tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/sexual-double-standards-6163/articlesSexual double standards – The Conversation2021-06-29T12:05:15Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1616422021-06-29T12:05:15Z2021-06-29T12:05:15Z‘Cheating’s OK for me, but not for thee’ – inside the messy psychology of sexual double standards<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408231/original/file-20210624-15-fmgty7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=467%2C355%2C5052%2C3798&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The mating game often involves convoluted rationalizations.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/concept-of-divorce-quarrel-between-man-and-royalty-free-illustration/1319939719?adppopup=true">tomozina/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sexual double standards – in which women and men are judged differently for the same sexual behavior – will probably sound familiar to most people. </p>
<p>The classic one centers on multiple sexual partners: Men who are promiscuous <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000076">are lauded</a> as “studs,” “lotharios” or “ladies’ men,” while women who have a lot of sex <a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/david-m-buss/the-evolution-of-desire/9780465097760/">get called</a> “sluts” or “whores.” Men who cheat on their wives aren’t exactly praised, but they’ll often get a pass. Women who do the same, on the other hand, <a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/david-m-buss/the-evolution-of-desire/9780465097760/">risk sullying their social reputations</a>.</p>
<p>There’s a different sexual double standard, however, and it’s one that exists between two partners. </p>
<p>In my new book, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/When-Men-Behave-Badly-Harassment/dp/0316419354">When Men Behave Badly: The Hidden Roots of Sexual Deception, Harassment, and Assault</a>,” I spend some time exploring the underlying psychology of infidelity. Thanks to the way men get a pass for their promiscuity, you might assume men are more likely to rationalize their own cheating than women. </p>
<p>But in what I call the “me-versus-thee double standard,” it turns out that each side is just as likely to play mental gymnastics when it comes to justifying their bad behavior.</p>
<h2>Hypocrisy at its finest</h2>
<p>What’s behind the classic sexual double standard, in which men get more of a pass for having multiple sexual partners?</p>
<p>Part of the answer lies with men’s evolved mating psychology. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.1.85">Relative to women, they have a stronger desire for sexual variety</a>, which shows up in their sex drive, the number of partners they seek out, their tendency to fantasize about different women and their patronage of prostitutes.</p>
<p>So throughout human history, you’ll see men in power lay down parameters that give themselves more latitude for promiscuity. </p>
<p>Roman emperors, for example, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8438454/Romes-most-controversial-emperors.html">created harems of females</a> guarded by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/eunuch">eunuchs</a>, while Joseph Smith, when he founded the Mormon religion, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2014/11/13/363814184/mormon-church-publishes-essay-on-founder-joseph-smiths-polygamy">formalized polygamy</a>, arguing that God wouldn’t have made women so enticing if he wanted to limit a man to one woman. </p>
<p>However, Smith was keen to note that the same rules didn’t apply to women. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-12-july-1843-dc-132/8">In his handwritten documents</a>, Smith relays how the Lord told him: “And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him… But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused, shall be with another man, she has committed adultery, and shall be destroyed… according to my commandment.”</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, women often find this sexual hypocrisy baffling and logically inconsistent. </p>
<p>Yet versions of this sexual double standard persist, even in the most sexually egalitarian countries on Earth, <a href="https://www.hbes.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/conference_29.pdf">such as Norway</a>. And <a href="https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/63379/ASAO-DISSERTATION-2017.pdf?sequence=1">recent studies of more than three dozen cultures</a> found that it’s women, not men, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-women-still-get-judged-so-harshly-for-having-casual-sex-160583">who receive the brunt of the criticism for having casual sex and cheating on their partners</a>. </p>
<h2>‘What counts as sex’ isn’t so stable</h2>
<p>The sexual double standard just outlined has to do with what’s acceptable for men versus what’s OK for women. </p>
<p>The other has to do with what’s acceptable for oneself versus one’s partner.</p>
<p>In 2008, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490802398332">three social scientists posed the same question to men and women</a>: “What counts as sex?” </p>
