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Is there any Relationship between Sexual Attraction and Gender Typology?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Juan Fernández ,
María Ángeles Quiroga  and
Isabel Del Olmo
Juan Fernández*
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
María Ángeles Quiroga
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Isabel Del Olmo
Affiliation:
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Juan Fernández, Departamento de Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación, Facultad de Psicología, Campus de Somosaguas. 28223 – Madrid (Spain). Phone: +34 91 3943162. Fax: +34 91 394 3189. E-mail: jfernandez@psi.ucm.es. The SAQ is available to any interested researcher upon request (also by e-mail) to the first author.
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Abstract

People can be classified as attracted to both sexes, to men, to women, or to neither sex, and also as instrumental-expressive, instrumental, expressive, or non-instrumental-expressive. The two hypotheses tested herein are, on the one hand, the relative independence between these two typologies and, on the other, the close relation between sexual dimorphism and sexual attraction, in contrast to the relative independence between sexual dimorphism and the instrumental and expressive domains. A total of 503 university students (284 women and 219 men) completed two assessment instruments: The Sexual Attraction Questionnaire (SAQ) and the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI, 12 items). Analysis of contingency tables was performed. The results provide empirical support for the hypothesis of independence of the two typologies, solid support for the relation between sexual dimorphism and sexual attraction, and clear support for the independence between the gender domains and sexual dimorphism. The implications of these data for the different outlooks concerning the relations between sex and gender are established.

Las personas pueden ser clasificadas como atraídas por ambos sexos, por varones, por mujeres o por ninguno, a la par que ser consideradas como instrumental-expresivas, instrumentales, expresivas y ainstrumental-expresivas. Las dos hipótesis que se van a poner a prueba son, por un lado, la relativa a la independencia entre las dos tipologías y, por otro, la estrecha relación entre el dimorfismo sexual y la atracción sexual frente a la relativa independencia o cuasi-independencia entre aquél y los dominios instrumental y expresivo. Un total de 503 estudiantes universitarios, de los cuales 284 eran mujeres y 219 varones, cumplimentaron dos instrumentos de evaluación: el Cuestionario de Atracción Sexual (CAS) y el Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI, 12 ítems). Se realizaron análisis de tablas de contingencia. Los resultados ofrecen apoyo empírico a la hipótesis de la independencia de las dos tipologías, un sólido respaldo a la relación entre dimorfismo sexual y atracción sexual y un claro apoyo a la independencia de los dominios de género y el dimorfismo sexual. Se establecen las implicaciones de estos datos para las distintas posturas en torno a las relaciones entre la realidad del sexo y la del género.

Keywords

sexual attractionsexual orientationinstrumentalityexpressivenessmasculinityfemininityandrogynyatracción sexualorientación sexualinstrumentalidadexpresividadmasculinidadfeminidadandroginia
Type
Articles
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , May 2006 , pp. 3 - 9
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

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