Female promiscuity

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Promiscuity tends to be frowned upon by many societies that expect most members to have committed, long-term relationships. Among women, as well as men, inclination for sex outside committed relationships is correlated with a high libido; [1] however, evolutionary biology, as well as social and cultural factors, have also been observed to influence sexual behavior and opinion. [2] [3]

Contents

Cause

Studies have related sociosexual orientation to sex drive, especially in women, where the higher the sex drive the less restricted the sociosexual orientation, or interest in sex outside committed relationships. [1] Nevertheless, pertaining to the nature and nurture debate, there is some data emphasizing cultural factors, more so for women than for men. [2] [3] One review assessed that sociosexuality was affected almost equally by heredity and environment unshared with siblings; shared environment had relatively little effect. [4]

Men tend to have higher sociosexuality scores and be more unrestricted than women across a variety of cultures. [5] [6] However, there is more variability in scores within each gender than between men and women, indicating that although the average man is less restricted than the average woman, individuals may vary in sociosexual orientation regardless of gender. [7]

Psychology

Body esteem in women showed a significant positive correlation with sociosexual unrestrictedness. [8] So did hip-to-waist ratio and two measures of virilization. [8] Finally, still in the same study, alcohol consumption correlated, too, but it is unclear whether the latter promoted the former or vice versa, or if a third variable was at play. [8]

Bisexual women tend to be less restricted in their sociosexual attitudes than both homo- and heterosexual women. In sociosexual behavior also, bisexual women reported being more unrestricted, followed by homo- and then heterosexual women. [6]

Social power has been popularly associated with sexual infidelity among men; experimental psychologists have linked power with sexual infidelity among women also. A Dutch study involving a large survey of 1,561 professionals, concluded that "The relationship between power and infidelity was the same for women as for men, and for the same reason. These findings suggest that the common assumption (and often-found effect) that women are less likely than men to engage in infidelity is, at least partially, a reflection of traditional gender-based differences in power that exist in society." [9]

Church-attending women score lower on promiscuity than other women, while men appear to lack this correlation. [10]

Biology

Men and women leading polyandrous lifestyles have higher levels of testosterone. However, it is unclear whether higher levels of testosterone cause increased sex drive and in turn multiple partners or whether sexual activity with multiple partners causes the increase in testosterone. [11] Sociosexuality in women is positively correlated with two measures of prenatal exposure to androgens—right digit ratio, and scores on the Vandenberg Mental Rotation test—providing some limited support to the virilization hypothesis of female promiscuity [8] (see also Prenatal hormones and sexual orientation). The aforementioned hypothesis is not at all mutually exclusive with other hypotheses.

Libido is correlated with the menstrual cycle so that many women experience an increase in sexual desire several days immediately before ovulation. [12] Testosterone levels rise gradually from about the 24th day of a woman's menstrual cycle until ovulation on about the 14th day of the next cycle. [13]

It is common for sex drive to diminish dramatically after menopause. [14] A number of studies, including Alfred Kinsey's, have concluded that the average age group in which women are the most active sexually is their mid-thirties, one study liberally estimating 27–45 as the limits of the age group (the average man peaks later). [15] Women in this age group typically report having sexual fantasies greater in number and intensity, engaging in sexual activity more frequently, and being more interested in casual sex. [16]

One study in sexual antagonism suggested a possible genetic link between female androphilic promiscuity and male androphilia: Samoan tribal women exhibited a correlation between reproductive output and the likeliness of having androphilic grandsons, though not nephews (see also Fa'afafine). [17]

Rate of molecular evolution of the seminal protein gene SEMG2 correlates with levels of female promiscuity. [18]

Bonobos treat sexual activity as a very versatile form of social interaction, with purposes ranging from stress reduction to conflict resolution. Females tend to collectively dominate males by forming alliances and use sexuality to control males. Bonobo cincyzoo.jpg
Bonobos treat sexual activity as a very versatile form of social interaction, with purposes ranging from stress reduction to conflict resolution. Females tend to collectively dominate males by forming alliances and use sexuality to control males.

