Fifty Shades of Unsaid: Women’s Explicit and Implicit Attitudes Towards Sexual Morality

Authors

  • Tiziana Lanciano
    Department of Education, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari “A. Moro”, Bari, Italy
  • Emanuela Soleti
    Department of Education, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari “A. Moro”, Bari, Italy
  • Francesca Guglielmi
    Department of Education, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari “A. Moro”, Bari, Italy
  • Ivan Mangiulli
    Department of Education, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari “A. Moro”, Bari, Italy
  • Antonietta Curci
    Department of Education, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari “A. Moro”, Bari, Italy

Abstract

The movie Fifty Shades of Grey has created a great deal of controversy which has reignited the debate on unusual and alternative sexual practices such as bondage. Erotophobic individuals have negative affect towards the type of sexual libertinism conveyed by the movie, while erotophilic persons have a positive attitude and emotional feelings towards this kind of sexual emancipation. Using the Implicit Association Test, this study aimed to explore the extent to which there is a difference in women's attitudes towards sexual morality on an explicit and implicit level. Our findings found that erotophobic and erotophilic women differed only on an explicit level of sex guilt and moral evaluation, while no difference in the implicit measure was found.