There was a recent psychological study where they studied men and
women of various self-described sexual orientations. They placed
instruments that could directly measure their sexual arousal when they
were watching various erotic films. Basically, men were turned on
according to their self-described orientation. But women were turned
on, regardless of orientation, by all different types of erotic movies
(gay, heterosexual, m/m, f/f). I am curious to find this paper. It was
published in the last couple years.
If someone locates a solid review paper/website covering this subject,
that'd be great but not necessary.

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 25 Jan 2005 17:37 PST

Is this the study to which you refer? If so, I'll be glad to gather
more info about it:

"A new Northwestern University study boosts the relatively limited
research on women's sexuality with a surprisingly different finding
regarding women's sexual arousal.

In contrast to men, both heterosexual and lesbian women tend to become
sexually aroused by both male and female erotica, and, thus, have a
bisexual arousal pattern.

'These findings likely represent a fundamental difference between
men's and women's brains and have important implications for
understanding how sexual orientation development differs between men
and women,' said J. Michael Bailey, professor and chair of psychology
at Northwestern and senior researcher of the study 'A Sex Difference
in the Specificity of Sexual Arousal.' The study is forthcoming in the
journal Psychological Science."

http://www.aphroditewomenshealth.com/news/20030515235025_health_news.shtml

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 27 Jan 2005 11:10 PST

Have you had time to review the article linked above? The Northwestern
study closely resembles the study you've described.

http://www.psych.nwu.edu/psych/people/faculty/bailey/Publications/Chivers%20et%20al%20(final).pdf

I can find more material about this study, if you think it's the correct one.

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Clarification of Question by thedreamster-ga on 27 Jan 2005 16:13 PST

pinkfreud, you got it. Thank you. I think you may need to post it as
an answer for me to be able to transfer payment.
btw was there any other particularly worthwhile sites on the subject
you found while on your search? thanks again.

I'm glad to learn that my findings were useful. I've reposted the link
to the Northwestern study below:

Northwestern University
http://www.psych.nwu.edu/psych/people/faculty/bailey/Publications/Chivers%20et%20al%20(final).pdf

This article about the study may also be of interest:

Science Daily: Study Suggests Difference Between Female And Male Sexuality
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/06/030613075252.htm

Below is the combination of search terms that led me to several
webpages which mentioned the Northwestern study. You may want to
browse through these results to see whether you can find additional
material that would be of use:

Google Web Search: "sexual arousal" difference women measured
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22sexual+arousal%22+difference+women+measured

I hope this helps. If anything is unclear or incomplete, please
request clarification; I'll gladly offer further assistance before you
rate my answer.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

excellent fast work!

Using some keywords in your question I found the following article in
Google Scholar:

Journal: Archives of Sexual Behavior
Volume 32 issue(3): 243-251, June 2003 

Selecting Films for Sex Research: Gender Differences in Erotic Film Preference

Erick Janssen 
The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction,
Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. Department of Psychology,
Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana; ejanssen@indiana.edu


Deanna Carpenter 
Department of Psychology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 


Cynthia A. Graham 
The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction,
Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. Department of Gender
Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

Abstract 

The aim of this study was to explore gender differences in sexual
responsiveness to erotic films that had been selected for their
differential appeal for men and women. A secondary objective was to
identify variables that influence sexual arousal and explore whether
these variables differ for men and women. Fifteen men (M age = 26 yrs)
and 17 women (M age = 24 yrs) were presented with 20 film clips
depicting heterosexual interactions, half of which were female- and
the other half male-selected, and were asked to rate the clips on a
number of dimensions. Overall, men found the film clips more sexually
arousing than did the women. Gender differences in arousal were
negligible for female-selected clips but substantial for male-selected
clips. Furthermore, men and women experienced higher levels of sexual
arousal to clips selected for individuals of their own gender. Cluster
regression analyses, explaining 77% of the variance for male and 65%
for female participants, revealed that men's sexual arousal was
dependent upon the attractiveness of the female actor, feeling
interested, and both ?imagining oneself as a participant? and
?watching as an observer.? For women, with all variables entered, only
?imagining oneself as a participant? contributed to sexual arousal
ratings. The findings suggest that how films are selected in sex
research is an important variable in predicting levels of sexual
arousal reported by men and women.