Premenopausal Women Reporting Sexual Arousal Problems. J Sex Med 2018;15:64-76.

The pornography craving questionnaire: psychometric properties.

Despite the prevalence of pornography use, and recent conceptualization of problematic use as an addiction, we could find no published scale to measure craving for pornography. Therefore, we conducted three studies employing young male pornography users to develop and evaluate such a questionnaire. In Study 1, we had participants rate their agreement with 20 potential craving items after reading a control script or a script designed to induce craving to watch pornography. We dropped eight items because of low endorsement. In Study 2, we revised both the questionnaire and cue exposure stimuli and then evaluated several psychometric properties of the modified questionnaire. Item loadings from a principal components analysis, a high internal consistency reliability coefficient, and a moderate mean inter-item correlation supported interpreting the 12 revised items as a single scale. Correlations of craving scores with preoccupation with pornography, sexual history, compulsive internet use, and sensation seeking provided support for convergent validity, criterion validity, and discriminant validity, respectively. The enhanced imagery script did not impact reported craving; however, more frequent users of pornography reported higher craving than less frequent users regardless of script condition. In Study 3, craving scores demonstrated good one-week test-retest reliability and predicted the number of times participants used pornography during the following week. This questionnaire could be applied in clinical settings to plan and evaluate therapy for problematic users of pornography and as a research tool to assess the prevalence and contextual triggers of craving among different types of pornography users.

The price had better be right: women's reactions to sexual stimuli vary with market factors.

Two experiments tested when and why women's typically negative, spontaneous reactions to sexual imagery would soften. Sexual economics theory predicts that women want sex to be seen as rare and special. We reasoned that this outlook would translate to women tolerating sexual images more when those images are linked to high worth as opposed to low worth. We manipulated whether an ad promoted an expensive or a cheap product using a sexually charged or a neutral scene. As predicted, women found sexual imagery distasteful when it was used to promote a cheap product, but this reaction to sexual imagery was mitigated if the product promoted was expensive. This pattern was not observed among men. Furthermore, we predicted and found that sexual ads promoting cheap products heightened feelings of being upset and angry among women. These findings suggest that women's reactions to sexual images can reveal deep-seated preferences about how sex should be used and understood.

The effect of a primary sexual reward manipulation on cortisol responses to psychosocial stress in men.

OBJECTIVE: Although previous research provides evidence for the role of rewarding activities in reducing hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responses to stress, no studies have tested whether rewards can buffer cortisol responses in humans undergoing social stressors. METHOD: This study experimentally investigated whether viewing appetitive rewarding pictures reduces cortisol responses to an acute stress challenge. Fifty-four heterosexual men were randomly assigned to view either mildly erotic (reward) or neutral images (control) of mixed-sex couples before completing the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). RESULTS: Participants in the reward condition had significantly lower area-under-the-curve cortisol reactivity to the TSST (mean [M] = 363.46) in comparison with participants in the control group (M = 807.06; F(1,46) = 4.84, p = .033, η(2) = 0.095). Reward participants also had improved cognitive performance on the math portion of the TSST (M = 20.74) in comparison with control participants (M = 13.82; F(44) = 5.44, p = .024, η(2) = 0.11). The stress-buffering effects of reward were specific to hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis reactivity: the reward and control groups did not differ on psychological perceptions of anticipatory or poststress perceptions, heart rate, or blood pressure responses. CONCLUSIONS: This research provides the first evidence linking the experience of reward with reduced stress reactivity in humans and suggests a potential novel reward pathway for coping under stress.

[Machinery and mechanical eroticism. A study on the phenomenology of schizophrenia in two painters' artworks in the Reuter Collection (Pecs)]. / Gépiség és mechanikus erotika: a szhizofrénia fenomenológiájának vizsgálata a pécsi reuter gyujtemény két alkotójánál.

In this essay, I introduce two schizophrenic artists from the Reuter's Psychopathological Art Collection (Pecs, Hungary), who had been treated in the 1920es.One artist drew a number of sketches of machines; the other created a serial of mechanically erotic pictures. Pictures are analyzed from an intersubjective-phenomenological perspective. Schizophrenic patients' subjective experiences i.e. the experience of reification as well as the intrusivity and uncontrollability of sexuality are particularly emphasized.

