Body Image and Sexual Assertiveness: Assessing the Moderating Effect of Gender

Abstract

Considering the central role that the body plays in sex, past research has identified a link between body image and sexual risk behaviours. Sexual assertiveness is closely related to, and incorporates aspects of, sexual risk behaviours. Despite this, sexual assertiveness as an aspect of sexual risk has been understudied in relation to body image for both males and females. The limited existing research on women, however, has produced mixed results. Acknowledgment of male body image issues has increased recently, and much more exploration into the topic for men is needed. The study involved an online cross-sectional survey of 395 male and female participants. Moderation analyses were conducted to explore if gender would moderate the effect of body image on sexual assertiveness. The current study also explored body image differences by gender, including body confidence during sex and body perception. While findings suggested a tendency that enhanced sexual assertiveness is associated with more positive body image in women and negative body image in men, results regarding assertiveness when refusing unwanted sex were the most conclusive. The current study found that negative body image was associated with lower refusal of unwanted sexual activity in females but was associated with higher refusal in sexual encounters for males. Gendered differences in body image and general sexual initiation and refusal are also discussed.