TY - JOUR
T1 - Sexual communication patterns of heterosexual-identified men who have sex with men
AU - Scheadler, Travis R.
AU - Rowe, Megan W.
AU - Rao, Salem
AU - Beer, Oliver W.J.
AU - Curtis, Tyrone J.
AU - Kwan, Sandra
AU - Lung, Shih Ju Claire
AU - Busch, Adam
AU - Vandervoort, Daniel
AU - Shuper, Paul A.
AU - Eaton, Andrew D.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
PY - 2025/12
Y1 - 2025/12
N2 - The sexual communication patterns that comprise how heterosexual men with concordance between identity and behavior navigate their sexual encounters with women are well-established. Some heterosexual men experience discordance between their sexual identities and behaviors and may have unique practices of sexual communication, but this has not been studied. Knowledge of their sexual communication practices is an important step toward understanding and improving their sexual experiences. Therefore, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 heterosexual-identified men who have sex with men to learn more about their sexual communication strategies. Three themes were identified through interpretative phenomenological analysis: meeting sex partners, clear communication with men, and poor communication with women. Findings suggest that sexual communication is gendered. Participants reported utilizing short and explicit verbal and written communication strategies with other men via the internet and in various sexualized venues. Yet, participants more frequently used implicit sexual cues as the primary source of sexual communication when with women. Implications related to boosting sexual satisfaction and preventing nonconsensual sexual encounters are discussed.
AB - The sexual communication patterns that comprise how heterosexual men with concordance between identity and behavior navigate their sexual encounters with women are well-established. Some heterosexual men experience discordance between their sexual identities and behaviors and may have unique practices of sexual communication, but this has not been studied. Knowledge of their sexual communication practices is an important step toward understanding and improving their sexual experiences. Therefore, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 heterosexual-identified men who have sex with men to learn more about their sexual communication strategies. Three themes were identified through interpretative phenomenological analysis: meeting sex partners, clear communication with men, and poor communication with women. Findings suggest that sexual communication is gendered. Participants reported utilizing short and explicit verbal and written communication strategies with other men via the internet and in various sexualized venues. Yet, participants more frequently used implicit sexual cues as the primary source of sexual communication when with women. Implications related to boosting sexual satisfaction and preventing nonconsensual sexual encounters are discussed.
KW - consent
KW - Heterosexual-identified men who have sex with men
KW - sexual communication
KW - sexual interests
KW - sexual script theory
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105018692442
UR - https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/hp-research/766/
U2 - 10.1177/02654075251377141
DO - 10.1177/02654075251377141
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105018692442
SN - 0265-4075
VL - 42
SP - 3534
EP - 3555
JO - Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
JF - Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
IS - 12
ER -