Religiosity, Gender, and the Double Standard

Abstract

Scottish teenagers (N = 690) participated in a survey concerning the relationship between religiosity, gender, and social judgments of sexual activity. Respondents estimated the number of sexual partners of 20-year old men and women and made evaluative judgments of sexually active men and women on positive and negative dimensions. On both tasks, evidence was obtained for the operation of a double standard. Women were expected to have fewer sexual partners than men, and their sexual activity was judged more negatively on evaluatively negative dimensions. Contrary to findings of previous studies in this area, gender differences in endorsement of the double standard were not found. Only moderate support was found for the view that religiosity contributes to different standards of sexual behavior for men and women, although religiosity had significantly greater influence on judgments made by women than on judgments made by men.

The Sexual Double Standard: Fact or Fiction?

“…For example, if a study explicitly requires participants to rate the appropriateness of certain sexual behaviors for men, immediately followed by identical questions regarding women (e.g., Ferrel, Tolone, & Walsh, 1977;Sheeran, Spears, Abraham, & Abrams, 1996;Sprecher & Hatfield, 1996), participants may try to answer either in an egalitarian manner or in a manner that is consistent with what they believe to be the norm. Given that many people have preconceived notions about the sexual double standard (Milhausen & Herold, 1999, it is important to minimize demand characteristics when researching attitudes toward sexuality.…”

Effects of Ingroup Bias and Gender Role Violations on Acquaintance Rape Attributions

“…However, similar negative attributions are not made about sexually promiscuous males. For example, a study of Scottish teenagers found that sexually active women were perceived as less popular, as having less self-respect, and as more irresponsible than sexually active men (Sheeran et al 1996). A similar study of college students in the United States found that men believed it was more acceptable for men to have sexual relations on a first date than it was for women (Sprecher and Hatfield 1996).…”

Perceptions of Sexual Orientation: A Hierarchically Restrictive Trait

“…For example, males tend to report being more permissive and more sexually active than females. Furthermore, the differences between gender attitudes toward sexuality are impacted by religiosity: compared to religious men, religious women have more negative attitudes toward sexually active people, but this gender difference is not present for non-religious people (Sheeran et al 1996). This body of research implies that different attitudes toward sexuality may be impacted by both gender and religiosity.…”