Power, Gender and Sexual Behavior

Relationships among power, gender, and sexual behavior were investigated via a questionnaire administered to 86 college undergraduates.  Initiation of "usual" sexual behavior was largely a function of gender with women initiating female-active behaviors and men initiating both male-active behaviors and those in which both genders are active.  Both power based on relationship assets and love as a sexual motive were associated with partner rather than participant initiation.  Power of the relationship, itself, was a more potent predictor of engaging in sexual behavior than was power between partners.  Power, measured as dominance minus submission as a motive for sex, was associated with engaging in sexual behavior for men and with abstaining from sexual behavior for women.  The data also suggested that a woman engaging in fellatio implies male dominance and female submission but that a man engaging in cunnilingus does not have the reverse implications.