Men's Perceptions of Female Genitals

Little is known about the attitudes toward female genitals of men who are attracted to women. This is an important omission because these attitudes may influence men's own sexual experiences; they may also influence the genital self-image of their female partners if these views are knowingly or unknowingly communicated. Therefore, we examined men's views of women's genitals both globally and with respect to specific aspects.

Participants were 212 self-identified men who completed an online survey that included scales assessing the men's views of female genitals, perceptions of women's satisfaction with their own genitals, sexual experience, and genital feedback provided to female partners. All were attracted to and had sexual experience with women.

On average the men's attitudes toward female genitals were moderately positive, although they ranged from negative to very positive. The men did not rate any of 24 listed specific female genital aspects as extremely important to them. The men believed that the majority of women feel positively about their own genitals. However, a comparison with published data collected from women revealed that men's estimates of the percentage of women who are satisfied with their genitals were lower than the percentage of women who actually report that they are satisfied with their genitals. This discrepancy was particularly large with respect to genital appearance. A path analysis revealed that men with more positive attitudes toward female genitals reported having more lifetime sexual partners and providing more frequent positive genital feedback and less frequent negative genital feedback to partners.

These results suggest that although men generally have moderately positive attitudes toward female genitals, there is considerable variability among men ranging from negative to very positive. The study also provided some evidence that men's views of female genitals may adversely affect both the men themselves and their female partners.