The Impact of Sex and Type of Sexual Behavior on Judgments of Hypothetical Men’s and Women’s Sexuality: A Comparison Between Mixed-Sex Threesomes and Dyadic Sexual Behaviors

Despite the plethora of research exploring snap judgments of sexual orientation, no study has explored how knowledge of a target’s previous sexual experience impacts judgments of sexual attraction, particularly participation in mixed-sex threesomes (MSTs). Thus, this study assessed the impact of participant sex and previous sexual experience (dyadic vs MST) on snap judgments of hypothetical men’s and women’s sexual attraction. A total of 826 adults were randomly assigned to read a vignette depicting either a hypothetical man or woman initiating an MST with two men, a MST with two women, dyadic sex with two men, dyadic sex with two women, or mixed dyadic sex. Participants then completed a scale assessing sexual attraction judgments. Results indicated that hypothetical individuals initiating same-sex sexual behavior were judged as more same sex attracted than those initiating other-sex sexual behavior. However, for hypothetical men, this effect was impacted by the type of behavior, such that men initiating same-sex dyadic sex were judged as being more same-sex attracted than men initiating same-sex MST sex. These findings confirm that people make snap judgments about a person’s sexuality from limited information and that MSTs may serve as an avenue to explore same-sex sexual behavior in a reduced-stigma context.