<p>Only 41% of the men in existing relationships said that oral contact with someone else’s genitals would count as sex. But 65% of the men said that if their partner had oral contact, it would count as sex. </p>
<p>You might think that this reveals the usual sexual double standard, in which women are evaluated more harshly than men for the same conduct. </p>
<p>However only around one-third of women – 36% – said that if they had oral contact with someone else, it would count as sex, which is about the same as what men said. Meanwhile, 62% of women said that if their partner had oral contact with someone else, it would count as sex. </p>
<p>These findings reveal a previously unexplored sexual double standard – not between men and women as groups, but rather between standards people hold for themselves versus their partners: the “me-versus-thee” double standard.</p>
<p>If people hold sexual double standards about what counts as sex – not sex if I have contact with others, but definitely sex if you do – it’s easy to see how this quirky rationalization can lead to conflict in relationships: </p>
<p><em>It’s OK for me to kiss someone else; it doesn’t really mean anything, and besides, it’s not really sex. But you’d better not.</em> </p>
<p><em>It’s OK for me to receive a bit of oral pleasure when you’re out of town because it’s not really sex. But if you do, it’s infidelity with a capital “I.”</em></p>
<h2>Going after the competition</h2>
<p>It turns out that just as women are equal participants in the me-versus-thee double standard, they also help perpetuate the traditional male-versus-female double standard.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/63379">my research team conducted a series of studies</a> and found that women are somewhat more likely than men to condemn cheating and casual sex. However, women in many cultures are significantly harsher on other women than men are on other men. They’re also more likely to spread gossip that other women can’t stay loyal to one partner. And although women don’t admire promiscuous or adulterous men, they express less moral condemnation toward men who cheat or sleep around than they do toward women who do the same. </p>
<p>It all comes back to the fact that women’s sexual psychology, like that of men’s, evolved in the brutal and amoral furnace of <a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/david-m-buss/the-evolution-of-desire/9780465097760/">sexual and reproductive competition</a>. Women’s fundamental competitors have always been other women, and sullying the sexual reputations of their rivals is a key strategy in the serious game of procreative success.</p>
<p>When it comes to sexual double standards, perhaps we’re all moral hypocrites.</p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161642/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David M. Buss does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Both men and women play a role in perpetuating attitudes toward sex that are hypocritical and logically inconsistent.David M. Buss, Professor of Psychology, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/742152017-04-03T00:59:50Z2017-04-03T00:59:50ZWhy men and women lie about sex, and how this complicates STD control<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163357/original/image-20170330-4592-1wgt709.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-loving-couple-bed-384036424?src=NjumVXv7vx_1M2_vwmh9fw-1-49">From www.shutterstock.com </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When it comes to reporting the number of sex partners or how often they have sexual intercourse, men and women both lie. While men tend to overreport it, women have a tendency to underreport it. Although the story is not that <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3383815/#R11">simple and clear-cut</a>, I have discovered some interesting reasons why this is the case – and why it matters to doing research on sexual health.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224490609552321?src=recsys">Lying</a> is an inherent aspect of reporting sexual behaviors. For instance, more females report being a virgin (i.e., had not had
sexual intercourse) despite having had genital contact with a partner, compared to males. </p>
<p>I have studied <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24589191">sexual avoidance</a> and also frequency of sex in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17970974">patient populations</a>. In this regard I have always been interested in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18331261">gender differences</a> in what they do and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18221280">what they report</a>. This is in line with my other research on <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-men-are-favored-in-our-society-why-do-they-die-younger-than-women-71527">gender</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-stress-is-more-likely-to-cause-depression-in-men-than-in-women-57624">sex differences</a>. </p>
