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Sexual economics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sexual economics relates to how participants think, feel, behave and give feedback during sex or relevant sexual events. This theory states that the thinking, preferences and behavior of men and women follow the fundamental economic principles.[1] It was proposed by psychologists Roy Baumeister and Kathleen Vohs.

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Transcription

Marriage rates in the U.S. have hit an historic low. Annual revenue of the online dating industry is at an all-time high. $1.049 Billion. Ever wonder if romantic relationships are getting increasingly more difficult to navigate these days? Why fewer couples are getting married and later than ever before? Time for a crash course on the Economics of Sex. Let’s think about sex as an exchange where each person gives the other person something of themselves. It might appear at face value that they are giving the same thing - - intimate access to each other’s bodies - - but there’s more going on here than meets the eye. Men and Women both enjoy sex. We all know that. But what’s interesting is how the data tells us that Men and Women experience sex differently. On average, Men have a higher sex drive than women. Blame it on testosterone, call it whatever you want--but on average, men initiate sex more than women, they're more sexually permissive than women, and they connect sex to romance less often than women. Nobody’s saying this is the way it ought to be. It’s just the way it is. Women, on the other hand, are likely to have sex for reasons beyond just simple pleasure. Her motivations for sex often include expressing and receiving love, strengthening commitment, affirming desirability, and relationship security.   So in an exchange relationship where men want sex more often than women do, who decides when it will happen? She does, of course. Sex is her resource. Sex in consensual relationships will happen when women want it to. So how do women decide to begin a sexual relationship? Pricing. Women have something of value that men want…badly, something men are actually willing to sacrifice for. So how much does sex cost for men? It might cost him nothing but a few drinks and compliments, or a month of dates and respectful attention, or all the way up to a lifetime promise to share all of his affections, wealth and earnings with her exclusively. The “price” varies widely. But if women are the gatekeepers, why don’t very many women “charge more” so to speak? Because pricing is not entirely up to women. The “market value” of sex is part of a social system of exchange, an “economy” if you will, wherein men and women learn from each other – and from others – what they ought to expect from each other sexually.  So sex is not entirely a private matter between two consenting adults. Think of it as basic… Supply and Demand. When supplies are high - prices drop... since people won’t pay more for something that’s easy to find.  But if it’s hard to find ... people will pay a premium. And the same rings true with sex.  Men know that sex is cheap these days, if they know where to look. So how did we get here? How did the market value of sex decline so drastically? Economists often speak of “technological shocks” that dramatically alter markets. 
 Take pesticides for example… Pesticides revolutionized agriculture, enabling its mass production on a level unparalleled in the history of human civilization. Lawns became greener. Produce became better, and widely available with a marvelous variety. We eat like kings now. And the market has changed ... forever. Here’s another example: Artificial hormonal contraception or The Pill, allowed men and women to have sex while avoiding pregnancy. This was a technological shock that forever altered the mating market by profoundly  lowering the cost of sex. It didn’t change overnight but the effects have been … one might say… revolutionary. Before contraception, sex before marriage took place during the search for a mate- someone to marry. Sex didn’t necessarily mean marriage, but serious commitment was commonly a requirement for sex. Sex was oriented towards marriage. Don’t believe people who say your great-grandparents were secretly as casual about sex as your friends are. They weren’t, because to mess around with sex eventually meant, well, becoming parents. Now...remember the example of “pesticides?” It turns out that they had unforeseen effects that are wreaking havoc on the environment and weakening the natural ecological systems that we depend on. Scientists believe that because of pesticides, the bee population is dropping at an alarming rate. One-third of all the food we eat depends on those bees for pollination. And that’s just one example. It is now feared that the overuse of pesticides is throwing ecology as we know it into disarray. 
 While the original purpose of the Pill was to prevent pregnancy,  the data reveals an unanticipated side-effect: the Pill threw the mating market into disarray. Having sex and thinking about marriage have now become two quite different things. We now have a split mating market: One corner where people are largely interested in sex and one corner where people are largely pursuing marriage And there are more men looking for sex than women, and more women looking to marry than men. The language of online dating reinforces the reality of this split mating market. Men are more apt to write that they’re “looking for fun,” while women tend to signal very different things, saying things like “only serious inquiries, please” or “not into games.” So this split mating market poses a particular problem for women. They certainly call the shots when it comes to short-term sexual relationships. This is because men outnumber  them. This enables women to be more selective in the short-term. But the reverse is true when they decide they want to settle down. We often hear about “men’s lack of commitment,” but the blunt reality is an economic one: Women vastly outnumber men in the marriage market which means men can be picky and can insist on extensive sexual experience before committing. Men are in a position to maximize their rewards while investing fewer resources. Why do men do this?   Because they can. Here’s the thing: In the past, it really wasn’t the patriarchy that policed women’s relational interests. It was women. But, this agreement, this unspoken pact to set a high market value of sex … has all but vanished. But in a brave new world where having sex no longer means babies and marriage has become optional,  the solidarity women once felt toward each other in the mating market…has dissolved. Women no longer have each other’s backs. On the contrary… they’re now each other’s competition. And when women compete for men, they tend to do so by appealing to what men want… 
 Here’s where women are wrong about men: Men are not actually afraid of commitment at all. While women are the gatekeepers when it comes to sex, the deal is that men are in the driver’s seat in the marriage market. They can navigate it in exactly how they want to. And unlike women’s fertility, men’s virility doesn’t expire by 40, or 45, or 50, or even 60. So what’s the rush? Talk about having the upper hand! 
So... it should come as no surprise that the average age of first marriage in the United States continues to rise, and that the share of Americans between the ages of 25-34 years old who are married is continuing to drop. While there are certainly factors that contribute to each of those trends, the gender imbalance in a split mating market is a big one. Talk about a profound irony. By nearly every measure, young men are failing to adapt to contemporary life. When attractive women will still go to bed with you, life for young men—even those who are floundering—just ain’t so bad. In reality, men tend to behave as well or as poorly as the women in their lives permit.   Economists say that collusion—women working together—would be the most rational way to elevate the “market value” of sex, But there is little evidence of this happening among women today. At least, not yet… If women were squarely in charge of how their relationships transpired and demanded a “higher market price” for the exchange of sex so to speak, we’d be seeing—on average— more impressive wooing efforts, greater male investment, longer relationships, fewer premarital partners, shorter cohabitations, and more marrying going on. For a woman to know what she wants in a relationship and to signal it clearly, especially if it’s different than what most men want … This is her power in the economy.  But none of these things seem to be occurring … not now… at least… Today, the economics of contemporary sexual relationships clearly favor men and what they want, even while what they are offering in the exchange has diminished. And it’s all thanks to supply, demand, and the long reach of a remarkable little pill. Brought to you by the Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture.

