There are problems generalizing from these results. College students are more permissive towards sexuality than many other groups. Those in north-western Europe seem to be more permissive than their American counterparts. Studies such as Schmidt and Sigusch's do show though that there is nothing inevitable about a sex difference in reactions to erotic materials.
OK fine but I know that some people may believe than women may be more likely to lie or at least to be evasive about their response to pornography or that women may be less sensitive to physiological signs of arousal. The answer may come from Julia Heiman a psychologist who got round these problems by recording the actual physiological responses of college men and women while listening to taped erotic stories.
Men wore a flexible circlet (like a rubber band) around the base of the penis. The device called a strain gauge is filled with mercury and measures blood volume and pressure pulse, recording the slightest sign of erection. Women got a newly designed device called a photoplethysmograph which is a small acrylic cylinder containing photocell and light source. When inserted into the vagina the device registers changes in blood volume and pressure pulse, early indications if sexual arousal.