Pathological overactivity of the dopaminergic mesolimbic pathway in the brain—forming either psychiatrically, during mania, [19] or pharmacologically, as a side effect of dopamine agonists, specifically D3-preferring agonists [20] [21] —is associated with various addictions [22] [23] and has been shown to result among some subjects of either sex in overindulgent, sometimes hypersexual, behavior. [19] [20] [21]

Evolution

Bateman's principle implies that females are choosy because there is little evolutionary advantage for them to mate with multiple males. However, observation of many species, from rabbits to fruit flies, has shown that females have more offspring if they mate with a larger number of males. [24] Exceptions to Bateman's principle abound, as do hypotheses explaining the evolution of female promiscuity. Females in fact have a lot to gain, depending on the species.

Many species once thought monogamous, including such birds as swans, are now known to engage in extra-pair copulation.

Thierry Lodé found possible evolutionary explanations for polyandry relating to sexual conflict, including mate competition and inbreeding avoidance. [25] The following list is incomplete.

  • It is easier to ensure reproductive success (i.e., it is more likely that the female will have offspring).
  • Females may be encouraging sperm competition between males post-copulation.
  • Multiple sperm lines may confer more variation in traits to female's offspring.
  • In groups of eusocial taxa, such as beehives, a single female or caste produces offspring while the other organisms cooperate in caring for the young. Bees from different sperm lines excel at different roles within a single hive, benefiting the health of the hive as a whole.
  • In tortoise, for example, as a result of clutches with greater variation in paternal genes and increased sperm competition, females can maximize both the genetic quality and number of offspring. [26]
  • Those female guppies who mated with a greater number of males in a given cycle, were more likely to bear sons, which in turn had more capacity for reproductive output. [27]
  • Females may receive food offerings from prospective mates inciting copulation.
  • A female may pursue extra-pair copulation more during fertile periods of her menstrual cycle to conceive from a male with high-quality genes (see Sexy son hypothesis) while relying on resources and paternal investment from her social mate.
  • Offspring paternity is unknown and this can be beneficial in encouraging paternal care and discouraging infanticide by males. [28]
  • Female extra-pair mating behavior may evolve via indirect selection on males. [29]

Society and culture

Evolutionary psychologists have theorized that taboos against female promiscuity evolved on the basis of paternity anxiety. [30] DNA tests being yet to be invented, it was impossible to accurately determine paternity, unlike maternity. A male risked spending paternal investment on offspring who carried genetic material of another male rather than of his own. Evolutionarily, this translated into sexual jealousy and complex preventive customs (e.g., female genital mutilation, [31] menstrual taboos [32] ).

Pre-Modern

Female promiscuity is a recurring theme in mythologies and religions. In the Middle East, sacred prostitution, usually in honor of Goddess Astarte, had been prevalent before the 4th century when Emperor Constantine I attempted to replace pagan traditions with Christianity. [33] In Greek mythology, nymphs are portrayed as dangerous nature spirits sexually uninhibited with humans; hence, the Victorian medical term nymphomania . Imperial Rome is popularly seen as being sexually profligate, [34] [35] and certain Roman empresses—such as Theodora I, Messalina and Julia the Elder—gained in their lifetime a reputation of extreme promiscuity.

On the field of pleasure she [Empress Theodora] was never defeated. Often she would go picnicking with ten young men or more, in the flower of their strength and virility, and dallied with them all, the whole night through. ... and even thus found no allayment of her craving ... And though she flung wide three gates to the ambassadors of Cupid, she lamented that nature had not similarly unlocked the straits of her bosom, that she might there have contrived a further welcome to his emissaries.

—  Procopius, Secret History. Chapter IX: How Theodora, the most depraved of all courtesans, won his love

The Bible features many female personages identified as being promiscuous, among them the Whore of Babylon, Princess Jezebel, Prophetess Jezebel, Gomer, Rahab, Salome, and Potiphar's unnamed wife.

Yet she [Oholibah] became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. / There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.

—  The Bible (NIV), The Book of Ezekiel XXIII:19–20

Modern

Empress Catherine the Great, a crucial figure at the time of the Enlightenment, is popularly remembered for her sexual promiscuity. Grand Duchess Catherine Alexeevna by anonymous after Rotari (18th c, Russian museum).jpg
Empress Catherine the Great, a crucial figure at the time of the Enlightenment, is popularly remembered for her sexual promiscuity.