Selection of film clips and development of a video for the investigation of sexual decision making among men who have sex with men.

Experimental research on sexual decision making is limited, despite the public health importance of such work. We describe formative work conducted in advance of an experimental study designed to evaluate the effects of alcohol intoxication and sexual arousal on risky sexual decision making among men who have sex with men. In Study 1, we describe the procedures for selecting and validating erotic film clips (to be used for the experimental manipulation of arousal). In Study 2, we describe the tailoring of two interactive role-play videos to be used to measure risk perception and communication skills in an analog risky sex situation. Together, these studies illustrate a method for creating experimental stimuli to investigate sexual decision making in a laboratory setting. Research using this approach will support experimental research that affords a stronger basis for drawing causal inferences regarding sexual decision making.

Pornography, sexual socialization, and satisfaction among young men.

In spite of a growing presence of pornography in contemporary life, little is known about its potential effects on young people's sexual socialization and sexual satisfaction. In this article, we present a theoretical model of the effects of sexually explicit materials (SEM) mediated by sexual scripting and moderated by the type of SEM used. An on-line survey dataset that included 650 young Croatian men aged 18-25 years was used to explore empirically the model. Descriptive findings pointed to significant differences between mainstream and paraphilic SEM users in frequency of SEM use at the age of 14, current SEM use, frequency of masturbation, sexual boredom, acceptance of sex myths, and sexual compulsiveness. In testing the model, a novel instrument was used, the Sexual Scripts Overlap Scale, designed to measure the influence of SEM on sexual socialization. Structural equation analyses suggested that negative effects of early exposure to SEM on young men's sexual satisfaction, albeit small, could be stronger than positive effects. Both positive and negative effects-the latter being expressed through suppression of intimacy-were observed only among users of paraphilic SEM. No effect of early exposure to SEM was found among the mainstream SEM users. To counterbalance moral panic but also glamorization of pornography, sex education programs should incorporate contents that would increase media literacy and assist young people in critical interpretation of pornographic imagery.

Hypothalamus, sexual arousal and psychosexual identity in human males: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

In a recent functional magnetic resonance imaging study, a complex neural circuit was shown to be involved in human males during sexual arousal [A. Ferretti et al. (2005) Neuroimage, 26, 1086]. At group level, there was a specific correlation between penile erection and activations in anterior cingulate, insula, amygdala, hypothalamus and secondary somatosensory regions. However, it is well known that there are remarkable inter-individual differences in the psychological view and attitude to sex of human males. Therefore, a crucial issue is the relationship among cerebral responses, sexual arousal and psychosexual identity at individual level. To address this issue, 18 healthy male subjects were recruited. Their deep sexual identity (DSI) was assessed following the construct revalidation by M. Olivetti Belardinelli [(1994) Sci. Contrib. Gen. Psychol., 11, 131] of the Franck drawing completion test, a projective test providing, according to this revalidation, quantitative scores on 'accordance/non-accordance' between self-reported and psychological sexual identity. Cerebral activity was evaluated by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging during hard-core erotic movies and sport movies. Results showed a statistically significant positive correlation between the blood oxygen level-dependent signal in bilateral hypothalamus and the Franck drawing completion test score during erotic movies. The higher the blood oxygen level-dependent activation in bilateral hypothalamus, the higher the male DSI profile. These results suggest that, in male subjects, inter-individual differences in the DSI are strongly correlated with blood flow to the bilateral hypothalamus, a dimorphic brain region deeply implicated in instinctual drives including reproduction.

The effects of target attractiveness on men's sexual arousal in response to erotic auditory stimuli.

Previous research on sexual arousal resulting from auditory stimuli indicates that visual imagery acts as a mediator between stimulus input and resulting arousal. This leads to the question of whether imagery, and subsequent arousal, can be manipulated by providing differing information to hold in semantic memory. This research hypothesizes that attractive images held within semantic memory and pattern-matched with an erotic auditory stimulus facilitate higher self-reported arousal, and at a more rapid rate, than unattractive images. Participants in an "Unattractive" condition experienced slower rates and lower mean levels of arousal in response to an auditory stimulus, compared to participants in an "Attractive" or "No Picture" condition. No differences existed between groups in maximum arousal scores or the tendency to visualize the target during the listening task. Implications for the role of imagery in sexual response, possible measurement issues, and suggestions for future research are addressed in the discussion.

