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The notion that men are "hard-wired" by evolution to spread their seed while women are predisposed to seek monogamous relationships has been around for years. The feminist denial of biological differences between men and women can certainly go to extremes. Yet to some extent, the feminist critique is on target. Particularly by the time it trickles down into popular culture, the evolutionary view of male and female behavior can often be simplistic and divisive. The new study, conducted by Bradley University psychologist David Schmitt and published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, is impressive in its scope: It involved 16,288 college students from 50 countries in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Men and women were asked how many partners they would like to have in the next month. The average response from men was 1.87 and from women, 0.78; more than a quarter of men and just five percent of women said they wanted more than one partner in the next month. Over the next 10 years, men wanted an average of nearly six partners; women, just over two. Since the greater male preference for sexual variety was found in every country included in the study, some evolutionary psychologists have hailed the Schmitt study as definitive, irrefutable evidence that these differences are indeed biological. Not so fast, critics say. Some degree of a sexual double standard that stigmatizes promiscuity for women but encourages it for men exists in every one of the cultures included in the study. It's not surprising that women's and men's responses would reflect these attitudes. A man may feel that expressing a desire for more sexual partners makes him look more virile; a woman may feel that it makes her look like a slut. Consider another recent study by Ohio State University psychologist Terri Fisher, appearing in the Journal of Sex Research. Fisher had college students fill out questionnaires about their sexual experiences and attitudes. A new study suggests that men and women might not be as far apart in sexual behaviors as previous research has shown. In many surveys, men typically report engaging in sex at earlier age, more often, and with more sexual partners than do women. However, a new study shows that some reported gender differences might show up because women don’t always answer surveys honestly, but give answers they believe are expected of them. “Women are sensitive to social expectations for their sexual behavior and may be less than totally honest when asked about their behavior in some survey conditions,” said Terri Fisher, co-author of the study and associate professor of psychology at Ohio State University’s Mansfield campus. In this study, the researchers asked men and women about their sexual attitudes and behaviors under several different testing conditions – including one in which the participants believed they were connected to a lie detector machine. Women’s answers were closer to men’s in some areas of sexual behavior when they thought lies could be detected. Men’s answers didn’t change as much as did women’s under different testing conditions. “Our results may reflect currently shifting gender roles in which women don’t feel as strong a need to meet certain expectations about their sexual behavior.” The participants were split into three groups, based on the different conditions under which they completed the questionnaires. In one group, the researchers placed electrodes on the participants’ hand, forearms and neck and the participants were told they were being attached to a polygraph (lie detector) machine. However, the polygraph was an old model that didn’t actually work. Although the participants filled out written questionnaires, they were told the polygraph was sensitive enough to detect dishonesty even in written responses. The participants were left alone in a room to answer their questionnaires. A second group filled out the sex surveys alone in a room and were told their answers would be completely anonymous. In the third group, participants were led to believe that the researcher might view their responses and the researcher sat right outside the testing room with the door open. In general, the researchers found that women who thought their answers might be seen by others tended to give answers that were more socially acceptable than did women who thought they were connected to a lie detector. For example, women who thought their answers might be read reported an average of 2.6 sexual partners. But those who thought they were monitored by a lie detector reported an average of 4.4 sexual partners. Women who were not attached to the lie detector, but who had privacy during testing, gave answers in the middle – an average of 3.4 sexual partners. Men’s answers didn’t vary as widely. Men who thought they were attached to a polygraph reported an average of 4.0 sexual partners, compared to 3.7 partners for those who thought their answers might be seen. The study showed more differences between men and women in sexual attitudes than in sexual behavior. One reason that the study didn’t show more differences in behavior seems to be because the sex differences the researchers sought to explain aren’t particularly strong anymore. But there is no reason to believe that this legacy is impervious to social change. In Schmitt's study, sex differences were consistent across cultures yet women's and men's choices were more similar in more egalitarian societies. Other research shows that while men are more interested in casual sex than women, the ideal for the vast majority of women and men alike is sex in a loving, monogamous relationship. However, the results show there are still gender differences and these differences need to be taken into account in a variety of ways. Based on these findings, a doctor may need to ask female patients about their sexual behavior in different ways than they would for male patients. There is, obviously, no benefit in denying real gender differences. But sex stereotypes that are the stuff of late-night comedy routines don't help, either. Too often, they obscure what we all have in common as human beings. Cathy Young is a Reason contributing editor.  TopBack Your comment |
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