Many cultures have historically laid much restriction on sexuality, most emphatically against immoderate expression of sexuality by women[ citation needed ]. In contrast, some recent ethical philosophies—both secular (coming from individualism and sex-positive feminism) and religious (e.g., Wicca, Thelema, LaVeyan Satanism)—either tolerate it or outright celebrate it.

We believe that it is fundamentally a radical political act to deprivatize sex. So much oppression in our culture is based on shame about sex: the oppression of women, of cultural minorities, oppression in the name of the (presumably asexual) family, oppression of sexual minorities. We are all oppressed. We have all been taught, one way or another, that our desires, our bodies, our sexualities, are shameful. What better way to defeat oppression than to get together in communities and celebrate the wonders of sex?

—  Dossie Easton, Catherine Liszt, The Ethical Slut . Chapter XXII: Group Sex, Public Sex, Orgies…

Public opinion has fluctuated over the centuries, with such downturns as New England Puritanism (1630–1660) and the Victorian era (1837–1901), when hypersexuality was often treated as an exclusively female disorder, diagnosed on the grounds of as little as masturbation alone (see here). [36] Up until the late 20th century, women could be incarcerated for promiscuous behavior in so-called Magdalene asylums, the last of which was closed in Ireland in 1996. [37] [38] [39] From 1897 to 1958, Ontario used the Female Refuges Act to incarcerate women felt to be "incorrigible".

Following the Industrial Revolution (1760~1840), as Western countries underwent industrialization and urbanization, education and employment opportunities were increasing for women. This environment gave rise in the late 19th century to the feminist ideal called "the New Woman"—a personification of female economic, sexual and other autonomy—which had a profound influence on feminism well into the 20th century. It was not until the Married Women's Property Act 1882 that female British citizens were no longer legally compelled, upon marriage, to transfer all their property to their husbands. The women's movement was closely allied with the free love movement, whose advocates had a strong belief that a woman ought to be herself sovereign over her body.

Laws against adultery [were] based upon the idea that woman is a chattel, so that to make love to a married woman is to deprive the husband of her services. It is the frankest and most crass statement of a slave-situation. To us, every woman ... has ... an absolute right to travel in her own orbit. There is no reason why she should not be the ideal hausfrau, if that chance to be her will. But society has no right to insist upon that standard. It was, for practical reasons, almost necessary to set up such taboos in small communities, savage tribes, where the wife was nothing but a general servant, where the safety of the people depended upon a high birth-rate. But to-day woman is economically independent, becomes more so every year. The result is that she instantly asserts her right to have as many or as few men or babies as she wants or can get; and she defies the world to interfere with her. More power to her!

—  Aleister Crowley, The Law is for All , the New Comment 1:41

The Roaring Twenties have been described as "a time when gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession." [40] Popular at that time was a female subculture called "flappers", who flouted social and sexual norms and were considered a significant challenge to Victorian gender roles. [41] But these sentiments were then overshadowed by the Great Depression. [42] Despite this, the 1925 silent film The Red Kimono , sympathetic toward its promiscuous protagonist, was subject to severe censorship, [43] and led to a landmark legal case, Melvin v. Reid .

The 1950s in America is stereotyped to have been sexually repressed, though not as severely as the Victorian era. Female promiscuity in particular became substantially more accepted in Western culture after the sexual revolution of the 1960s, which resonated with the hippie movement. It also became more prevalent a theme in mass media, including cinema (e.g., Sex and the City ) and music (e.g., Erotica by Madonna).

Madonna has been at the forefront of the gender neutrality movement in terms of promiscuity since becoming a globally recognized entertainer in the 1980s. In addition to her sexually explicit song lyrics and occasional nude self exposures during live performances and almost being arrested in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on 29 May 1990 for simulating masturbation in public, [44] her book Sex released on 21 October 1992 was a commercially successful nude pictorial of her and various famous celebrities engaging in scenes of purported promiscuity, further enhancing her vision of gender equality in this regard.

