Gender-Specificity of Sexual Attraction Across Cultures: Individual and Societal Factors

Previous studies have reported that men's sexual attraction is more gender-specific than women's, with stronger attraction to their preferred gender and weaker attraction to their non-preferred gender. The current study examined the universality of these gender differences and their relations to the social construction of gender and sexuality. Using data from the Gender Mosaic Cross-Cultural Dataset (N > 35,000 participants across 25 countries), we replicated the gender differences in sexual attraction to the preferred and non-preferred gender and in gender-specificity of sexual attraction. However, the magnitude of these differences varied across countries. As predicted, gender typicality (i.e., self-rated femininity for women and masculinity for men) was positively associated with attraction to the preferred gender among all participants and negatively associated with same-sex attraction among straight individuals, with a stronger association in men. At the country level, more negative attitudes toward homosexuality were linked with lower same-sex attraction in straight individuals. Exploratory analyses revealed that the cross-cultural variability in the magnitude of these gender differences was related to nation-level sexual drive and sexual pleasure in partnered sex. These findings suggest that socio-cultural factors are central to gender differences in self-reported sexual attraction, partly reflecting the social construction of gender and sexuality.