<p>The low <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8845395">validity and usefulness</a> of self-reported sexual behavior data is very bad news for public health officials. Sexual behavior data should be both accurate and reliable, as they are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2784947/#bib5">paramount</a> for effective reproductive health interventions to prevent HIV and STD. When men and women misreport their sexual behaviors, it undermines program designers’ and health care providers’ ability to plan <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3383815/">appropriately</a>. </p>
<h2>Pregnant virgins, and STDs among the abstinent</h2>
<p>A very clear example is the proportion of self-reported virginal status among pregnant women. In a study of multi-ethnic National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, also known as <a href="http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth">Add Health,</a> a nationally representative study of American youth, <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/347/bmj.f7102">45 women</a> of 7,870 women reported at least one virgin pregnancy. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163358/original/image-20170330-4561-xb3z6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163358/original/image-20170330-4561-xb3z6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163358/original/image-20170330-4561-xb3z6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163358/original/image-20170330-4561-xb3z6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163358/original/image-20170330-4561-xb3z6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163358/original/image-20170330-4561-xb3z6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163358/original/image-20170330-4561-xb3z6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pregnant-woman-resting-on-sofa-room-395199061?src=ZVeyEKxsKc1SW47iYE7qiQ-2-35">From www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>Another example is the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) which are not expected among young adults reporting <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3387859/">sexual abstinence</a>. Yet more than <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3387859/">10 percent</a> of young adults who had a confirmed positive STD reported abstaining from any sexual intercourse in the last year before STD testing. </p>
<p>If we ask youth who have had sexual experience, only 22 percent of them report the same date of first sex the second time we ask about it. On average, people revise their (reported) age at first sex to older ages the second time. <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224490209552142?src=recsys">Boys</a> have higher inconsistency reporting their first sex compared to females. Males are more likely than females to give inconsistent sexual information <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2784947/">globally</a>. </p>
<h2>Why don’t people tell the truth about sex?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2270232">Why</a> do people lie about their sexual behavior? There are many reasons. One is that people underreport stigmatized activities, such as having multiple sexual partners among women. They overreport the normative ones, such as higher frequency of sex for men. In both cases, people think their actual behavior would be considered socially unacceptable. This is also called social desirability or <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2958515/">social approval bias</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4023461/">Social desirability bias</a> causes problems in health research. It reduces reliability and validity of self-reported sexual behavior data. Simply said, social desirability helps us look good.</p>
<p>As <a href="http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/genderster.htm">gender norms</a> create different expectations about socially acceptable behavior of men and women, males and females face pressures in reporting certain (socially accepted) behaviors.</p>
<p>In particular, self-reports on <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12846131">premarital sexual experience</a> is of poor quality. Also self-reports of infidelity are less valid.</p>
<p>Although most studies suggest these differences are due to the systematic tendency of men and women to exaggerate and hide their number of partners, there are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8413586">studies</a> that suggest much of this difference is driven by a handful of men and women who grossly inflate and underreport their sexual encounters.</p>
<h2>Even married couples lie</h2>
<p>Men and women also lie when we ask them who is making sexual decisions regarding who has more power when it comes to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12555803">sexual decision-making</a>. </p>
<p>We do not expect disagreement when we ask the same question from husbands and wives in the same couples. But, interestingly, there is a systematic disagreement. More interestingly, in most cases when spouses disagree, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11449864">husbands are more likely to say “yes” and wives “no</a>.” The findings are interpreted in terms of gendered strategies in the interview process.</p>
<p>Not all of the gender differences in reported sexual behaviors are due to men’s and women’s selective under- and over- reporting of sexual acts. And, some of the sexual behaviors do vary by gender. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1860475">For instance,</a> men have more sex than women, and men less commonly use condoms. Men have more casual partners, regardless of the validity of their report.</p>
