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Is High Sex Drive Associated With Increased Sexual Attraction to Both Sexes?: It Depends on Whether
You Are Male or Female
Richard A. Lippa
Psychological Science 2006 17: 46
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2005.01663.x

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 P SY CH OL OG I C AL S CIE N CE
Research Article
Is High Sex Drive Associated
With Increased Sexual Attraction
to Both Sexes?
It Depends on Whether You Are Male or Female
Richard A. Lippa
California State University, Fullerton
ABSTRACT—If sex drive is a generalized energizer of sexual
behaviors, then high sex drive should increase an indi-
vidual’s sexual attraction to both men and women. If sex
drive energizes only dominant sexual responses, however,
then high sex drive should selectively increase attraction to
men or to women, but not to both, depending on the indi-
vidual’s sexual orientation. Data from three studies as-
sessing a total of 3,645 participants show that for most
women, high sex drive is associated with increased sexual
attraction to both men and women. For men, however, high
sex drive is associated with increased sexual attraction to
only one sex or the other, depending on the individual’s
sexual orientation. These results suggest that the corre-
lates of sex drive and the organization of sexual orientation
are different for women and men.
Classic learning theories of the mid-20th century proposed that
higher levels of drive increase the probability of dominant or
well-learned behaviors, but decrease the probability of non-
dominant or poorly learned behaviors (Hull, 1943; Spence,
1956; Zajonc, 1965). Although this hypothesis has received
empirical support for drives such as hunger and thirst, and for
the arousal that results from the presence of other people, it has
not been tested in relation to another powerful and socially
significant human drive—the sex drive.
The current research applied classic drive theory to human
sexual behavior, posing a basic question about the behavioral
correlates of individual differences in human sex drive. Are
Address correspondence to Richard Lippa, Psychology Department,
California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, CA 92834, e-mail:
rlippa@fullerton.edu.
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higher levels of sex drive associated with increased levels of
sexual attraction to both men and women (i.e., is sex drive a
generalized energizer of sexual attractions?), or are higher levels
of sex drive associated with increased sexual attraction to one
sex or the other, but not to both (i.e., does higher sex drive in-
crease the probability of dominant sexual responses, but not the
probability of nondominant sexual responses?)? The hypothesis
that follows most directly from classic drive theories is that
higher levels of sex drive are associated with increases in in-
dividuals’ dominant patterns of sexual attraction and response.
Thus, high-drive heterosexual men and women should show
increased attraction to other-sex but not to same-sex individu-
als, whereas high-drive homosexual men and women should
show increased attraction to same-sex but not to other-sex in-
dividuals.
However, this hypothesized pattern might differ for men and
women if other-sex and same-sex attractions are more strongly
dominant and nondominant in men than they are in women.
Previous research has in fact shown that men report more mu-
tually exclusive patterns of same-sex and other-sex attraction
than women do, and conversely, women report more bisexual
patterns of attraction than men do (Pattatucci, 1998). Related
research shows that same-sex attraction is often more negatively
correlated with other-sex attraction in men than in women
(Lippa, 2000; Lippa & Arad, 1997). A number of studies show
that, over the course of individuals’ lives, women tend to be more
flexible and variable in their same-sex and other-sex attractions
than men are, which suggests that same-sex and other-sex at-
tractions are less mutually exclusive for women than they are for
men (Baumeister, 2000; Diamond, 2000). Corroborating these
self-report data, recent physiological research shows that het-
erosexual men show genital arousal primarily to female sexual
stimuli, and homosexual men show genital arousal primarily to
Association
for Psychological
SOUTHERN Science 8, 2014
UNIVERSITY on December Volume 17—Number 1
 Richard A. Lippa
male sexual stimuli, whereas heterosexual and homosexual
women show genital arousal to both male and female sexual
stimuli (Chivers, Rieger, Latty, & Bailey, 2004).
Differences in the organization of men’s and women’s same-
sex and other-sex attractions may result, in part, from sex dif-
ferences in the physiological processes of masculinization and
feminization that underlie sexual orientation. Such sex differ-
ences could result if the neural and hormonal processes that
underlie the development of sexual orientation differ for men
and women. For example, perhaps there is more of a bisexual
‘‘default’’ neural structure in females, whereas masculinization
of neural structures in males, under the influence of androgens,
also entails defeminization of structures (see Hines, 2004, for a
