IngentaConnect Tops, bottoms and versatiles

Authors: Moskowitz, David¹; Rieger, Gerulf²; Roloff, Michael³

Source: Sexual & Relationship Therapy, Volume 23, Number 3, August 2008 , pp. 191-202(12)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

Abstract:

Amongst gay men, the self-label - top, bottom or versatile - reflects the sexual role preference during anal intercourse. This study explored whether this label could predict preferences for other sexual behaviors and the roles within those behaviors. First, the accuracy of the sexual self-label was tested. We confirmed that tops strongly preferred insertive anal intercourse; bottoms, receptive anal intercourse; and versatiles, both behaviors. Further tests showed that sexual self-label was indeed correlated with corresponding roles within sexual behaviors aside from intercourse, e.g. insertive urination or receptive fisting. About 75% of these sexual behaviors followed posited trends: tops being insertive; bottoms, receptive; and versatiles, between the two. Finally, within groups, tops were found to strongly prefer playing insertive rather than receptive roles; bottoms strongly prefer playing receptive to insertive roles; and versatiles were found to have an equal preference for playing both.

Keywords: sexual self-identity; sex roles; gay men; sexual behaviors

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1080/14681990802027259

Affiliations: 1: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Center for AIDS Intervention Research, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, US 2: Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, US 3: Department of Communication Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, US

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