<h2>Secretive females, swaggering males</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15110421">Studies</a> have found that on average, women report fewer nonmarital sexual partners than men, as well as more stable longer relationships. This is in line with the idea that in general men “swagger” (i.e., exaggerate their sexual activity), while women are “secretive” (i.e., underreport sex).</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163359/original/image-20170330-4588-1bubuyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163359/original/image-20170330-4588-1bubuyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163359/original/image-20170330-4588-1bubuyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163359/original/image-20170330-4588-1bubuyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163359/original/image-20170330-4588-1bubuyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163359/original/image-20170330-4588-1bubuyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163359/original/image-20170330-4588-1bubuyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/483962212?src=0EtE5rXjgY9zblmc9LRMWA-2-95&size=huge_jpg">From www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4244004/">Structural factors such as social norms</a> shape men’s and women’s perceptions of appropriate sexual behaviors. Society expects men to have more sexual partners, and women to have fewer sexual partners. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J056v13n02_05">sexual double standard</a>, the same sexual behavior is judged differently depending on the gender of the (sexual) actor (Milhausen and Herold 2001). <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J056v13n02_05">Interestingly</a>, men are more likely to endorse a double standard than women.</p>
<p>In the presence of sexual double standards, males are praised for their sexual contacts, whereas females are derogated and stigmatized for the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4206259/">same behaviors</a>, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Other-Double-Standards-Every-Should/dp/1580052452">He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut</a>.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4256532/">Research</a> suggests that lifetime sexual partnerships affect peer status of genders differently. A greater number of sexual partners is positively correlated with boys’ peer acceptance, but negatively correlated with girls’ peer acceptance. </p>
<h2>Self-serving bias is common</h2>
<p>As humans, self-serving bias is a part of how we think and how we act. A common type of cognitive bias, self-serving bias can be <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/in-practice/201301/the-self-serving-bias-definition-research-and-antidotes">defined</a> as an individual’s tendency to attribute positive events and attributes to their own actions but negative events and attributes to others and external factors. We report on sexual behaviors which are normative and accepted to protect ourselves, and avoid stress and conflict. That will reduce our distinction from our surroundings, and will help us feel safe. </p>
<p>As a result, in our society, men are rewarded for having a high number of sexual partners, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224499909552008?src=recsys">whereas</a> women are penalized for the same behavior. </p>
<p>The only long-term solution is the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1037798?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">ongoing decline</a> in “double standard” about sexual morality. Until then, researchers should continue questioning the accuracy of their data. Computerized interviews may be only a partial <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4023461/">solution</a>. Increasing <a href="http://bmcmedresmethodol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2288-14-90">privacy and confidentiality</a> is another partial solution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74215/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shervin Assari does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Double standards about sexual activity not only make life difficult, but they also complicate STD research. As we observe STD Awareness Month, it’s good to think about how to get to the truth.Shervin Assari, Research Investigator of Psychiatry and Public Health, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/680202016-11-03T02:07:00Z2016-11-03T02:07:00ZWhy voters don’t seem to forgive Clinton, while Trump gets a free pass<p>A <a href="http://www.salon.com/2016/09/19/playing-by-different-rules-the-media-lets-trump-get-out-of-jail-free-but-wont-let-clinton-pass-go/">persistent mystery discussed</a> in this presidential campaign has been double standards. In other words, while Donald Trump seems to have a “get out of jail free” card, Hillary Clinton can’t seem to “pass go.” </p>