recent review).
Social-environmental theories may also help explain why
men’s and women’s other-sex and same-sex attractions are pat-
terned differently. Many cultures construe men’s other-sex and
same-sex sexual attractions to be more binary and mutually
exclusive than they construe women’s corresponding attractions
to be (see Lippa & Tan, 2001). The ‘‘either-or’’ nature of male
sexual orientation may result, in part, from gender socialization
that is more rigid and rigorous for boys than for girls and from
socialization agents who disapprove more strongly of feminine
behaviors in boys and men than they do of masculine behaviors
in girls and women (Fagot & Hagan, 1991; Jacklin, DiPietro, &
Maccoby, 1984; Lippa, 2005). Such socialization pressures
could lead heterosexual men to suppress same-sex attractions
more than heterosexual women do.
Socialization processes may also influence the degree to
which sex and sex-linked physical traits are central to sexual
attraction. Peplau (2001) has argued that women tend more than
men to develop a person-centered and relationship-centered
orientation to sex, whereas men tend more than women to de-
velop a body-centered and recreational orientation to sex. Thus,
relative to men, women may be more attracted to partners’
personalities and their ability to provide satisfying emotional
and personal relationships, whereas relative to women, men may
be more attracted to partners’ physical traits and their potential
to provide satisfying sexual relationships (Diamond, 2003). By
implication, the traits that women find attractive in a sexual
partner may be less dependent on the potential partner’s sex
than is the case for men, whereas the traits that men find at-
tractive in a sexual partner may be more dependent on the po-
tential partner’s sex than is the case for women.
In the language of classic learning theories, the greater bi-
polarity of men’s sexual orientation implies that men’s attraction
to one sex tends to be strongly dominant, whereas their attraction
to the other sex tends to be strongly nondominant. In contrast,
women’s other-sex and same-sex attractions may not be as
strongly segregated into dominant and nondominant responses.
If other-sex and same-sex attractions are more polarized and
mutually exclusive in men than in women, then the association
between sex drive and same-sex and other-sex attractions may
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differ for men and women. Specifically, high sex drive in men
may be associated with increased sexual attraction to one sex or
the other, depending on the individual’s sexual orientation. For
women, in contrast, high sex drive may be associated with in-
creased sexual attraction to both sexes. Three studies were
conducted to test this hypothesis.
STUDY 1
Method
Participants in Study 1 were 1,735 college students (633 men
and 1,102 women). Seven hundred twenty-one were students in
four large human-sexuality classes at California State Univer-
sity, Fullerton (CSUF; see Lippa, 2000, Study 1), and 1,014 were
participants in a study on finger-length ratios and sexual ori-
entation (Lippa, 2003). Forty-two percent of participants were
White, 22% were Hispanic, 21% were Asian, and the remainder
fell into other categories. Participants’ median age was 22.
Participants completed an anonymous questionnaire that in-
cluded a number of personality scales, a ‘‘sexual attitudes and
behavior’’ scale, and a cover sheet that asked for demographic
information. They also reported their sexual orientation. The
scale measuring sexual attitudes and behavior included three
items used for the present study: ‘‘I am sexually attracted to
men,’’ ‘‘I am sexually attracted to women,’’ and ‘‘I have a strong
sex drive.’’ Participants used a 7-point scale (ranging from
strongly disagree to strongly agree) to respond to these items.
Results and Discussion
The analyses that follow are restricted to the 95% of men and the
97% of women who described themselves as heterosexual. Be-
cause the distributions of men’s and women’s responses to the
attraction-to-men and attraction-to-women items were quite
skewed, nonparametric correlations (Spearman’s r), as well as
Pearson product-moment correlations, are reported.
Table 1 presents, separately for men and women, means and
standard deviations for self-reported sex drive, attraction to
men, and attraction to women. Table 2 presents intercorrelations
of self-reported sex drive, attraction to men, and attraction to
women, for men (above the diagonal) and for women (below the
diagonal).
Men’s sex drive was significantly associated with their at-
traction to women, but not with their attraction to men, and the
difference between these correlations was significant, t(580) 5
4.05, p < .0001, using a t test for differences between corre-
lations when two variables are correlated with the same third
variable (see McNemar, 1962, p. 140; all tests are two-tailed
and, unless stated otherwise, computed for Spearman’s r). In
contrast, women’s sex drive was positively correlated with both
their attraction to men and their attraction to women, and these
two correlations did not differ significantly, t(1035) 5 1.52, n.s.
47
 Sex Drive and Sexual Attraction