There has been an increase in awareness of discrimination on grounds of promiscuity—apparent or actual—which at least since year 2010 has been called slut shaming . [45] [46] On 3 April 2011, [47] the SlutWalk movement—protesting against explaining or excusing rape by referring to any aspect of a woman's appearance [48] and later, by extension, calling for sexual freedom in general—began in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and went on to spread throughout the world. [49]

Non-Western

In the Islamic world, the "Ummah", female promiscuity is a major fear. A woman is obliged, in some countries legally, [50] to wear a veil, such as a burqa or a niqab—in its own right, a symbol of "modesty" and "namus", i.e. female sexual restraint [51] —so as to prevent the woman from having her body visible to any men other than her family or her sole husband. [52]

When a Muslim woman is found to have engaged in extra-marital relations, she falls under the risk of being executed, either by a governmental institution [53] or by natural persons. In the latter case, a common scenario, sometimes even among Muslims residing in Western countries, is family honor killing: the woman's relatives feel that she brought shame on their family, so they resort to homicide as a form of atonement. [54] Otherwise, the woman may be given the penalty of capital punishment by a court, [53] [55] in accordance with the customs of Sharia Islamic law, which is based on the Islamic scriptures of the Quran and on Sunnah. For "zina", adultery, the Quran prescribes flogging 100 times in public; [56] the Sunnah adds stoning ("Rajm") to death if it was extra-marital. [57]

On 20 April 2010, Iranian Islamic cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi provoked transnational ridicule by blaming promiscuous women for causing earthquakes. [58] Six days later, on 26 April, the American Boobquake gathering, organized by the blogger Jennifer McCreight and attended by 200,000 participants, [59] [60] was held in response to it.

Japan wasn't as soon to be reached by the sexual revolution, originating in the American 1960s. The documentary Japan – Female Sexuality touched on the subject from a 1990s perspective, and reported the trend to be increasing. [61]

Although polygyny is more common, some tribal societies are traditionally polyandrous.

Religious

Statistics

The use of demographical methods in sexological research was pioneered by the American zoologist Alfred Kinsey, who published two books—Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953)—collectively known as the Kinsey Reports. The reports defied the expectations of the public and paved the way for the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

Accurately assessing people's sexual behavior is difficult, since there are strong social and personal motivations, depending on social sanctions and taboos, for either minimizing or exaggerating reported sexual activity. Women tend to undervalue the number of their sex partners whereas men tend to overestimate the number of theirs.[ citation needed ]

In a 1994 study in the United States, almost all married heterosexual women reported having sexual contact only with their husbands, and unmarried women almost always reported having no more than one sexual partner in the past three months. Lesbians who had a long-term partner reported having fewer outside partners than heterosexual women. [62] More recent research, however, contradicts the assertion that heterosexual women are largely monogamous. A 2002 study estimated that 45% to 55% of married heterosexual women engage in sexual relationships outside their marriage. [63] While the estimates for heterosexual males in the same study were greater (50–60%), the data indicates that a significant portion of married heterosexual women have or have had sexual partners other than their spouse as well. [63]

One international study found women to be more variable than men in their sex drive. [2] International measurements of promiscuity are inconsistent from study to study, varying by the methodology used. Due to practical reason—the inability to survey a country's entire population—all studies of this class are inductive, generalizing about the general population based on assessments of sample groups supposed to be representative of the larger population being studied.

For example, in a non-scientific study conducted by the condom-making company Durex, British women reported fewer partners than British men, while the only country where women reported more sex partners than men did was New Zealand (20.4 versus 16.8), which was also the country where women reported more sex partners than did women from all other countries surveyed. [64] To further complicate matters, a well-known study in general sociosexuality that surveyed 14,059 people across 48 countries, placed New Zealand, which came right before Slovenia, second to Finland; the United States, in the unisex scores of the same study, came in 22nd. [65]

Terminology

Ca. 1815 French satire on cuckoldry, which shows both men and women wearing horns Order-cuckoldry-ca1815-French-satire.jpg
Ca. 1815 French satire on cuckoldry, which shows both men and women wearing horns

Sexual relations with multiple males are termed polyandry . It has a more specific meaning in zoology, where it refers to a type of mating system, and in anthropology, where it refers to a type of marriage. Sexual relations with multiple females are termed polygyny , but in zoology it can only be applied to heterosexual relations. Polyamory is sometimes defined as non-monogamy with consent of all parties involved, if within or without committed relationships. Attitudinal differences concerning sex outside committed relationships are referred to under the term sociosexual orientation or simply sociosexuality.

Since at least 1450, the word slut has been used, often pejoratively, to describe a sexually promiscuous woman. [66] In and before the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, terms like "strumpet" and "whore" were used to describe women deemed promiscuous, as seen for example in John Webster's 1612 play The White Devil .

