Terri Fisher, professor of psychology, Mansfield campus, is author of a new study showing that men and women lie about their sexual behavior to match the expectations of gender stereotypes. Fisher’s research is published in the journal Sex Roles.

The study of 293 college students between the ages of 18 and 25 found that both men and women would admit to participating in behaviors that were not gender stereotypical in all areas of life but sex.

Men were willing to admit that they sometimes engaged in behaviors seen by college students as more appropriate for women, such as writing poetry. The same was true for women, who didn’t hide the fact that they told obscene jokes, or sometimes participated in other “male-type” deeds. But when it came to sex, men wanted to be seen as “real men:” the kind who had many partners and a lot of sexual experience. Women, on the other hand, wanted to be seen as having less sexual experience than they actually had, to match what is expected of women.

“There is something unique about sexuality that led people to care more about matching the stereotypes for their gender,” said Fisher.

Read the entire press release, courtesy of Jeff Grabmeier, director, Ohio State Research and Innovation Communications.