Analysis of sexual victimization/aggression through typologies of adherence to sexual double standard in general population

Background/Objective: Sexual double standard (SDS) (i.e., the attitude involving different criteria for evaluating sexual behaviors of men and women) has been related to sexual victimization and aggression. It was examined the effect of sex, the typology of adherence to SDS in the sexual freedom and sexual shyness areas (egalitarian, man-favorable, and woman-favorable), and of the sex x SDS type interaction on different categories of sexual victimization and sexual aggression. Methods: In a sample of 716 Spanish heterosexual adults (264 men and 452 women), aged 18 to 66 years, sociodemographic variables, SDS and reported experiences of sexual victimization and aggression were assessed. Results: In sexual victimization, a significant effect of sex was found with increases of 21-27.4% for being a woman. In sexual aggression, the significant effect of sex implied increases of 12.4-13.9% in attempted rape and rape for being male. Men with man-favorable SDS typology reported higher numbers of rape assaults, relative to all other typologies. Conclusions: The use of the SDS typologies of adherence contributes to the study of the relationship of this attitude with sexual victimization and aggression.