Sexual economics theory is a highly controversial hypothesis found in the field of evolutionary psychology. The theory purports to relate to how male and female participants think, feel, behave and give feedback during sex-related or mating-related events. This theory states that the thinking, preferences and behavior of men and women follow the fundamental economic principles. It was proposed by psychologists Roy Baumeister and Kathleen Vohs.
Sexual economics theory enjoyed support from some in the fields of social psychology and evolutionary psychology, but some aspects of it have also been criticized by others for their reliance on outdated western stereotypes of gender that do not replicate cross-culturally.Saini, Angela. Inferior: How science got women wrong and the new research that’s rewriting the story. Beacon Press, 2017. 224p.Fine, C. (2017). Testosterone Rex: Myths of Sex, Science, and Society. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL31443486M/Testosterone_RexWood, W., & Eagly, A. H. (2012). Biosocial construction of sex differences and similarities in behavior. In Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 55–123). https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-394281-4.00002-7
Definitions Baumeister's proposal defines sex as a marketplace deal according to the highly controversial maxim (sometimes associated with a paraphrase of Donald Symons) that sexuality is "something that women have and men want". Baumeister claims that sex is a resource that women hold overall. According to this claim, women hold on to their bodies until they receive enough motivation to give them up, such as love, commitment, time, attention, caring, loyalty, respect, happiness and money from another party. On the other side, men are the ones who offer the resources that entice women into sex.
Sexual economics is based on social exchange theory: it alleges that people are willing to give up something if they can get in exchange what they believe will benefit them more. The theory rests on the belief that typically one party is more eager to exchange resources for what the other party holds, thus causing a bargaining power imbalance. At this point, the party who is less willing to exchange what they have has a higher control in this relationship. In the example of a sexual relationship, if one side wants to have sexual intercourse less than the other, he or she can hold out until a more attractive offer is made. In the classic formulation of this theory based on western gender and sexual stereotypes, women are constructed as having a lower libido than men, and therefore are the ones who "hold out" and extract resources from men as a form of manipulation. This apparent modern and western trend is retroprojected onto previous times and non-western societies by many evolutionary psychologists, despite little to no evidence justifying such retroprojection and a great deal of evidence against it.Hitchcock, T. (1997). English Sexualities, 1700–1800. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25407-1Malinowski, B. (1929). Sexual life of savages in north western Melanesia.Göttner-Abendroth, H. (2012b). Matriarchal Societies: studies on Indigenous cultures across the globe. http://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BB10517513
In the view of Mark Regnerus, the economic perspective is clear. The behavior he analyzed in the market place states that the majority rule is a political principle that often works in human society, but sex is an exception and minority rules work are applicable.
Female and male status This theory rests on the controversial belief that sexual activity is "naturally" more desirable for males than females in human societies. In some primates, male aggression against females has the effect of controlling female sexuality for the male's reproductive advantage. Furthermore, the evolutionary perspective provides a hypothesis to help explain cross-culture variation in the frequency of male aggression against women. Variables include the protection of women by family or community, male alliances, and male strategies for protecting spouses and achieving adulterous mating and male resource control.
According to sexual economics theory, males and females are different both physically and physiologically. According to the model, men give women resources, and then women will allow sex to take place. Under the context of sex, the trade of sex and resources keeps happening (Baumeister alleges that female control of sexuality and male competition for mates are consistent traits through eras and cultures, in sharp contrast to the available ethnographic evidenceBroude, G. J., & Greene, S. J. (1976). Cross-Cultural codes on twenty sexual attitudes and Practices. Ethnology, 15(4), 409. https://doi.org/10.2307/3773308Barry, H. (2007). Customs Associated with Premarital Sexual Freedom in 143 Societies. Cross-cultural Research, 41(3), 261–272. https://doi.org/10.1177/1069397107301977), and society has acknowledged that female sexuality has more value than male sexuality. For instance, men and women in the west have different feelings about their virginity. Women are more likely to think of their virginity as a precious gift and cherish it, while men see their virginity as a shameful condition and want to get rid of it early in life. This is a culturally bound response, as in some societies virginity has little to no value and anxieties surrounding female sexuality do not apply.Murdock, G. P. (1967). Ethnographic Atlas: a summary. Ethnology, 6(2), 109. https://doi.org/10.2307/3772751Brydon, L., & Sanday, P. R. (1982). Female Power and Male Dominance: On the Origins of Sexual Inequality. Man, 17(4), 802. https://doi.org/10.2307/2802078 The sexual economics theory, however, generally fails to deal with ethnographic data which dispute its core premises, instead assuming itself to be correct based on self-report data from western societies and projecting this modern data onto previous societies and other time periods.
