Sociosexuality: having sex without commitment or emotional bond

For some time now, sexuality has been shedding some taboos. This is evident in the growing recognition and acceptance of different sexual orientations and practices. One of them is sociosexuality, which refers to having sexual relations for mere physical pleasure, without any type of emotional or personal connection.

The term was coined by the biologist and sexologist Alfred Kinsey, in the first half of the 20th century. However, it was from the 90s onwards that it gained greater popularity. Psychometric instruments have even been created to measure the level of sociosexuality in people.

It is pertinent to emphasize that this is not a new sexual orientation, but rather The term refers to a behavioral pattern that has always existed and that many choose. The point is that, in the past, such behavior was stigmatized, especially in the case of women. But, today, it enjoys a certain openness.

Even today, there are applications that allow connection between sociosexual people, so that they can enjoy intimate encounters without commitment.

How is sociosexuality measured?

Surely you are wondering how sociosexuality manifests itself in people. Is it a categorical concept or can it be expressed in degrees?

The psychology teacher Lars Penke created an instrument to measure this behavior, which he called the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (SOI-R). This test consists of a questionnaire of nine questions, which are grouped into three categories:

Behavior: indicates the number of people with whom the person evaluated has had casual sex, without any emotional connection.Attitude: refers to the opinion you have about sociosexuality.Desire: refers to the person’s desire to maintain sociosexual relationships.

Based on the data provided by the nine items, A compatibility profile of the person with sociosexuality is obtained.

Differences between men and women

It is well known that society has stigmatized women more than men when showing a certain sexual openness. Nowadays, this is not as marked as before. However, we still find cultural prejudices that significantly determine the way in which women and men live their sexuality.

Having said that, It is totally valid to ask if, depending on gender, there are differences in the manifestation of sociosexuality.. From the beginning, the researchers considered this variable as a determining factor, which is why they used the SOI-R to check if there are differences between men and women.

It was found that men obtained higher scores on the SOI-R than women. That is, according to this instrument, Men feel more comfortable with sociosexuality than women. However, we must be careful with these generalizations, as there are individual differences between the same gender that must be taken into account.

For their part, psychologist Anna Campbell and sociologist Paula England demonstrated that heterosexual men have a higher level of satisfaction than women, regarding sociosexuality. In this case, Women tend to report feelings of guilt after having sexual encounters lacking affection.or feelings of disappointment when seeing that the relationship does not go beyond sexual contact.

However, it is pertinent to mention that These results vary if the sexual orientation variable is introduced.. For example, women who declared themselves bisexual had higher sociosexuality scores compared to those who identified as heterosexual or lesbian.

In the case of men, homosexual men showed a higher level of sociosexuality in the attitude category, compared to bisexual and heterosexual men.

Other factors associated with sociosexuality

In addition to gender and sexual orientation, there are other variables that significantly influence the manifestation of sociosexuality. For example, findings seem to indicate that people who exhibit certain individual characteristics, such as openness to experience, extraversion, or impulsivity, have higher scores on the SOI-R.

Likewise, people with individual characteristics such as kindness, humility and honesty have lower scores regarding sociosexual behavior.

On the other hand, Individuals with an avoidant attachment style are more likely to develop a pattern of sociosexual behavior. On the other hand, people with secure attachment are the ones who develop this behavior the least.

Another variable related to this sexual behavior is religion.. In this case, people with an intrinsic religious orientation (where religion is the end in itself) tend to present low sociosexuality. While subjects with an extrinsic religion (as a means to achieve goals) tend to score higher on the SOI-R.

The factors associated with sociosexuality are not exhausted here; it has also been related to variables such as age and psychopathy, among others. In this way, we can affirm that it is a sexual behavior that cannot be understood in isolation. Furthermore, not everyone experiences it in the same way or intensity.

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