Discrimination targeting individuals, specifically women, for sexual behavior deemed excessive, has been referred to, since at least spring of 2010, with the neologism slut shaming (also hyphenated, as slut-shaming). [45] [46]

Cuckold fetish is colloquial for a paraphilia in which sexual gratification is gained from maintenance or observation of sexual relations by a woman with a man or a number of men besides her husband, boyfriend or long-term male sex partner.

The popular slang cougar refers to a woman who seeks sexual relations with considerably younger men.

The term fallen woman was used to describe a woman who has "lost her innocence", and fallen from the grace of God. In Victorian Britain especially, the meaning came to be closely associated with the "loss or surrender of a woman's chastity". Its use was an expression of the belief that to be socially and morally acceptable a women's sexuality and experience should be entirely restricted to marriage, and that she should also be under the supervision and care of an authoritative man.

See also

Related Research Articles

Promiscuity is the practice of engaging in sexual activity frequently with different partners or being indiscriminate in the choice of sexual partners. The term can carry a moral judgment. A common example of behavior viewed as promiscuous by many cultures is the one-night stand, and its frequency is used by researchers as a marker for promiscuity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual attraction</span> Attraction on the basis of sexual desire

Sexual attraction is attraction on the basis of sexual desire or the quality of arousing such interest. Sexual attractiveness or sex appeal is an individual's ability to attract other people sexually, and is a factor in sexual selection or mate choice. The attraction can be to the physical or other qualities or traits of a person, or to such qualities in the context where they appear. The attraction may be to a person's aesthetics, movements, voice, among other things. The attraction may be enhanced by a person's body odor, sex pheromones, adornments, clothing, perfume or hair style. It can be influenced by individual genetic, psychological, or cultural factors, or to other, more amorphous qualities. Sexual attraction is also a response to another person that depends on a combination of the person possessing the traits and on the criteria of the person who is attracted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Infidelity</span> Cheating, adultery, or having an affair

Infidelity is a violation of a couple's emotional or sexual exclusivity that commonly results in feelings of anger, sexual jealousy, and rivalry.

Slut is an English-language term for a person, usually a woman, who is sexually promiscuous or considered to have loose sexual morals. It is predominately used as an insult, sexual slur or offensive term of disparagement. It originally meant "a dirty, slovenly woman", and is rarely used to refer to men, generally requiring clarification by use of the terms male slut or man whore.

Heteroflexibility is a form of a sexual orientation or situational sexual behavior characterized by minimal homosexual activity in an otherwise primarily heterosexual orientation, which may or may not distinguish it from bisexuality. It has been characterized as "mostly straight". Although sometimes equated with bi-curiosity to describe a broad continuum of sexual orientation between heterosexuality and bisexuality, other authors distinguish heteroflexibility as lacking the "wish to experiment with ... sexuality" implied by the bi-curious label. The corresponding situation in which homosexual activity predominates has also been described, termed homoflexibility.

Sociosexuality, sometimes called sociosexual orientation, is the individual difference in the willingness to engage in sexual activity outside of a committed relationship. Individuals who are more restricted sociosexually are less willing to engage in casual sex; they prefer greater love, commitment and emotional closeness before having sex with romantic partners. Individuals who are more unrestricted sociosexually are more willing to have casual sex and are more comfortable engaging in sex without love, commitment or closeness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Concealed ovulation</span> Lack of visible changes in ovulating females

Concealed ovulation or hidden estrus is the lack of any perceptible change when an adult female is fertile and near ovulation. Some examples of perceptible changes are swelling and redness of the vulva in baboons and bonobos, and pheromone release in the feline family. In contrast, the females of humans and a few other species that undergo hidden estrus have few external signs of fecundity, making it difficult for a mate to consciously deduce, by means of external signs only, whether or not a female is near ovulation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parental investment</span> Parental expenditure that benefits offspring

Parental investment, in evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology, is any parental expenditure that benefits offspring. Parental investment may be performed by both males and females, females alone or males alone. Care can be provided at any stage of the offspring's life, from pre-natal to post-natal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual jealousy</span> Psychological concept

Sexual jealousy is a special form of jealousy in sexual relationships, based on suspected or imminent sexual infidelity. The concept is studied in the field of evolutionary psychology.