TABLE 1 Study 2 extended these results by assessing samples of gay men

Participants’ Mean Sex Drive, Attraction to Men, and Attraction and lesbian women.
to Women

Attraction Attraction STUDY 2

Group Sex drive to men to women
Study 1 Method
Heterosexual men 5.65 (1.43) 1.31 (1.01) 6.73 (0.93) Most of the gay and lesbian participants in Study 2 were vol-
Heterosexual women 4.74 (1.63) 6.61 (1.00) 1.47 (1.13) unteers from gay and lesbian clubs, political organizations, and
Study 2
student organizations in southern California (see Lippa, 2000,
Gay men 5.77 (1.24) 6.80 (0.72) 1.86 (1.53)
Lesbian women 4.53 (1.85) 2.66 (1.78) 6.53 (1.27) Study 2). Fifteen gay men and 11 lesbian women from Study 1
Study 3 served as additional participants. Of the 111 gay men in Study 2
Heterosexual men 0.40 (0.76) 1.22 (0.47) 6.53 (0.55) (median age 5 31), 57% were White, 27% were Asian, 11%
Heterosexual women 0.30 (0.91) 5.49 (0.79) 2.25 (1.07) were Hispanic, and the remainder fell into other categories. Of
Gay men 0.39 (0.68) 6.46 (0.66) 1.60 (0.75) the 58 lesbian women in Study 3 (median age 5 36), 70% were
Lesbian women 0.17 (1.00) 1.87 (0.91) 6.31 (0.70) White, 12% were Hispanic, 7% were Asian, and the remainder
Note. Standard deviations are in parentheses. For Study 3, sex-drive scores fell into other categories. Participants completed an anonymous
are expressed as Z scores. questionnaire that included the items described in Study 1.

The negative correlation between attraction to men and at-

traction to women was stronger for men than for women (Z 5
5.00, p < .0001). This sex difference was even stronger when
homosexual participants (15 men and 11 women) and bisexual
participants (14 men and 24 women) were included in analyses
(men’s r 5 .51, p < .001; women’s r 5 .17, p < .001; Z
difference 5 7.90, p < .0001).
On average, heterosexual men reported having higher levels
of sex drive than heterosexual women (see means in Table 1),
t(1621) 5 11.28, p < .0001, d 5 0.58. Also, women’s self-re-
ported levels of sex drive were significantly more variable than
men’s, F(1, 1621) 5 12.58, p < .001 (Levene’s test for equality of
variances).
Overall, the results of Study 1 showed that, for heterosexual
men, sex drive correlated with attraction to women, but not with
attraction to men. For heterosexual women, in contrast, sex drive
correlated with both attraction to men and attraction to women.
Results and Discussion
The bottom panel of Table 2 presents findings for gay men (above
the diagonal) and for lesbian women (below the diagonal). Gay
men’s sex drive was significantly associated with their attraction
to men, but not with their attraction to women, and the difference
between these correlations was significant, t(107) 5 2.58, p <
.05. In contrast, lesbian women’s sex drive tended to be posi-
tively correlated with their attraction to both men and women,
and the magnitude of these correlations did not differ signifi-
cantly, t(54) 5 0.43, n.s. The correlation between sex drive
and other-sex attraction was positive for lesbian women and
negative for gay men; however, these correlations did not differ
(Z 5 1.50, n.s.). Correlations between sex drive and same-sex
attraction and correlations between same-sex and other-sex at-
traction also did not differ significantly between lesbian women
and gay men.

