Gender-Specificity in Viewing Time Among Heterosexual Women

Measures of sexual interest tend to be more gender-specific in heterosexual men than in heterosexual women. Cognitive measures, such as viewing time to attractive stimuli, may also show similar patterns of gender-specificity or nonspecificity among men and women and thus serve as useful adjuncts to more direct measures of sexual interest. The objectives of the present research were to determine the extent of gender-specificity in women's viewing times for female pictures (varying in their perceived physical attractiveness) and explore the influence of social comparison of physical appearance on these patterns of responses. In Study 1, we recorded only women's viewing times for pictures of both genders, measured self-reported menstrual cycle phase, and manipulated the waist-to-hip ratio of the women in the female pictures. In Study 2, we recorded women's and men's viewing times, self-reported sexual attraction to pictures of males and females, and physical appearance social comparison. Study 1 found that heterosexual women's viewing time toward female pictures was not associated with manipulation of the perceived attractiveness of those pictures. Study 2 found that heterosexual men were more gender-specific than heterosexual women in their viewing time patterns. We also found that reported sexual attraction and physical appearance social comparison were associated with heterosexual women's viewing times for female pictures, while heterosexual men's viewing times were associated with sexual attraction only. Our results are discussed in relation to the utility of viewing time as an indicator of visual attention toward attractive or sexually appealing visual stimuli.