An Empirical Test of the Bodyguard Hypothesis

Wilson, Margo; Mesnick, Sarah L.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-5985-6_21

Cited by 54 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Beyond these general points, Vandermassen is critical of parts of the Thornhill and Palmer (2000) evolutionary analysis of rape, while endorsing the evolutionary feminist analysis of sexual coercion advanced by Smuts (1995) (as well as those of other evolutionary feminists, such as Gowaty 1992, andMesnick 1997). Specifically, while she acknowledges the importance and centrality of sexual motivation in rape (as do Smuts, Gowaty, Wilson, and Mesnick), which is typically downplayed or disregarded by many feminists scholars, Vandermassen takes Thornhill and Palmer to task for ignoring anger and hostility toward women as central psychological motivations of (some) rapists.…”

Section: Understanding the Causes Of Rape And Other Forms Of Sexual Vmentioning

confidence: 97%

Evolutionary Psychology and Feminism

2011

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This article provides a historical context of evolutionary psychology and feminism, and evaluates the contributions to this special issue of Sex Roles within that context. We briefly outline the basic tenets of evolutionary psychology and articulate its meta-theory of the origins of gender similarities and differences. The article then evaluates the specific contributions: Sexual Strategies Theory and the desire for sexual variety; evolved standards of beauty; hypothesized adaptations to ovulation; the appeal of risk taking in human mating; understanding the causes of sexual victimization; and the role of studies of lesbian mate preferences in evaluating the framework of evolutionary psychology. Discussion focuses on the importance of social and cultural context, human behavioral flexibility, and the evidentiary status of specific evolutionary psychological hypotheses. We conclude by examining the potential role of evolutionary psychology in addressing social problems identified by feminist agendas.

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Section: Understanding the Causes Of Rape And Other Forms Of Sexual Vmentioning

confidence: 97%

Evolutionary Psychology and Feminism

2011

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“…They hypothesise that people have evolved adaptations to 54 reduce their risk of victimisation. For example, women's mate selection criteria should, and indeed, 55 evidence suggests that it does, include a preference for mates who can offer protection for 56 themselves and their offspring (e.g., Buss, 1994;Snyder et al 2011) through being physically 57 formidable and dominant, known as "the bodyguard hypothesis" (Wilson & Mesnick, 1997). For 58 example, women prefer protective qualities in male friends (Bleske-Rechek & Buss, 2001) and short-59 term or extra-pair mating partners (Buss & Schmitt, 1993;Greiling & Buss, 2000), supposedly due to 60 the protection they can afford.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Women's fear of crime and preference for formidable mates: how specific are the underlying psychological mechanisms?

Ryder

Maltby

Rai

et al. 2016

Evolution and Human Behavior

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Previous research shows that feelings of vulnerability, as measured by fear of crime, are associated 16 with preferences for physically formidable and dominant mates (PPFDM), ostensibly because of the 17 physical protection such mates can afford. In the lab and in the field, we tested whether the 18 relationship between PPFDM and fear of crime is pronounced when the risk of crime is relatively 19 high, and for crimes that are evolutionarily more costly. In Study 1, women were presented with 20 daytime and night time images that featured a lone shadowy male figure, crime hotspots and 21 safespots, and they reported their risk of victimisation in the situation depicted in the image. In 22 Study 2, we had female participants walk through crime hotspots and safespots in a city centre 23 during the daytime, and had them report their perceived victimisation risk for different types of 24 crime, perpetrated by a male-versus female. Participants in Study 1 and 2 also completed a scale 25 that measures PPFDM. In both studies, we found that PPFDM was positively associated with fear of 26 crime in hotspots and in safespots. Additionally, fear of crime was significantly affected by risk 27 situation (i.e., safespot versus hotspot, night time versus daytime). The relationship between PPFDM 28 and fear, however, did not vary in relation to risk situation, perpetrator gender, or crime type, 29suggesting that the psychological mechanisms underlying the relationship between perceived risk of 30 victimisation and PPFDM are general in nature. Women who prefer physically formidable and 31 dominant mates tend to feel more at risk of crime, regardless of the situational risk factors present. 32

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“…In most cases, relationship status was the sole predictor of rape avoidance after controlling for the other predictor variables. Because mated women bear additional potential costs associated with being raped (Thornhill, 1996;Thornhill & Palmer, 2000;Thornhill & Thornhill, 1990;Wilson & Mesnick, 1997), they performed more rape avoidance behavior relative to non-mated women.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…These costs may include disruption of a woman's parental care, abandonment by her partner, and physical, psychological, and emotional injury (Thornhill, 1996;Thornhill & Palmer, 2000). An additional cost inflicted on women who are raped is the circumvention of their choice of a sexual partner (Wilson & Mesnick, 1997). Because women (relative to men) bear a substantially greater obligatory investment in offspring, circumventing a woman's mate choice can severely jeopardize her reproductive success, particularly if it results in offspring of poorer genetic quality (Symons, 1979).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual Differences in Women’s Rape Avoidance Behaviors

et al. 2010

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Rape can exact severe psychological, physical, and reproductive costs on women, and likely was a recurrent adaptive problem over human evolutionary history. Therefore, women may have evolved psychological mechanisms that motivate rape avoidance behaviors. Guided heuristically by an evolutionary perspective, we tested the hypothesis that women's rape avoidance behaviors would vary with several individual difference variables. Specifically, we predicted that rape avoidance behaviors would covary positively with (1) women's attractiveness, (2) women's involvement in a committed romantic relationship, and (3) the number of family members living nearby. We also predicted that women's rape avoidance behaviors would covary negatively with age. We administered the Rape Avoidance Inventory (McKibbin et al., Pers Indiv Differ 39:336-340, 2009) and a demographic survey to a sample of women (n = 144). The results of correlational and regression analyses were consistent with the predictions, with the exception that women's rape avoidance behaviors did not covary with women's age. Discussion highlighted limitations of the current research and directions for future research on women's rape avoidance psychology and behaviors.

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An Empirical Test of the Bodyguard Hypothesis

Cited by 54 publications

References 4 publications

Evolutionary Psychology and Feminism

Evolutionary Psychology and Feminism

Women's fear of crime and preference for formidable mates: how specific are the underlying psychological mechanisms?

Individual Differences in Women’s Rape Avoidance Behaviors

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