Double standard and slut-shaming

morita

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The researchers recruited 4,455 participants via Amazon's Mechanical Turk website who were told they would take part in a study into their "perceptions of others." The team restricted participation to people ages 18 to 35, reasoning that the sexual double standard—in which men are rewarded for sexual activity, while women are punished—would be particularly relevant for young adults.
Each participant was directed "to think about either one male or one female friend or acquaintance whom they (a) knew in their real life, and (b) had information about their sexual history."
Subjects then responded to 20 statements about this person, which evaluated them in terms of their values, success, intelligence, and likability.

Finally, they described the nature of their relationship with the person they were evaluating, and noted "how many people they thought the target individual had engaged in sexual intercourse with."
The results showed a clear pattern. Women were "increasingly derogated as the number of sexual partners increased," but men were not. This pattern held whether the people doing the judging were male or female.

"The sexual double standard was more pronounced as participants' certainty about the target's number of sexual partners increased," the researchers report. Still, the impact of this confidence was very small, meaning that women were judged more harshly even if the participants were relying on rumors or speculation.



Thoughts?
 

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The researchers recruited 4,455 participants via Amazon's Mechanical Turk website who were told they would take part in a study into their "perceptions of others." The team restricted participation to people ages 18 to 35, reasoning that the sexual double standard—in which men are rewarded for sexual activity, while women are punished—would be particularly relevant for young adults.
Each participant was directed "to think about either one male or one female friend or acquaintance whom they (a) knew in their real life, and (b) had information about their sexual history."
Subjects then responded to 20 statements about this person, which evaluated them in terms of their values, success, intelligence, and likability.

Finally, they described the nature of their relationship with the person they were evaluating, and noted "how many people they thought the target individual had engaged in sexual intercourse with."
The results showed a clear pattern. Women were "increasingly derogated as the number of sexual partners increased," but men were not. This pattern held whether the people doing the judging were male or female.

"The sexual double standard was more pronounced as participants' certainty about the target's number of sexual partners increased," the researchers report. Still, the impact of this confidence was very small, meaning that women were judged more harshly even if the participants were relying on rumors or speculation.



Thoughts?
I think it stems from biology. Males, in general, are wired to spread as much DNA as possible, while females are wired to only "give it" to the "best" males. I'm not at all surprised by the study results.
 

Aero

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Perception has nothing to do with it.

This double standard originates in the unconscious mind. Primarily it has to do with man's relationship with their mothers. I'm not talking about some weird Freudian sense either. Perhaps the best way to put it is another woman will never really match up to what "Mother" represents. I'm talking about things like caregiving and protection from the outset.

Personally speaking, I don't care how many dudes a chick banged. I figured out a long time ago not to even ask or think about it. It's irrelevant and ultimately I know it's my mind trying to match her up against my mother. It took effort and experience just to begin to understand my own mind working against my best interests.
 

Tikawanda

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I dislike double standards related to any subject really, but I'm particularly bothered by slut-shaming; I remember back in high school that sexually promiscuous guys were labeled as "players", while sexually promiscuous females were called every bad name imaginable, not just "slut".

Of course I don't expect the issue of slut-shaming to be a popular subject of conversation around here since there seems to be a consensus that it's alright to shame woman for a variety of reasons, because of how this forum tends to view feminist issues in a negative light.
 

rainerann

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There have been several times that I have been with a guy that has been with fewer people than I had. In general, there seems to be a lot more hype about guys wanting to be with a lot of girls than there are guys who have actually been with a lot of girls. I would actually say that most of the guys I knew didn’t think this was something to show off either. Even the guys I knew that had had a lot of girlfriends, didn’t really want to show it off, but my personal survey results could also have been influenced by someone trying to flirt with me so I don’t know. That was my experience.

I guess I think there is a whole lot that people don’t know about how people interact with each other over all. Sometimes things like this, even though I have heard them a hundred times before, never really matched my experience.

as far as slut shaming because when I was in high school, I had a lot of boyfriends. I wouldn’t say I ever really felt shamed for this in a way that would be called slut shaming. Or like shamed because I should want to be virginal because I was a girl. It always seemed to be more about how this was something that would potentially hinder my emotional development. That is my grown up reflection of course. No one articulated this in such a boring way when it was happening. I do feel like the guys were treated somewhat the same, which is why there weren’t very many that I knew that had a different girlfriend every week.

I guess I would like to see the actual questions being asked. It is possible the questions were leading towards two results. either slut shaming or not slut shaming and slut shaming according to a predefined definition that we don’t really expand on even now when we are trying to further our understanding of social interactions. We are basically still scratching our heads over how something became a stereotype in 1950. Basically, it did because people didn’t have a whole lot of data to draw more complex or accurate conclusions. We should be able to do better than this.
 