TABLE 2
Intercorrelations of Sex Drive, Attraction to Men, and Attraction to Women in Study 1 and
Study 2

Sex drive Attraction to men Attraction to women

Measure r r r r r r
Study 1: heterosexual men and women
Sex drive — — .08 .07 .23nnn .21nnn
Attraction to men .27nnn .26nnn — — .49nnn .38nnn
Attraction to women .21nnn .19nnn .08n .13nnn — —

Study 2: gay men and lesbian women

Sex drive — — .29nn .28nn .07 .11
Attraction to men .21 .14 — — .34nnn .37nnn
Attraction to women .28n .23w .26w .29n — —

Note. In Study 1, n 5 583–584 for men and n 5 1,038–1,040 for women. In Study 2, n 5 110–111 for gay men and n 5
57–58 for lesbian women. Correlations above the diagonal are for men, and those below the diagonal are for women.
w
p < .1. np < .05. nnp < .01. nnnp < .001.

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 Richard A. Lippa
On average, gay men reported having higher levels of sex
drive than lesbian women did, t(167) 5 5.16, p < .0001, d 5
0.84, and lesbian women’s self-reported sex drive was signifi-
cantly more variable than gay men’s, F(1, 167) 5 19.93, p <
.0001 (Levene’s test of equality for variances). (See Table 1.)
Overall, the results of Study 2 showed that gay men’s sex drive
correlated with their attraction to men, but not with their at-
traction to women. However, the correlations between sex drive
and same-sex attraction and between sex drive and other-sex
attraction did not differ for lesbian women. One limitation of
Studies 1 and 2 is that they employed single-item measures of sex
drive, attraction to men, and attraction to women. To address this
problem, Study 3 employed more reliable, multi-item measures.
STUDY 3
Method
Participants in Study 3 were 1,767 individuals (687 men and
1,080 women) who participated in an Internet survey on ‘‘sexual
attitudes and interests’’ between June 16, 2003, and November
16, 2004. Fifty-eight percent of participants were White, 17%
were Hispanic, 13% were Asian, and the remainder fell into other
categories. The participants’ median age was 20. Most partici-
pants were CSUF psychology students who completed the survey
for subject-participation credit. However, 28% of survey re-
spondents were not from California, indicating that there were also
many non-CSUF participants. Forty-one participants (2.3% of the
total sample) were excluded from analyses because they indicated
on the survey that they had not answered questions honestly.
The Internet survey included a ‘‘sexual attitudes and feelings’’
scale, the Sexual Desire Inventory (Spector, Carey, & Steinberg,
1996), and questions about demographic information and par-
ticipants’ sexual orientation. The Sexual Desire Inventory in-
cludes a subscale assessing ‘‘dyadic sexual desire’’ (i.e., sex
drive directed toward partners); scores on this subscale were
used for the analyses presented here. The 34-item ‘‘sexual at-
titudes and feelings’’ scale included additional items assessing
sex drive, as well as items that assessed attraction to men and
attraction to women. A principal components analysis with
varimax rotation identified subsets of these 34 items that tapped
attraction to men, attraction to women, and sex drive (scale items
are listed in Table 3).
Results and Discussion
Reliabilities (Cronbach’s alpha) were computed for all scales—
for all participants, men, and women. All alphas exceeded .80,
except for the 5-item drive scale (see Table 3), computed for men
(a 5 .73). Because the two self-report sex-drive scales (the
dyadic sexual-desire subscale and the 5-item scale presented in
Table 3) were substantially correlated (r 5 .70, p < .001),
participants’ scores on these two sex-drive scales were converted
