No abstract

Within the realm of mating, one's reputation may advertise their worth or suitability as a potential mate, with gossip serving as a vehicle for sharing this reputational information.Here we examine how men's reputations are described via anonymous posts on the gossip website, The Dirty. Using a qualitative analysis, trained blind coders performed thematic analysis of 25 posts about men for each of the five most populous cities in Canada and the United States (N = 250). We support our prediction that posts are derogatory about men's characteristics that are important to women when forming romantic relationships: their personality, emotional commitment, resource possession, and sexuality. We also explored how many posts contained a direct warning about interacting with the man. Derogations of men's personality were most common, followed by their ability and willingness to commit to a relationship, with derogations of resource possession and sexuality being the least common. As well, approximately half of the posts contained a direct warning to others about the man. We review these findings in light of women sharing reputational information about men via prosocial gossip. We propose that women may be posting this damaging information with the aim of decreasing the target's mating access to other women. Public Significance StatementWe examine how men were described on the gossip website, The Dirty. Our findings show men are derogated by women regarding their personality, disposition toward committed relationships, accumulated resources (and their ability to accumulate them), and sexual behavior. Gossip is often implemented to achieve the goal of obtaining information, and the content of gossip between and within sexes illuminates what is important for the formation, maintenance, and severance of our social alliances.