Evolutionary and psychological insights into the suppression of female sexuality

Download files
Access & Terms of Use
open access
Copyright: Kellie, Dax
Altmetric
Abstract
A number of competing theories spanning multiple disciplines currently exist on who restricts female sexuality, most positing that men, and some positing that women are responsible for its suppression. In this thesis, I explore female sexual suppression, drawing from current multiple evolutionary and psychological theories, to understand who may benefit from female sexual suppression. In Experiment 1, I investigated whether men and women anticipate lying more often to their family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances or partners about their sexual history. I find that women and men tell their biggest and most frequent lies to their parents, especially women to their fathers, suggesting parents strongly enforce sexual restriction on their daughters. In Chapters 3 and 4 I investigate which appearance-based judgements increase men and women’s objectifying perceptions of others. Results show that while positive judgements of women’s attractiveness can mitigate negative perceptions of them, negative judgements of women pursuing casual sex increase men and women’s objectification. In Chapter 5, I test which aspects of female sex work—the sexual act itself, the money received or the woman’s perceived autonomy— explain negative, dehumanising perceptions of women. I find that simply knowing that women engage in casual sex in a job, hobby or activity, rather than the money they earn or their autonomy, strongly increases dehumanising perceptions of women. Taken together, results of this thesis suggest that many men, but also some women, may benefit from attitudes or behaviours that restrict female sexuality. This outcome was not predicted by any single-discipline approach to female sexual suppression. Collectively utilizing psychological, evolutionary and economic frameworks to understand men’s and women’s attitudes and behaviours will be vital for understanding what drives sexism, sexual double standards and the broader suppression of female sexuality.
Persistent link to this record
Link to Publisher Version
Link to Open Access Version
Additional Link
Author(s)
Kellie, Dax
Supervisor(s)
Brooks, Rob
Blake, Khandis
Creator(s)
Editor(s)
Translator(s)
Curator(s)
Designer(s)
Arranger(s)
Composer(s)
Recordist(s)
Conference Proceedings Editor(s)
Other Contributor(s)
Corporate/Industry Contributor(s)
Publication Year
2020
Resource Type
Thesis
Degree Type
PhD Doctorate
UNSW Faculty
Files
download public version.pdf 2.74 MB Adobe Portable Document Format
Related dataset(s)