Casual Sex: Motivations, Attitudes and Behaviors of Heterosexual Men and Women

Abstract

A quantitative research was conducted to verify what heterosexual men and women understand as sex without commitment/casual sex. Motivations, attitudes and behaviors associated with this practice were considered categories of analysis representative of the phenomenon. The instrument employed was a self-completion internet questionnaire. Participants were middle class women (74) and men (61) aged between 30 and 50 years old who completed at least high school. The results suggest that in casual sex, men and women share a desire for encounter and pleasure, confirming that sexuality has been influenced by new modulations of body subjectivation and interpersonal relationships, particularly for women. However, these social and affective identities and insertions are subjectivized through a double sexual pattern that still displays traditionally the roles assigned to each gender. Some expectations of future attachment differ, and women consider themselves subjected to society prejudices when they engage in casual sex. Men tend to pursue this kind of relationship more than women, while women show greater freedom expressing intimacy.

Keywords: Heterosexuality; Sex without Commitment; Casual Sex; Sexual Double Standard; Gender