Optimizing assessment of sexual arousal in postmenopausal women using erotic film clips

Objectives This study sought to assess sexual arousal in a subgroup of women by identifying erotic film clips that would be most mentally appealing and physically arousing to postmenopausal women. Study design By measuring levels of mental appeal and self-reported physical arousal using a bidirectional scale, we aimed to elucidate the clips that would best be utilized for sexual health research in the postmenopausal or over 50-year-old subpopulation. Results Our results showed that postmenopausal women did not rate clips with older versus younger actors differently (p > 0.05). The mean mental and mean physical scores were significantly correlated for both premenopausal subject ratings (r = 0.69, p < 0.001) and postmenopausal subject ratings (r = 0.94, p < 0.001). Conclusions Thus postmenopausal women do not show a preference for the age of actors used in erotic film clips; this knowledge is relevant for design of future sexual function research.