<p>A case in point is the news last week <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/28/politics/fbi-reviewing-new-emails-in-clinton-probe-director-tells-senate-judiciary-committee/">that the FBI is looking at more emails</a> potentially tied to Clinton. Without knowing anything about their contents – whether they show wrongdoing or not – the <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2016/10/29/democrats_should_ask_hillary_clinton_to_step_aside_394609.html">pundit reaction</a> was swift and <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/10/29/just_the_facts_maam_132195.html">negative</a>, and <a href="http://www.investors.com/politics/clintons-lead-shrinks-to-1-point-as-voters-react-to-the-fbis-email-bombshell/">polls suggested</a> it may have shifted some voters into the Trump column. At the same time, a <a href="http://people.com/bodies/twelfth-woman-accuses-donald-trump-sexual-assault/">trail of women</a> accusing Trump of sexual assault and a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/12/donald-trump-jeffrey-epstein-alleged-rape-lawsuit">rape trial</a> failed to generate as much outrage (considering the significance of the alleged wrongdoing).</p>
<p>The possibility of different standards for how voters assess the perceived failings of Trump and Clinton <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/19/a-trump-clinton-double-standard">is discussed frequently</a>. New research suggests one reason may be that we actually do hold people we perceive as leaders up to a higher standard – and more importantly, we more easily forgive those we don’t see that way. </p>
<h2>‘Human brands’</h2>
<p>The question of how people form moral judgments about corporate executives and other types of spokespeople is important because it reflects on their “brand” or organization.</p>
<p>Companies use celebrities and athletes to “speak” for their products because <a href="http://journals.ama.org/doi/abs/10.1509/jmkg.70.3.104">people develop attachments</a> to such “human brands.” And these positive feelings bleed into the company’s brand as well. </p>
<p>But while hitching one’s brand to a popular celebrity or athlete may make it more relatable and potentially more valuable, there’s a flip side: the more human a brand becomes – and the more influential the spokesperson – the more <a href="http://journals.ama.org/doi/abs/10.1509/jm.11.0510">vulnerable</a> it is to moral judgments, such as when the endorser is caught in wrongdoing and his or her sponsors run for the hills. Think <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/investopedia/2013/02/05/5-most-publicized-ethics-violations-by-ceos/#30db07a22799">Tiger Woods</a>, <a href="http://search.proquest.com/docview/1511441663?pq-origsite=gscholar">Lance Armstrong</a> or <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/sponsors-flee-ryan-lochte-robbery-201512940.html">Ryan Lochte</a>. </p>
<h2>Leadership and influence</h2>
<p>Most research in this field suggests people in their role as spokespersons for brands or companies <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/4188769?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">are typically judged</a> in terms of attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise. </p>
<p>That is, we’re more likely to buy what they’re selling (whether a product or an idea) if they are physically appealing, appear trustworthy and/or seem to be an expert in the field.</p>
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<p>We wondered whether a fourth criterion should be added: leadership. In other words, we were interested in learning if the perceived leadership qualities of spokespeople influence how people respond to the products, brands or ideas they represent.</p>
<p>For example, when <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/246671">we think of leaders in technology</a>, like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, we think of them almost as synonymous with their companies, Tesla and Amazon, respectively. </p>
<p>That is, how we view corporate executives as leaders is strongly connected to how we feel about their brands – for good or ill. They are CEOs but <a href="http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2016/09/how-ceos-shape-brand-perceptions.html#.WBpII3eZOV5">they are also spokespeople</a>, and their <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/investopedia/2013/02/05/5-most-publicized-ethics-violations-by-ceos/#784bc8c62799">ethical failings can end up destroying their companies</a>. </p>
<p>While <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/03090561111119958">most of our research</a> is focused on celebrity spokespeople and how their actions influence the fate of their brands, we thought some of the same insights might apply in the political realm as well. Specifically, how does our perception of them as leaders affect their “personal” brand and how we judge them after a moral lapse? </p>
<h2>Leaders get all the blame</h2>
<p>To answer that question, we conducted a study in May (just as the presidential nomination battles were winding down) involving 209 college students. We randomly assigned each participant one of five U.S. political figures to evaluate on five criteria: the three typical influential traits of spokespeople (trustworthiness, attractiveness and expertise) as well leadership and their general favorability toward them. </p>
