abstract: Sexual stereotypes are beliefs that are generally accepted and are thought to define how men and women should express their sexuality. The objectives of this study were to identify how many heterosexual Puerto Rican men and women endorsed certain stereotypes about male and female sexuality and to explore the relationship between the endorsement of these sexual stereotypes and theattitudestowards condom use, as well as actual condomuseduring intercourse. We conducted a cross-sectional study in which we administered two scales, one about male sexuality and the other about female sexuality, to a group of 429 heterosexual participants. We found that men endorsed significantly more male and female sexual stereotypes than women and that these tended to have a more conservative view of female sexuality than what they had of male sexuality. Women, on the other hand, tended to view female and male sexuality in a less stereotypical way. We also found that the more men and women endorsed male and female sexual stereotypes, the worse the attitudes toward condom use. However, endorsement of male and/or female sexual stereotypes was not related to condom use. These findings contradict the literature that suggests that these sexual stereotypes result in high-risk sexual conduct, which has important implications for the development and implementation of prevention programs.
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Puerto Rico.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pérez-Jiménez
authors.affiliation: The University of Iowa.
authors.forename: Rosaura E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Orengo-Aguayo