Mechanisms behind the moralisation, avoidance, and punishment of promiscuous women: integrating evolutionary and feminist perspectives

Abstract

The suppression of female sexuality is a topic of much controversy, yet it is as relevant today as it was when the first legal codes were written. Across history and cultures, more scrutiny has been placed on women and their bodies and sexual lives than on men’s. Two main psychological approaches seek to understand this phenomenon. The evolutionary approach argues female sexuality suppression is done in ways that favour both men’s and other women’s mating strategies. The feminist approach states that most societies have been founded on patriarchy, with laws and systems set in place by men and for men, who seek to keep women as subordinates. While these two theories are often antagonistic, this thesis seeks to describe and illustrate how they can be integrated and simultaneously tested, either to see if one receives more support, or if both can uniquely contribute in explaining female sexuality suppression. Chapter 1 focuses on providing a review on the literature of the evolutionary and feminist accounts, as well as two popular theories often raised when looking at who restricts female sexuality. Chapter 2 focuses on the moralisation of female promiscuity, as moralisation can be a precursor to behaviour, and tests which theory better predicts sex differences in moralisation. Chapter 3 focuses on disgust as an antecedent that is associated to both approaches. Finally Chapter 4 summarises my findings and the theoretical issues encountered along the way, with one last call for future research to integrate these competing theories.