Feelings of pleasure, arousal, and dominance: men and women's responses to athletic images in different types of sports. Issue 7 (3rd October 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xu, Qingru; Billings, Andrew C.
• Is Part Of: Journal of gender studies. Volume 31:Issue 7(2022)
• Page Start: 796
• Page End: 811
• Publication Date: 2022-10-03
• Subjects: Sport -- gender -- emotion -- SAM scales -- social dominance theory; Feminism -- Periodicals; Women -- Periodicals; Gender identity -- Periodicals; Sex role -- Periodicals; Sexual orientation -- Periodicals; Féminisme -- Périodiques; Femmes -- Périodiques; Identité sexuelle -- Périodiques; Rôle selon le sexe -- Périodiques; Orientation sexuelle -- Périodiques; 305.3
• DOI: 10.1080/09589236.2020.1867831
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0958-9236

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This experiment aimed to examine emotional responses to athletic images featuring male and female athletes in 'gender-appropriate', 'gender-neutral', and 'gender-inappropriate' sports. Recruiting 236 subjects, this research has complex findings. The findings include – that when viewing pictures featuring male athletes, female subjects reported a significantly higher level of pleasure and arousal compared to their male counterparts; that regarding affective responses to different types of sports, male subjects reported the lowest level of pleasure and arousal in viewing athletes competing in 'gender-inappropriate' sports and that when viewing pictures featuring athletes competing in 'gender-inappropriate' sports, female subjects reported a significantly higher level of pleasure, arousal, and dominance than their male counterparts. Possible explanations and implications are discussed.