It is also claimed that prostitution (the exchange of sex for money or equivalent items) may be a threat to women's status because sex is mostly considered as part of an intimate relationship instead of a contract.
Society situations
Domestic violence Some examples have been given by proponents of sexual economics theory which they allege support their claims. In a violent relationship, women are often more likely to be victimized. In one study, the results showed that jealousy is the most frequently used explanation for domestic violence for women, but for men two emotions lead to violence. The first one involves destructive thoughts (also refers to "critical inner voice") dominant like "She's trying to fool you" or "You are not man enough if you don't control her in mind and body." The other element contains a detrimental illusion (also refers to "fantasy bond"), it brings a sense that another person constituted a whole within the subject, and is essential for their happiness.
Several advances in promoting equality between sexes have been made (such as abortion law modification in some areas), but most agrarian or industrialized societies are still patriarchal societies. Men are thought of as stronger than women, especially physically. The expectation of being masculine and more powerful than women could be destructive for men by leading to violence. Therefore, proponents of this theory claim that a woman who has a violent partner might choose to offer sex to comfort and mostly distract them from abusing her. In this case, trading sex is considered as one useful way for women to escape emotional and physical abuse from men in a violent relationship.
Adultery The punishment for adultery is different between different genders in some countries. In some cultures, adultery is considered a crime, and although punishments for adultery such as stoning are also applied to men, the vast majority of the victims are women. In some cultures, the wives' adultery can be a viable reason if the husband wants to divorce, however, husbands' adultery cannot justify divorce. This is held up as evidence for sex being considered a female resource, although the copious number of cultures which lack clear evidence of a sexual "double standard"Broude, G. J., & Greene, S. J. (1976). Cross-Cultural codes on twenty sexual attitudes and Practices. Ethnology, 15(4), 409. https://doi.org/10.2307/3773308 are generally either ignored or proclaimed (typically without supporting evidence) as actually containing said "double standard". David Barash, for instance, attempted to respond to Christopher Ryan's claims about sexual egalitarianism in hunter-gatherer societies by stating that the sexual double standard is a human universal, yet offered no documentation for this claim and did not engage with the past century of primary ethnographic sources which dispute it.Barash, David. Out of Eden: The Surprising Consequences of Polygamy, Oxford University Press, 2016
Proponents of the sexual economic theory highlight countries such as the Philippines, where the law differentiates based on gender: a woman can be charged as a criminal of adultery if she has had sexual intercourse with someone other than her husband, but a man can only be charged with crimes such as concubinage, either keeping his mistress at home, or co-habitating with her, or having sexual relationships under scandalous circumstances. The existence of many alternative patterns in pre-state societies is generally not mentioned by proponents of the sexual economic theory.
Pornography In some countries, there is a significant difference between men and women in the consumption of pornography. Some researchers have attempted to provide evidence for sexual differences in libido by pointing out that men are more likely to view pornography compared to women, and there are more male users on pornography websites than female users. Pornhub, as one of the biggest pornography websites in the world, reported of the year at the end of 2019 that there were 32% female users in 2019, while 68% of Pornhub users were male, which means the number of male users was two times more than female users worldwide. While at first blush this finding seems to promote the universality of sexual economics, those using the pornography argument for higher male libido as compared to women typically neglect to mention that there is significant variation between countries, with some nations having significantly more female than male Pornhub users, as well as the fact that even in western nations, the gap is closing rapidly. They also struggle to account for the huge female overrepresentation in non-visual forms of erotica, such as erotic novels.Kraxenberger, M., Knoop, C. A., & Menninghaus, W. (2021). Who reads contemporary erotic novels and why? Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-021-00764-3
Human trafficking
Human trafficking is a global issue and has consistently existed for centuries, nevertheless, it entered public consciousness around the beginning of the twenty-first century. Human trafficking is the process of enslaving people and exploiting them. Sex trafficking is one of the most common types of human trafficking. According to the data derived by The United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime in 2016, 51% identified victims of human trafficking were women, children made up 28% and 21% were men. 72% of those who were exploited in the sex industry were women, while 63% of identified traffickers were men. Most victims are placed in abusive and coercive situations, but escaping is also difficult and life-threatening for them.