to Z scores and averaged to form one composite sex-drive score
(a 5 .82).
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TABLE 3
Items Included in the Sex-Drive, Attraction-to-Men, and
Attraction-to-Women Scales Used in Study 3
Sex drive
I have a strong sex drive.
I frequently think about sex.
It doesn’t take much to get me sexually excited.
I think about sex almost every day.
Sexual pleasure is the most intense pleasure a person can have.
Attraction to men
I am sexually attracted to men more than women.
I am sexually attracted to men.
I fantasize a lot about having sex with men.
I think the male body is sexy to look at.
I enjoy looking at magazines like Playgirl (magazines that have
pictures of nude men).
I am romantically attracted to men.
I fantasize a lot about romantic relations with men.
If I am in a setting where there are lots of attractive people, I spend
more time looking at men than at women.
If I were looking through a catalog with pictures of sexy swimsuit
models, I would spend more time looking at the men than at the
women.
Attraction to women
I am sexually attracted to women more than men.
I am sexually attracted to women.
I fantasize a lot about having sex with women.
I think the female body is sexy to look at.
I enjoy looking at magazines like Playboy (magazines that have
pictures of nude women).
I am romantically attracted to women.
I fantasize a lot about romantic relations with women.
If I am in a setting where there are lots of attractive people, I spend
more time looking at women than at men.
If I were looking through a catalog with pictures of sexy swimsuit
models, I would spend more time looking at the women than at the
men.
Note. These items come from the ‘‘sexual attitudes and feelings’’ scale. Par-
ticipants rated their degree of disagreement or agreement with the items on a
7-point scale that ranged from strongly disagree to strongly agree.
Table 1 presents means and standard deviations for the
measures of sex drive, attraction to men, and attraction to women,
separately for heterosexual men and women and for gay men and
lesbians. Table 4 presents intercorrelations of self-reported sex
drive, attraction to men, and attraction to women, both for men
(above the diagonal) and for women (below the diagonal).
Once again, heterosexual men’s sex drive was significantly
associated with their attraction to women, but not with their
attraction to men, and the difference between these correlations
was significant, t(579) 5 8.34, p < .0001. In contrast, hetero-
sexual women’s sex drive was positively correlated with both
their attraction to men and their attraction to women. However,
the first correlation was slightly larger than the second, t(934) 5
1.85, p 5 .06.
The correlation between heterosexual men’s sex drive and
their other-sex attraction was stronger than the corresponding
49
 Sex Drive and Sexual Attraction

TABLE 4
Intercorrelations of Multi-Item Measures of Sex Drive, Attraction to Men, and Attraction to
Women in Study 3

Sex drive Attraction to men Attraction to women

Measure r r r r r r
Heterosexual men and women
Sex drive — — .01 .01 .52nnn .47nnn
Attraction to men .32nnn .38nnn — — .31nnn .13nn
Attraction to women .30nnn .30nnn .29nnn .20nnn — —

Gay men and lesbian women

Sex drive — — .44nn .38nn .31n .18
Attraction to men .09 .13 — — .56nnn .32n
Attraction to women .62nnn .60nnn .20 .21 — —

Note. n 5 582 for heterosexual men, n 5 937–938 for heterosexual women, n 5 48 for gay men, and n 5 45 for
lesbian women. Correlations above the diagonals are for men, and those below the diagonals are for women.
n
p < .05. nnp < .01. nnnp < .001.

