Evelutionary Approach to Indirect Victimization

Today I found a very interesting article talking about victimization and its effects on romantic partners. This article took an evolutionary perspective on whether or not indirect aggression (rumor spreading, harassment, etc.) had any effect on competition for romantic partners. According to the article, indirect victimization  is prominently seen in females, and that indirect victimization is more hurtful and distressing for girls than it is for boys (Leenaars, L. 2008). why is this? The article states that boys resort to physical violence  because they want to seem more dominant,( (Leenaars, L. 2008) where are for girls it can effect there social status and romantic status to seem aggressive. Another key reason that women attack other women according to an evolutionary approach, is that women are more selective when choosing a mate in order to protect the outcome of future offspring. Indirect victimization is seen as a tool make ones self look more appealing to partners and eliminating competition. Therefor, women who have had successful past relationships, women who are seen as attractive, and women who have a history of promiscuity, are more likely to be victimized because they are seen as a threat (Leenaars, L. 2008).
           The study that went with this article wanted to see if there was a correlation from how attractive someone felt/how many partners they have had and how often they have been victimized  (Leenaars, L. 2008). They study picked 2319 participants who were in their adolescents for this study. they measured everything with a series of Likert scales. The date showed that victimization was more prominent between women, and that women who were considered attractive, had more sexual partners, and date frequently were more likely to be victims (Leenaars, L. 2008).
            This study explains one of the reasons that might contribute to women being punished for their sexual behavior while men are not. this such victimization can be seen in the media in some movies such as "Mean Girls" a movie showing the horrors of being an adolescent female. In the movie often the main character is victimized by the one of the meaner girls Regina. In one scene she is seen telling a boy who likes the main charecter lies about her in order to get him herself.






Leenaars, Lindsey S., Andrew V. Dane, and Zopito A. Marini. "Evolutionary Perspective on Indirect Victimization in Adolescence: the Role of Attractiveness, Dating and Sexual Behavior - Leenaars - 2008 - Aggressive Behavior." Wiley Online Library. Wiley-Liss, 2008. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ab.20252/abstract>.

The Dynamics Of Sexual fidelity

Today i stumbled upon a really interesting article talking about sexuality and personality types between the two gender. The article takes a look at gender and promiscuity and gives some very interesting statistics about boys and girls with sexual relationships.
According to the article, men are more likely to cheat on partners, engage in infidelity with multiple partners,and engage in "sexual only" relationships. Women on the other hand were more likely to become emotionally involved with their affair partners. Men are more motivated by the desire for sexual variety and tend to pursue casual extrapair sex more than women.
what does this tell us? It certainly reinforces the stereotype that i have been researching, however the interesting part is the reasoning behind why men and women do this. according to the author, individuals who are highly narcissistic are more likely to cheat, and that men are more likely to be narcissistic.
They also put a lot of emphasis on biology. according to this article, heritable postnatal hormones factor in to their sex lives. According to the article, men who cheat on their wives tend to have higher levels of testosterone than men with lower levels of testosterone.
although i have yet to determine why this stereotype is the way it is, this article shows that boys tend to be more promisuis than women do for either biological reasons or personality traits.

men vs women promiscuity

            The stereotype I have chosen to research is the idea that a woman who is considered promiscuous is often seen wrong and shameful, whereas males who are considered promiscuous suffer no harm to their reputation.  In American culture, these ideas of women are “sluts” and men are “studs” has become a norm in modern day society, and dates back centuries.

First, it is important to put a proper definition to the word promiscuous. Webster dictionary online defines promiscuity as “not restricted to one class, sort, or person.” In context to what I am and will be discussing, promiscuity is the act of not being restricted to one sexual partner.  This topic interested me because there is so much history behind this topic. If someone were to take a look back into previous generations, they would surely see that it is common reoccurring theme for women to be damned for their sexual activity, while as it is rarer to hear the same about men.  

One example of this stereotype would be Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, where a women is forced to wear the letter A on her chest in order to humiliate her for having a bastard child. Another more modern portrayal of this and based off of Hawthorne's novel, in the 2010 film Easy A, where a young high school girl begins to pretend to have sexual encounters with different men so that the men can seem to be more of a ladies man, but at the sacrifice of her own reputation It is unclear at the moment, why exactly this double standard exists; however I am excited to find out why.