The effects of sex and handedness on masturbation laterality and other lateralised motor behaviours

Masturbation is a common human behaviour. Compared to other unimanual behaviours it has unique properties, including increased sexual and emotional arousal, and privacy. Self-reported hand preference for masturbation was examined in 104 left-handed and 103 right-handed women, and 100 left-handed and 99 right-handed men. Handedness (modified Edinburgh Handedness Inventory, EHI), footedness, eyedness, and cheek kissing preferences were also measured. Seventy nine percent used their dominant hand (always/usually) for masturbation, but left-handers (71.5%) were less consistently lateralised to use their dominant hand than right-handers (86.5%). Hand preference for masturbation correlated more strongly with handedness (EHI), than with footedness, eyedness, or cheek preference. There was no difference in masturbation frequency between left and right-handers, but men masturbated more frequently than women, and more women (75%) than men (33%) masturbated with sex aids. For kissing the preferred cheek of an emotionally close person from the viewer’s perspective, left-handers showed a left-cheek preference, and right-handers a weaker right-cheek preference. The results suggest that hemispheric asymmetries in emotion do not influence hand preference for masturbation but may promote a leftward shift in cheek kissing. In all, masturbation is lateralised in a similar way to other manual motor behaviours in left-handed and right-handed men and women.

Citation

Rodway, P., Thoma, V., & Schepman, A. (2022). The effects of sex and handedness on masturbation laterality and other lateralized motor behaviours. Laterality, 27(3), 324-352. https://doi.org/10.1080/1357650X.2021.2006211

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Journal

Laterality

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10034/626932

DOI

10.1080/1357650X.2021.2006211

Type

Article

Description

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Laterality on 26/11/2021, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/1357650X.2021.2006211

ISSN

1357-650X

EISSN

1464-0678

Additional Links

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1357650X.2021.2006211