correlation for women (Z 5 2.17, p < .05). In contrast, the cor-
relation between heterosexual women’s sex drive and their same-
sex attraction was much stronger than the corresponding cor-
relation for men (Z 5 5.56, p < .0001). Finally, the negative
correlation between attraction to men and attraction to women
did not differ between heterosexual men and women (Z 5
0.37, n.s., for Pearson rs and Z 5 1.38, n.s., for Spearman rs).
The bottom panel of Table 4 shows that gay men’s sex drive
was significantly associated with their attraction to men, but was
negatively associated with their attraction to women, and these
two correlations differed significantly, t(45) 5 2.51, p < .05.
Lesbian women’s sex drive was positively correlated with their
attraction to women, but not with their attraction to men, and
these two correlations also differed significantly, t(42) 5 3.78,
p < .001. Correlations between same-sex and other-sex attrac-
tion did not differ significantly for lesbian women and gay men.
On average, heterosexual men reported having substantially
higher levels of sex drive than heterosexual women did, t(1518)
5 15.60, p < .0001, d 5 0.82. Heterosexual women’s levels of
sex drive were again significantly more variable than hetero-
sexual men’s, F(1, 1518) 5 29.51, p < .0001 (Levene’s test of
equality for variances). Gay men and lesbian women did not
differ on sex drive, t(93) 5 1.24, n.s.; however, lesbians’ levels of
sex drive were more variable than gay men’s, F(1, 93) 5 4.48,
p < .05 (Levene’s test of equality for variances).
Figure 1 presents scatter plots, for all men (top panel) and for
all women (bottom panel), that place individuals in the two-di-
mensional space defined by their degree of attraction to men and
their degree of attraction to women. Visual inspection of these
plots suggests that women were more evenly spread between the
two most populated poles (high attraction to women and low
attraction to men at the upper left corner, and low attraction to
women and high attraction to men at the lower right corner). This
sex difference was quantified by computing each participant’s
euclidean distance from the midpoint of the space. All men and
all women differed substantially on this measure (M 5 3.72 for
men and 2.53 for women), t(1708) 5 32.44, p < .0001, d 5 1.61,
as did heterosexual men and women specifically (M 5 3.79 for
heterosexual males and 2.53 for heterosexual females), t(1517)
5 34.44, p < .0001, d 5 1.82. However, homosexual men and
women differed only slightly in their distance from the midpoint
(M 5 3.49 for gay males and 3.26 for lesbians), t(93) 5 1.45,
one-tailed p 5 .08, d 5 0.30.
The absolute value of the difference between an individual’s
attraction to men and his or her attraction to women served as
another measure of the bipolarity of same-sex and other-sex
attraction. All men and all women differed substantially on this
measure, t(1708) 5 30.32, p < .0001, d 5 1.51, as did hetero-
sexual men and women specifically, t(1517) 5 32.89, p < .0001,
d 5 1.74. However, homosexual men and women differed only
slightly, t(93) 5 1.55, one-tailed p 5 .06, d 5 0.32.
Men’s sex drive correlated significantly with the absolute
difference between their attraction to men and their attraction to
women (all men: r 5 .28, p < .001; heterosexual men: r 5 .35,
p < .001; gay men: r 5 .42, p < .01). Thus, for men, higher
sex drive was associated with greater polarization of same-sex
and other-sex attractions. In general, women’s sex drive did
not correlate with their absolute difference scores (all women:
r 5 .01, n.s.; heterosexual women: r 5 .01, n.s.). However,
lesbian women’s sex drive did correlate with their absolute
difference scores (r 5 .43, p < .01). Thus, for most women,
higher sex drive was not associated with greater polarization of
same-sex and other-sex attraction, but lesbian women provided
an exception to this pattern.
In summary, the results for heterosexual participants in Study
3 replicated the findings of Study 1, and the results for gay men
in Study 3 replicated the findings of Study 2. However, the data
for lesbians in Study 3 suggested more strongly than results from
Study 2 that lesbian women had the male-typical pattern: Higher
sex drive was associated with their dominant (same-sex) sexual
attraction, but not with their nondominant (other-sex) sexual
attraction. Finally, Study 3 provided strong evidence that men’s

