TY - JOUR

T1 - The risks and benefits of technologised sexual practice scale

T2 - a quantitative measure of technology facilitated sex and intimacy

AU - Moor, Lily

AU - Anderson, Joel R.

AU - Power, Jennifer

AU - James, Alexandra

AU - Waling, Andrea

AU - Shackleton, Nicole

A2 - Tang, Weiming

PY - 2023/11/16

Y1 - 2023/11/16

N2 - BackgroundTechnologies such as the Internet, smartphones, and sex toys have demonstrated the capacity to facilitate and enhance sexual and intimate practice by offering new ways to meet sexual partners, maintain and establish intimate connections, and providing access to sexual education and exposure to new ways of engaging in sex. They have also afforded novel risks to safety, privacy, and sexual autonomy. Understanding how people perceive and experience both the risks and benefits of using technology to facilitate sex and intimacy is important to understanding contemporary sexual practice, health, and pleasure. However, research in this space is currently hampered by a lack of quantitative measures to accurately and holistically assess both the risks and benefits in the context of technologised sexual practices.MethodsTo facilitate a nuanced quantitative exploration of these concepts, we present the psychometric properties of the newly developed Risks and Benefits of Technologised Sexual Practice Scale.ResultsUsing an exploratory (Study 1, n = 445) and confirmatory factor analysis (Study 2, n = 500), this paper presents evidence for a 6-factor scale (Benefits (3): ‘sexual gratification’, ‘connection’, and ‘access to information and culture’; Risks (3): ‘concerns’, ‘worries’, and ‘knowledge of rights and ownership’).ConclusionThis scale may be used to contribute to research areas including sexual health, sexual behaviour, sexual education, online connection, online safety, and digital literacy with the aim to contribute to a sex- and technology-positive framework for understanding sexual health and pleasure.

AB - BackgroundTechnologies such as the Internet, smartphones, and sex toys have demonstrated the capacity to facilitate and enhance sexual and intimate practice by offering new ways to meet sexual partners, maintain and establish intimate connections, and providing access to sexual education and exposure to new ways of engaging in sex. They have also afforded novel risks to safety, privacy, and sexual autonomy. Understanding how people perceive and experience both the risks and benefits of using technology to facilitate sex and intimacy is important to understanding contemporary sexual practice, health, and pleasure. However, research in this space is currently hampered by a lack of quantitative measures to accurately and holistically assess both the risks and benefits in the context of technologised sexual practices.MethodsTo facilitate a nuanced quantitative exploration of these concepts, we present the psychometric properties of the newly developed Risks and Benefits of Technologised Sexual Practice Scale.ResultsUsing an exploratory (Study 1, n = 445) and confirmatory factor analysis (Study 2, n = 500), this paper presents evidence for a 6-factor scale (Benefits (3): ‘sexual gratification’, ‘connection’, and ‘access to information and culture’; Risks (3): ‘concerns’, ‘worries’, and ‘knowledge of rights and ownership’).ConclusionThis scale may be used to contribute to research areas including sexual health, sexual behaviour, sexual education, online connection, online safety, and digital literacy with the aim to contribute to a sex- and technology-positive framework for understanding sexual health and pleasure.

U2 - 10.1071/SH23034

DO - 10.1071/SH23034

M3 - Journal article

VL - 21

JO - Sexual Health

JF - Sexual Health

M1 - SH23034

ER -