Pedophilia is linked to reduced activation in hypothalamus and lateral prefrontal cortex during visual erotic stimulation.

BACKGROUND: Although pedophilia is of high public concern, little is known about underlying neural mechanisms. Although pedophilic patients are sexually attracted to prepubescent children, they show no sexual interest toward adults. This study aimed to investigate the neural correlates of deficits of sexual and emotional arousal in pedophiles. METHODS: Thirteen pedophilic patients and 14 healthy control subjects were tested for differential neural activity during visual stimulation with emotional and erotic pictures with functional magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS: Regions showing differential activations during the erotic condition comprised the hypothalamus, the periaqueductal gray, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the latter correlating with a clinical measure. Alterations of emotional processing concerned the amygdala-hippocampus and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. CONCLUSIONS: Hypothesized regions relevant for processing of erotic stimuli in healthy individuals showed reduced activations during visual erotic stimulation in pedophilic patients. This suggests an impaired recruitment of key structures that might contribute to an altered sexual interest of these patients toward adults.

Exploring the motivations and fantasies of strip club customers in relation to legal regulations.

Strip clubs are a popular form of adult entertainment in the contemporary United States. Strip clubs are also highly embattled entertainment venues, based on assumptions about their associations with prostitution, drug use, and "negative secondary effects" in surrounding areas, such as increased crime rates and decreased property values. Based on participant observation in five strip clubs in one city and on qualitative interviews with 30 regular male customers of those clubs, this essay seeks to challenge assumptions about the kinds of encounters sought in and purchased in such venues. Instead of visiting strip clubs out of a desire to purchase sexual release with the dancers, I found that the regular male customers were seeking an atmosphere different from both work and home, personal and sexual acceptance from women and the pleasure of a sexualized encounter without the pressures of physical performance, and a form of leisure that offered a relative degree of "safety" as well as "excitement." Further, the men's own fantasies of identity, their understandings of marriage, and their commitment to a particular kind of monogamy influenced their choice of entertainment and the pleasure that they took in their encounters with the dancers. The essay discusses these motivations and their relational aspects and assesses strip club regulation in light of these observations and findings.

Men and women differ in amygdala response to visual sexual stimuli.

Men are generally more interested in and responsive to visual sexually arousing stimuli than are women. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to show that the amygdala and hypothalamus are more strongly activated in men than in women when viewing identical sexual stimuli. This was true even when women reported greater arousal. Sex differences were specific to the sexual nature of the stimuli, were restricted primarily to limbic regions, and were larger in the left amygdala than the right amygdala. Men and women showed similar activation patterns across multiple brain regions, including ventral striatal regions involved in reward. Our findings indicate that the amygdala mediates sex differences in responsiveness to appetitive and biologically salient stimuli; the human amygdala may also mediate the reportedly greater role of visual stimuli in male sexual behavior, paralleling prior animal findings.

Areas of brain activation in males and females during viewing of erotic film excerpts.

Various lines of evidence indicate that men generally experience greater sexual arousal (SA) to erotic stimuli than women. Yet, little is known regarding the neurobiological processes underlying such a gender difference. To investigate this issue, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to compare the neural correlates of SA in 20 male and 20 female subjects. Brain activity was measured while male and female subjects were viewing erotic film excerpts. Results showed that the level of perceived SA was significantly higher in male than in female subjects. When compared to viewing emotionally neutral film excerpts, viewing erotic film excerpts was associated, for both genders, with bilateral blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal increases in the anterior cingulate, medial prefrontal, orbitofrontal, insular, and occipitotemporal cortices, as well as in the amygdala and the ventral striatum. Only for the group of male subjects was there evidence of a significant activation of the thalamus and hypothalamus, a sexually dimorphic area of the brain known to play a pivotal role in physiological arousal and sexual behavior. When directly compared between genders, hypothalamic activation was found to be significantly greater in male subjects. Furthermore, for male subjects only, the magnitude of hypothalamic activation was positively correlated with reported levels of SA. These findings reveal the existence of similarities and dissimilarities in the way the brain of both genders responds to erotic stimuli. They further suggest that the greater SA generally experienced by men, when viewing erotica, may be related to the functional gender difference found here with respect to the hypothalamus.