Reduced labial temperature in response to sexual films with distractors among women with lower sexual desire.

INTRODUCTION: Sexual desire variation traditionally has been treated as due to variance in affective response to sexual stimulation, but differences in attention to the stimuli may better account for differences in sexual desire.

AIM: Determine whether sexual desire varies due to attention biases towards sexual stimuli.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sexual arousal was quantified by physiological (labia minus temperature) and experienced (continuously adjusting a potentiometer) indicators.

METHODS: Twenty-two women who varied in their level of sexual desire attended one laboratory session during which they viewed a neutral nature film, a sexual film, and a sexual film with distractors while their labial temperature and self-reported sexual arousal were recorded.

RESULTS: Participants reported and displayed lower sexual arousal during the sexual stimulus with distractors as compared to the sexual film without distractors. While all women reported lower sexual arousal to the sexual film with distractors, women with relatively lower sexual desire also reported lower sexual arousal to the sexual film with no distractors than women with higher sexual desire. Physiologically, women with lower sexual desire exhibited lower labial temperature.

CONCLUSIONS: Since the predicted lower self-reported and physiological sexual arousal to the sexual stimulus with distractors for the women with lower sexual desire did not emerge, this study does not support that sexual desire levels vary due to differential attention to sexual stimuli.