<p>The five figures were President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Participants scored their assigned politician by responding to a series of survey questions for each trait, using a scale of 1 to 7 to measure them on several opposing word pairs related to the category. For example, under trustworthiness, they were asked if the politician was honest or dishonest, whereby 1 was the least honest and 7 was the most. </p>
<p>All of the scores were then tallied to generate an overall measure of each trait. </p>
<p>We then asked each participant to answer three general questions, using a similar 1-7 scale, from strongly disagree to strongly agree: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>If this person did something wrong, I would be very disappointed.</p></li>
<li><p>I would blame this person if he or she did something wrong.</p></li>
<li><p>I would forgive this person if he or she apologized for a wrongdoing.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The results showed that a politician’s score in terms of perceived leadership significantly predicted how people judged them later. That is, a high score in terms of leadership was associated with more blame, more disappointment and less forgiveness (even after an apology). A lower score, on the other hand, correlated to less blame and disappointment and a greater capacity to forgive.</p>
<p>As one might expect, participants who indicated a positive attitude toward the politician were less likely to blame him or her for a wrongful act and more likely to forgive – in other words, they were more likely to give them a break. But despite this, the general link between perceptions of leadership and subsequent moral judgments was very strong. </p>
<p>For example, Obama and Clinton received two of the highest scores in terms of leadership, while Trump was lowest among the five. Yet participants – even those who had a positive attitude toward a politician – if they were viewed as leaders – indicated they would be much less likely to forgive them if they did something wrong. </p>
<p>Interestingly, attractiveness, expertise and trust were not predictors of blaming and forgiveness – that is, they weren’t statistically significant. </p>
<p>The key finding, however, is not each politician’s various scores but that our views of them as a leader greatly influence our tolerance of subsequent bad behavior. In short, the more the person is perceived as being a leader, the more they will be blamed and the less they will be forgiven if suspected of wrongdoing. </p>
<h2>Setting a standard</h2>
<p>What does this all mean? </p>
<p>Being perceived as a leader comes with a cost: People will hold you to a higher standard, as we intuitively feel should be the case. But on the flip side, our research suggests those whom we don’t see as leaders aren’t judged by the same standard.</p>
<p>The takeaway isn’t that we should lower the standard for our leaders, but perhaps we should raise it for those who want to be among them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68020/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>T. Bettina Cornwell is a registered Democrat.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeffrey Xie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There often appears to be a double standard in how voters and pundits evaluate the candidates. Being perceived as a leader may have a lot to do with it.T. Bettina Cornwell, Professor of Marketing, University of OregonJeffrey Xie, Ph.D. Candidate in Marketing, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/153072013-06-24T20:38:53Z2013-06-24T20:38:53ZReliving virginity: sexual double standards and hymenoplasty<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/26079/original/3v3b77sn-1372056180.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women traditionally rode side-saddle in order to preserve their hymen, a less-than-perfect signifier for virginity.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Miss Tessmacher/Flicker</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>More and more women are requesting surgery to replace their hymens, in an effort to “fake” virginity. But virginity is a psychological state, and a hymen is no reliable indicator it exists. </p>
<p>The idea of virginity is firmly anchored in religion and influenced by a variety of social forces that have led to its circulation across cultures for centuries. It popularly refers to a state of sexual inexperience, but has historically been primarily associated with women. </p>
<p>Specifically, an intact <a href="http://health.howstuffworks.com/sexual-health/female-reproductive-system/hymen-dictionary.htm">hymen</a> (named after the Greek god of marriage) has been used as an indicator of female virginity. And the loss of virginity has been associated with sexual intercourse (defined here as penile-vaginal penetration), which perforates the hymen, leading to bleeding. </p>
<p>There’s no complementary cultural indicator of male virginity.</p>
<h2>Hymens and virginity</h2>
<p>Contrary to popular belief, the hymen doesn’t completely cover the vaginal opening. If it did, women wouldn’t be able to menstruate. The hymenal tissue wears away with time and the opening widens as a result of exercise or tampon use. </p>
