Truth and consequences: using the bogus pipeline to examine sex differences in self-reported sexuality

Journal of Sex Research, Feb, 2003 by Michele G. Alexander, Terri D. Fisher

Age of first intercourse. A two-way ANOVA on participants' reports of the age of their first intercourse indicated no main effects of sex of participant or testing condition, Fs < 1, but did yield a significant interaction, F(2, 142) = 4.72, p = .01, [[eta].sup.2] =.062 (see Figure 3). Planned comparisons revealed no sex difference between reported age of first intercourse in the pipeline condition, F(1, 35) = 0.08, p = .77. In the anonymous condition however, women reported a significantly earlier age of first intercourse than did men, F(1, 43) = 6.02, p = .018, indicating a reversed pattern of typical self-report research. In the exposure threat condition, men reported an earlier age of first intercourse than did women, although the difference did not quite reach significance, F(1, 64) = 3.17, p = .08. The effect of testing condition was significant for the women, F(2, 75) = 3.92, p = .024, [[eta].sup.2] = .095, but not for the men, F < 2.

DISCUSSION

Though not as clear as we had expected, the pattern of results generally supported the idea that men and women use gender-specific self-presentation strategies when reporting their sexual behaviors. Sex differences were greatest in the exposure threat condition, which encouraged gender role accommodation, and were smallest in the bogus pipeline condition, which discouraged stereotypical responses and encouraged honest responding instead. These findings suggest that some sex differences found by sex researchers may reflect false accommodation to gender role norms when reporting sexuality, particularly on the part of women. This pattern was more apparent for self-reports of sexual behaviors than of attitudes toward sexuality.

The results were clearest for autonomous sexual behaviors (i.e., masturbation, exposure to hardcore & softcore erotica), which are considered more appropriate for males than females. Typical sex differences, with more men than women reporting having engaged in these behaviors, were found in the exposure threat condition. These sex differences were smaller in the anonymous condition and even more diminished in the bogus pipeline condition. Participants' reports of the age of their first consensual intercourse also significantly differed by sex and testing condition, with almost no sex differences evident in the bogus pipeline condition and a typical sex difference with men reporting a 6-month younger age than women in the exposure threat condition (although not quite significant). Surprisingly, women reported an earlier age than men in the anonymous condition.

Sex differences in self-reports of the number of sexual partners also showed the predicted trend, although it was not significant. The sex difference was greatest in the exposure threat condition, which encouraged gender role accommodation, and decreased in the anonymous condition. In the bogus pipeline condition, which encouraged honesty rather than social desirability, women actually reported more sexual partners than did men. This pattern should be interpreted cautiously because the overall interaction between participant sex and testing condition was not significant. Nonetheless, the trend is intriguing and may help explain why heterosexual males report a greater number of sexual partners than do heterosexual females (Wiederman, 1997).