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I don't really buy this biology argument. It's like saying men are wired to be polygamous and women should just agree to being part of an harem, basically. And what does "the best male" even mean? It's relative.
This just sounds like the average male excuse. " Oh honey I have to sleep with lots of women, it's my biology. Oh you must stay chaste or else, it's not surpression, manipulative or controlling it's just...you know biology"
 

Lurker

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I don't really buy this biology argument. It's like saying men are wired to be polygamous and women should just agree to being part of an harem, basically. And what does "the best male" even mean? It's relative.
I said that it stemmed from not that that was the sole reason. And yes "best" is relative and varies by species, it could be strongest, fastest, brightest colors, best mating dance, food finding, most money, etc. If you want to say that it is just some Victorian era BS, fine...make your case.
 

morita

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This double standard originates in the unconscious mind. Primarily it has to do with man's relationship with their mothers. I'm not talking about some weird Freudian sense either. Perhaps the best way to put it is another woman will never really match up to what "Mother" represents. I'm talking about things like caregiving and protection from the outset.
I had a dance teacher who would call his wife "mommy"
 

morita

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I dislike double standards related to any subject really, but I'm particularly bothered by slut-shaming; I remember back in high school that sexually promiscuous guys were labeled as "players", while sexually promiscuous females were called every bad name imaginable, not just "slut".
Yes, and people make assumptions based on women's outifts also, to determine whether or not she's sexually promiscuous.
 

justjess

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I said that it stemmed from not that that was the sole reason. And yes "best" is relative and varies by species, it could be strongest, fastest, brightest colors, best mating dance, food finding, most money, etc. If you want to say that it is just some Victorian era BS, fine...make your case.
Goes back way further than the Victorian era.. we didn’t always have paternity tests. The only way to ensure paternity and therefore inheritance was for women to be chaste. Since inheritance only passed through valid marrital relationships it didn’t matter if a man fathered children outside of it, it did matter if the children borne of the mother weren’t actually entitled to inheritance though. We only started using paternity tests in 1988. That’s thousands of years of programming for a specific purpose up against 32 years of time since it stopped being necessary. For every one year of programming it typically takes two to reverse. We got quite a long way before remnants of this particular double standard disappear.

everyone is entitled to preferences in their personal relationship. But there’s a reason this particular preference exists and is more acceptable for a man to hold then a woman. I really wish my husband had been more chaste prior to me, I hate that he’s been with other people but I accept it. If it was the other way around we would never have been in a relationship. I wouldn’t have been marriage or mother of his children material.
 

Hon33

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Goes back way further than the Victorian era.. we didn’t always have paternity tests. The only way to ensure paternity and therefore inheritance was for women to be chaste. Since inheritance only passed through valid marrital relationships it didn’t matter if a man fathered children outside of it, it did matter if the children borne of the mother weren’t actually entitled to inheritance though. We only started using paternity tests in 1988. That’s thousands of years of programming for a specific purpose up against 32 years of time since it stopped being necessary. For every one year of programming it typically takes two to reverse. We got quite a long way before remnants of this particular double standard disappear.

everyone is entitled to preferences in their personal relationship. But there’s a reason this particular preference exists and is more acceptable for a man to hold then a woman. I really wish my husband had been more chaste prior to me, I hate that he’s been with other people but I accept it. If it was the other way around we would never have been in a relationship. I wouldn’t have been marriage or mother of his children material.
Of course, there was always the idea in patriarchal societies pre and post Victorian era, that women just were not supposed to enjoy sex. Personally, I think that’s because in that era, many men simply didn’t have the desire or ability to make sex pleasurable for their ladies.
However, having studied literature from the time, it is quite clear that there were women who enjoyed sex and they probably did, outside of marriage, more often than people realised. It just wasn’t talked about.
Some men have always boasted of their conquests while women tended to be more discreet because they had to be.
I daresay, there many family lines that were not as pure as they ought to have been.
 

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Goes back way further than the Victorian era.. we didn’t always have paternity tests. The only way to ensure paternity and therefore inheritance was for women to be chaste. Since inheritance only passed through valid marrital relationships it didn’t matter if a man fathered children outside of it, it did matter if the children borne of the mother weren’t actually entitled to inheritance though. We only started using paternity tests in 1988. That’s thousands of years of programming for a specific purpose up against 32 years of time since it stopped being necessary. For every one year of programming it typically takes two to reverse. We got quite a long way before remnants of this particular double standard disappear.

everyone is entitled to preferences in their personal relationship. But there’s a reason this particular preference exists and is more acceptable for a man to hold then a woman. I really wish my husband had been more chaste prior to me, I hate that he’s been with other people but I accept it. If it was the other way around we would never have been in a relationship. I wouldn’t have been marriage or mother of his children material.
Thanks for the more complete answer without making it sexist. We all wish our partner had fewer relationships. That's why I won't visit a hooker. It's bad enough that she's probably been with someone else, much less 20 min. ago.
 

sickgirl15

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I don't really buy this biology argument. It's like saying men are wired to be polygamous and women should just agree to being part of an harem, basically. And what does "the best male" even mean? It's relative.
I agree. Men in general have proven time and time again that they cannot control their testosterone, or sex drive. Just look at the National sex registry—all men. All convicted of horrendous sex crimes. Are men “shamed” for this fact? Of course not! I don’t understand why us women are “slut shamed!” Wouldn’t you think men would be happy women are into sex?!
 
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I agree. Men in general have proven time and time again that they cannot control their testosterone, or sex drive. Just look at the National sex registry—all men. All convicted of horrendous sex crimes. Are men “shamed” for this fact? Of course not! I don’t understand why us women are “slut shamed!” Wouldn’t you think men would be happy women are into sex?!
i read about female teachers raping students every other day. just 1 example. It is probably much more prevalent but males are less likely to report it.

Are men “shamed” for this fact? Of course not!

 

Resistor

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I agree. Men in general have proven time and time again that they cannot control their testosterone, or sex drive. Just look at the National sex registry—all men. All convicted of horrendous sex crimes. Are men “shamed” for this fact? Of course not! I don’t understand why us women are “slut shamed!” Wouldn’t you think men would be happy women are into sex?!
The two together doesn't make much sense but most of this is a historical biproduct of Christianity. Christian men are quite often closet homosexuals any way and either do it in private or commit aggressions because of it.
 
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