Seal Brooke N, Meston Cindy M
Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station A8000, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
J Sex Med. 2007 Jul;4(4 Pt 1):990-1000. doi: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2007.00525.x.
The impact of self-awareness during sexual activity has been widely discussed. However, research has been largely focused on the effects of performance anxiety in male erectile functioning. It has been suggested that physical appearance concerns may have a similar influence on sexual function in women as does men's self-awareness about erectile function. However, the role that physical appearance or awareness of one's body may play in female sexual response has received little empiric attention.
To examine the effects of body awareness and self-report levels of body esteem on sexual response in 21 sexually dysfunctional women.
Body awareness was induced in one of two counterbalanced sessions. A full-length mirror was placed in front of participants throughout the experimental session, and participants were instructed to use the mirror to place 10 electrodes on each side of their bodies to prepare for a possible electrocardiogram. This methodology was used to ensure that women looked at themselves in the mirror and became more aware of their bodies during the experimental session.
Self-reported mental arousal, perceptions of physical arousal, physiological sexual arousal, affect, anxiety, and cognitive distraction responses to erotica.
Results showed that subjective mental sexual arousal and perceptions of physical sexual arousal increased in response to erotica in the Body Awareness condition compared to in the No Body Awareness condition. These results were not accounted for by level of body esteem. There were no changes in physiological sexual arousal, affect, anxiety, or level of cognitive distraction across the two conditions.
Findings suggest that awareness of one's body is related to increased subjective sexual response in conditions where cognitive distraction does not occur. It is particularly noteworthy that the current sample was made up of sexually dysfunctional women, all of whom had relatively low body image.
性行为中自我意识的影响已得到广泛讨论。然而，研究主要集中在表现焦虑对男性勃起功能的影响上。有人提出，对身体外貌的关注可能对女性性功能产生与男性对勃起功能的自我意识类似的影响。然而，身体外貌或对自身身体的意识在女性性反应中可能发挥的作用很少受到实证关注。
研究身体意识和身体自尊的自我报告水平对21名性功能障碍女性性反应的影响。
在两个平衡的环节之一中诱导身体意识。在整个实验过程中，在参与者面前放置一面全身镜，并指导参与者使用镜子在身体两侧放置10个电极，为可能的心电图做准备。这种方法用于确保女性在实验过程中看着自己并更加意识到自己的身体。
自我报告的心理唤起、身体唤起的感知、生理性唤起、情感、焦虑以及对色情内容的认知分心反应。
结果显示，与无身体意识条件相比，在身体意识条件下，女性对色情内容的主观心理性唤起和身体性唤起的感知有所增加。这些结果不能用身体自尊水平来解释。两种条件下生理性唤起、情感、焦虑或认知分心水平均无变化。
研究结果表明，在不发生认知分心的情况下，对自身身体的意识与主观的性反应增加有关。特别值得注意的是，当前样本由性功能障碍女性组成，她们的身体意象都相对较低。