Human male sexuality encompasses a wide variety of feelings and behaviors. Men's feelings of attraction may be caused by various physical and social traits of their potential partner. Men's sexual behavior can be affected by many factors, including evolved predispositions, individual personality, upbringing, and culture. While most men are heterosexual, there are minorities of homosexual men and varying degrees of bisexual men.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bisexuality</span> Sexual attraction to people of any gender

Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, to more than one gender, or to both people of the same gender and different genders. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, which is also known as pansexuality.

Female copulatory vocalizations, also called female copulation calls or coital vocalizations, are produced by female primates, including human females, and female non-primates. They are not purposeful, but instead are evolutionary and are spontaneously produced by female primates, including women, to encourage her partner to produce good-quality sperm during the mating process. Copulatory vocalizations usually occur during copulation and are hence related to sexual activity. Vocalizations that occur before intercourse, for the purpose of attracting mates, are known as mating calls.

<i>The Evolution of Human Sexuality</i> 1979 book by Donald Symons

The Evolution of Human Sexuality is a 1979 book about human sexuality by the anthropologist Donald Symons, in which the author discusses topics such as human sexual anatomy, ovulation, orgasm, homosexuality, sexual promiscuity, and rape, attempting to show how evolutionary concepts can be applied to humans. Symons argues that the female orgasm is not an adaptive trait and that women have the capacity for it only because orgasm is adaptive for men, and that differences between the sexual behavior of male and female homosexuals help to show underlying differences between male and female sexuality. In his view, homosexual men tend to be sexually promiscuous because of the tendency of men in general to desire sex with a large number of partners, a tendency that in heterosexual men is usually restrained by women's typical lack of interest in promiscuous sex. Symons also argues that rape can be explained in evolutionary terms and feminist claims that it is not sexually motivated are incorrect.

Slut-shaming is the practice of criticizing people who violate expectations of behavior and appearance regarding issues related to sexuality. It may also be used in reference to gay men, who may face disapproval for promiscuous sexual behaviors. Gender-based violence primarily affecting women can be a result of slut-shaming. The term is commonly used to reclaim the word slut and empower women to have agency over their own sexuality.

The Sociosexual Orientation Inventory(SOI-R) is a 9-item self-report questionnaire designed to measure individuals differences in the tendency to have casual, uncommitted sexual relationships. This tendency, termed sociosexuality or sociosexual orientation, is divided into three facets measured by the inventory: behavior, attitude and desire. The most recent revision is from 2008.

Gendered sexuality is the way in which gender and sexuality are often viewed as likened constructs, whereby the role of gender in an individual's life is informed by and impacts others' perceptions of their sexuality. For example, both the male and female genders are subject to assumptions of heterosexuality. If a man were to behave in feminine ways, his heterosexuality would be doubted, and individuals may assume that he is gay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human mating strategies</span> Courtship behavior of humans

In evolutionary psychology and behavioral ecology, human mating strategies are a set of behaviors used by individuals to select, attract, and retain mates. Mating strategies overlap with reproductive strategies, which encompass a broader set of behaviors involving the timing of reproduction and the trade-off between quantity and quality of offspring.

Female intrasexual competition is competition between women over a potential mate. Such competition might include self-promotion, derogation of other women, and direct and indirect aggression toward other women. Factors that influence female intrasexual competition include the genetic quality of available mates, hormone levels, and interpersonal dynamics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mate guarding in humans</span> Behaviours used to retain a mate

Human mate guarding refers to behaviours employed by both males and females with the aim of maintaining reproductive opportunities and sexual access to a mate. It involves discouraging the current mate from abandoning the relationship whilst also warding off intrasexual rivals. It has been observed in many non-human animals, as well as humans. Sexual jealousy is a prime example of mate guarding behaviour. Both males and females use different strategies to retain a mate and there is evidence that suggests resistance to mate guarding also exists.

The ovulatory shift hypothesis holds that women experience evolutionarily adaptive changes in subconscious thoughts and behaviors related to mating during different parts of the ovulatory cycle. It suggests that what women want, in terms of men, changes throughout the menstrual cycle. Two meta-analyses published in 2014 reached opposing conclusions on whether the existing evidence was robust enough to support the prediction that women's mate preferences change across the cycle. A newer 2018 review does not show women changing the type of men they desire at different times in their fertility cycle.

References

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