<p>Hymens come in different shapes and sizes – some women are even born without one. Human hymens have no clear biological purpose.</p>
<p>The association of virginity loss with a penetrative vaginal sexual act is problematic because it makes heterosexual sex the standard by which we understand virginity.</p>
<p>But virginity and hymens continue to be a matter of life and death for women in cultures where a high value is placed on the former. In religions such as Islam, Hinduism and various sects of Christianity and Judaism, premarital sex is often forbidden. </p>
<p>Bleeding during the first marital intercourse becomes “proof” of virginity. And some cultural rituals involve a bride showing her blood-stained bed sheets to her husband’s family. </p>
<p>Between <a href="http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/13625187.2011.649866">40% and 50% of women</a> don’t bleed upon having sex for the first time. But this doesn’t alter the weight attached to the hymen in some cultures.</p>
<h2>Time to re-virginise?</h2>
<p>Women who are not virgins often have to engage in an elaborate deception in order to ensure nuptial bleeding because a lack of blood can lead to the <a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1822297,00.html">annulment</a> of a marriage or, in the worst cases, <a href="http://www.news.com.au/world-news/teenage-rape-victim-destined-to-be-killed/story-fndir2ev-1226653694764">honour killings</a>. If there’s any suspicion that a woman is not a virgin, she might be even be forced to have her virginity confirmed by a gynaecologist.</p>
<p>Understandably, many women are terrified of their wedding night. They may perform virginity by hiding a small vial of animal blood in their wedding dress to spread on the bed sheets. Other women <a href="http://www.hymenshop.net/">purchase a fake hymen</a> to insert right before intercourse. </p>
<p>In more extreme cases, women “re-virginise” by undergoing <a href="http://www.gynae-centre.co.uk/our-services/hymen-repair/">hymenoplasty</a>, a procedure in which the hymen is surgically repaired.</p>
<p>Despite limited statistics, doctors in United Kingdom suggest that the number of women asking for a hymenoplasty is <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1298684/Surge-virginity-repair-operations-NHS.html">increasing</a>. Women there are paying <a href="http://www.closeronline.co.uk/RealLife/Reallifestories/hymenoplasty-operations-women-virgins-again-increased-nhs.aspx">up to ₤4000</a> and enduring a recovery period of several weeks in order to have their hymens restored for just one night. The situation is most likely similar in Australia.</p>
<p>But there’s a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18807803">lack of data</a> about the effectiveness of the procedure and its complication rates given the secretive nature of the surgery.</p>
<p>And it’s not just women from conservative cultural backgrounds who are “re-virginising”. Affluent women are also doing it as a <a href="http://www.cosmeticgyn.net/vaginoplasty-labiaplasty-hymenoplasty-articles/d-magazine-story-on-laser-vaginal-rejuvenation-laser-reduction-labioplasty-and-hymenoplasty.html">“gift”</a> to their male partners, as a means of re-energising their sex lives.</p>
<h2>The search for youth</h2>
<p>Hymenoplasty, then, is also a response to the stigma surrounding ageing for women. The restoration of the hymen is often coupled with vaginal tightening so women can look and feel “younger”. </p>
<p>Sadly, not only are women expected to be eternally “girlish” – they are also expected to be eternally “virginal”. Clearly, we should be deeply concerned with the cultural <a href="http://www.tlc.com/tv-shows/other-shows/videos/virgin-diaries.htm">obsession</a> with virginity. </p>
<p>Women are risking their lives and their health in order to be “virginal” (primarily for men). This leads to a sexual double standard in which women are solely responsible for maintaining some kind of “purity”. </p>
<p>Women are taught from a very early age that their virginity is precious, that chastity is important and that premarital sex is shameful. Ironically, we fail to recognise that the emphasis on female virginity (in Australia, at least) sits against a backdrop of much more insidious forms of sexualisation during girlhood (such as <a href="http://www.news.com.au/newstest2/archive-old-assets/uk-retailer-primark-withdraws-padded-bikini-bras-for-kids/story-e6frfkyi-1225854172364">padded bras</a> for seven-year-olds). </p>
<p>In spite of what culture tells us, virginity as such doesn’t exist. We can’t see it or touch it. It doesn’t give us any physical or evolutionary advantages. </p>
<p>Virginity is a psychological state and hymenoplasty is a troubling response to an issue so deeply rooted in sexual and gender inequalities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/15307/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meredith Nash does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More and more women are requesting surgery to replace their hymens, in an effort to “fake” virginity. But virginity is a psychological state, and a hymen is no reliable indicator it exists. The idea of…Meredith Nash, Lecturer in Sociology, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.