50 Downloaded from pss.sagepub.com at TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY on December 8, 2014 Volume 17—Number 1
 Richard A. Lippa
Fig. 1. Results from Study 3: scatter plot of men (top panel) and women
(bottom panel) in the two-dimensional space defined by their attraction to
men (x-axis) and their attraction to women (y-axis).
same-sex and other-sex attractions were organized in a more
bipolar fashion than women’s same-sex and other-sex attractions
were. Furthermore, high sex drive was associated with greater
polarization of same-sex and other-sex attraction for all men,
heterosexual men, gay men, and lesbian women, but there was
no association between sex drive and polarization of same-sex
and other-sex attraction for all women or for heterosexual
women.
GENERAL DISCUSSION
Studies 1 and 3 showed that, for heterosexual men, sex drive
correlated with attraction to women, but not with attraction to
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men. For heterosexual women, in contrast, sex drive correlated
with both attraction to women and attraction to men. Thus, for
heterosexual women, sex drive seems to act as a generalized
energizer of sexual attractions to both women and men. For
heterosexual men, in contrast, sex drive seems to energize only
dominant attractions. In addition, all three studies corroborated
previous findings that there are significant sex differences in sex
drive (Baumeister, Catanese, & Vohs, 2001).
In Studies 2 and 3, the pattern for gay men was the converse of
that for heterosexual men—gay men’s sex drive was correlated
with attraction to men, but not with attraction to women. Thus,
gay men showed the male-typical pattern—that sex drive en-
ergizes dominant, but not nondominant attractions. However,
what constituted dominant and nondominant attraction was re-
versed for gay and heterosexual men.
Lesbian women were the one group that showed somewhat
inconsistent results. In both Studies 2 and 3, there was evidence
that higher sex drive was associated with greater attraction to
women among lesbians. In Study 2, the correlations between
lesbians’ self-reported sex drive and attraction to men were
nonsignificant but positive, whereas in Study 3, the corre-
sponding correlations were nonsignificant but negative. In Study
3, lesbian women strongly showed the male-typical pattern of
heterosexual and gay men—higher sex drive was associated
with their dominant attraction, but not with their nondominant
attraction. One possible explanation for these differences across
studies is that some subgroups of lesbians (e.g., ‘‘butch’’ lesbi-
ans) show more male-typical traits than others (see Singh, Vi-
daurri, Zambarano, & Dabbs, 1999), and Studies 2 and 3 may
have sampled somewhat different lesbian subpopulations.
In general, the current results show that for most women (with
the possible exception of lesbian women), high sex drive is as-
sociated with increased sexual attraction to both men and
women. For men, however, high sex drive is associated with
increased sexual attraction to only one sex or the other, de-
pending on the individual’s sexual orientation. These findings
are consistent with the hypothesis that sexual orientation is or-
ganized differently in women and men. Indeed, the current data
provide new evidence that men’s same-sex and other-sex at-
tractions are much more polarized than women’s. Furthermore,
among men, higher sex drive is associated with greater polari-
zation of same-sex and other sex attractions. However, most
women (again, with the possible exception of lesbian women) do
not show this pattern.
The current research suggests that classic drive theories may
be usefully applied to the study of sex drive and sexual orien-
tation. Future research can investigate the degree to which the
current findings apply to other populations (e.g., to other age
groups, to participants from other countries and cultures) and to
physiological as well as to self-report measures of sexual at-
traction. In addition, experimental studies can investigate
whether independent variables that influence sex drive (e.g.,
manipulated testosterone levels, exposure to erotic stimuli)
51
 Sex Drive and Sexual Attraction
affect same-sex and other-sex attractions differently in men and
women.
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(RECEIVED 6/1/04; REVISION ACCEPTED 3/3/05;
FINAL MATERIALS RECEIVED 3/18/05)
Volume 17—Number 1