Definitions

Sexual Economics defines sex as a marketplace deal. In this theory, sex is the thing that women have, and men want. Therefore, sex is considered as a resource that women hold overall. Women hold on to their bodies until they receive enough motivation to give it 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.[1]

Sexual Economics is based on social exchange theory: people are willing to give up something if they can get in exchange what they believe will benefit them more.[2] As an example, assume one party holds a burger, and a hungry man wants the burger more than the money in his pocket. In this situation, the party who holds the burger has to want the money more than he wants the burger for the final exchange to take place. However, sometimes one party is more eager to exchange for what the other party holds, this causes a bargaining power imbalance.[3] 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.[4]

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.[5]

Female and male status

Sexual intercourse is often more attractive (if the state of affairs is equal for both parties, e.g., a man and a woman with equal economic status) to men than to women.[citation needed] In 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.[6]

According to sexual economics theory, males and females are different both physically and physiologically. 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 through eras and cultures, and society has acknowledged that female sexuality has more value than male sexuality.[citation needed] For instance, men and women 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.[7]

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.[8]

Society situations

Domestic violence

Some examples could be used to prove that the theory of the sex economy valid. In a violent relationship, women are more likely to receive violence compared to men. In a research study, the results showed that jealousy is the most often used explanation for domestic violence for women,[9] 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 with you, and it is essential for your happiness.[10]

Several advances in promoting equality between sexes have been made (such as abortion law modification in some areas), but most 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, a woman who has a violent partner would 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.[1]

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.[11] 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 the evidence for sex being considered a female resource. In this situation, sex is traded in exchange for getting married; therefore, if a wife has sex outside her husband, she's giving away what her husband sees as his.

