Sexual Disgust Decreases Sociosexuality Across Genders and Sexual Orientations

Abstract

Sexual disgust motivates avoidance of sexual contact to mitigate risks like sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies. It correlates negatively with sociosexuality (proclivity for casual sex) and stimuli triggering sexual disgust reduce short-term mating desire. Here we investigate the associations between disgust (moral, pathogen, and sexual) and sociosexuality (behavior, attitudes, and desire) among three genders (women, men, and non-binary individuals) and sexual orientations (gay, straight, and bi/pansexual). We further experimentally induced disgust to test if it reduced short-term mating desire and sexual attraction. In Study 1, self-reports from 963 Brazilian participants revealed a negative association between sexual (but not pathogen or moral) disgust and sociosexuality (in particular sociosexual attitudes) and this relationship was unaffected by gender or sexual orientation. Straight women displayed lower sociosexuality and higher sexual disgust than most other groups, particularly bi/pansexual individuals. In Study 2, 803 participants from Study 1 were randomly assigned to a group exposed to sexual, pathogen, or moral disgust, or control visual stimuli, and they reported their short-term mating desire and sexual attraction before and after being exposed to the stimuli. Sexual and to a lesser degree pathogen-disgust stimuli reduced short-term mating desire compared to control stimuli. Exposure to sexual disgust stimuli also slightly decreased sexual attraction of women toward men. Our findings confirmed that short-term mating desire is influenced by immediate levels of disgust, while sexual attraction is less responsive to such cues. These results enhance our understanding of the interplay between disgust, sociosexuality, and sexual motivations across genders and sexual orientations.