Male sexual arousal with repeated exposure to erotic stimuli.

Twenty-four men were exposed to erotic material of matched content across five sessions, each separated by 24 hours or more. The stimulation within a session consisted of eight 12-minute episodes depicting heterosexual activities. Both penile circumference and subjective sexual arousal varied significantly across the segments within a session. However, neither response measure showed habituation across sessions. Participation in the study did not modify the extralaboratory sexual behaviors of subjects. These results are discussed with reference to stimulus, subject, context, and measurement variables that potentially influence the extent to which repeated exposure to erotic material affects sexual arousal within the laboratory and sexual activity outside the laboratory.