In the Philippines, 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. However, 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.[12]

Pornography

There is a big difference between men and women on the topic of their personal use and acceptance of pornography.[13] It is shown in many research papers that men are more likely to view pornography compared to women, the most obvious evidence is that 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.[14] 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.[15] Therefore, at least watching sex is more attractive to men than women based on the data derived.

Porn stars

Porn stars are people who perform sex acts in front of cameras for pornographic videos/movies. Female porn stars enter the industry for many different reasons, such as being repressed for a long time and wanting to abreact via this job. Receiving a satisfying pay after each movie ($390-$1950 for female actor)[16] is also one of the attractive factors for entering the pornography industry.[17]

However, health care for porn stars is in a lack of security and in some porn women are degraded and used in some scenes. Women in porn can become dehumanized and treated as objects, abused, broken and discarded at the end.[18] Therefore, even in commercial sexual culture, sexism and misogynist violence still exist in today's society.

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.[19] Human trafficking is the process of enslaving people and exploiting them.[20] 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[21] 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.[22] Most victims are placed in abusive and coercive situations, but escaping is also difficult and life-threatening for them.[23]

global human trafficking from countries of origin and destination Countries of origin Yellow: Moderate number of persons Orange: High number of persons Red: Very high number of persons Countries of destination Light blue: High number of persons Blue: Very high number of persons

According to The International Labor Organization, 4.5 million people are affected by sex trafficking in the world.[24] Sex trafficking victims are often caught by various prosecuted criminal activities such as illegal prostitution. Besides the law, problems like long-lasting problems such as disease (AIDS), malnutrition, psychological trauma, addiction to drugs, and social ostracism against this group of people should be addressed as well.

Sex bribery in the work place

Sex bribery is defined as a "form of quid pro quo harassment in a sexual relationship with the declared or implicit condition for acquiring/retaining employment or its benefit" [25] in an employment setting. A common example of sex bribery might come down to sexual activity or sexually related behavior accompanied by a reward such as a promotion opportunity or raise in payment.[26] In a workplace, attempted coercion of sexual activity may under the threat of two major types of punishment: negative work performance feedback/evaluation and withheld chances of promotions and raises.[27]

According to the 2016 Personal Safety Survey,[28] around 55% of women over 18 have experienced sexual harassment in their lifetime, including receiving indecent phone calls, texts, emails; indecent exposure; inappropriate comments about the person's body and sex life; having unwanted touching, grabbing and kissing; and exposing and distributing the person's text, pictures, and sexual videos, without the person's permission. It is a serious, widespread problem, and the person who has a sexual harassment experience can feel stressed, anxious and depressed, sometimes withdrawing socially, becoming less productive, and losing confidence and self-esteem.[29]

Social cases: sex as a female resource

There are several controversial cases in today's society that are relevant to sex economic theory.

Virginity Auction

A virginity auction is a controversial auction often published online. The person who tries to sell his/her virginity is often a young female, and the winning bidder will have the opportunity to be the first who have intercourse with the person. It is a controversial topic since many cases cannot be certified to be authentic.[30][31][32] The person who auctions their virginity mostly do so for quick financial help. In this case, under the theory of sex economics, women are trying to use sex as a resource to trade financial help from men.

Sugar baby

Sugar baby is another controversial case that exists in today's society. A sugar baby and sugar daddy/mommy are in a beneficial relationship, which means sugar babies provide time and sexual services to please their partners, and sugar daddies/mommas give financial support back to sugar babies including helping them in student loans and also provide luxury lifestyles such as expensive items they couldn't afford on their own. According to the registered number on dating websites,[33] sugar babies are mostly female and the number of sugar daddy is distinctly more than the number of sugar mommy. Therefore, it is another instance that corresponds to the theory of the sex economy.

References

  1. ^ a b c Baumeister, Roy F.; Vohs, Kathleen D. (November 2004). "Sexual Economics: Sex as Female Resource for Social Exchange in Heterosexual Interactions". Personality and Social Psychology Review. 8 (4): 339–363. doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr0804_2. ISSN 1088-8683. PMID 15582858. S2CID 15191559.
  2. ^ Roloff, Michael E. (1981). Interpersonal communication: the social exchange approach. Sage Publications. ISBN 0-8039-1604-3. OCLC 7307310.
  3. ^ Plummer, Ken (2002-11-01). Telling Sexual Stories. doi:10.4324/9780203425268. ISBN 9780203425268.
  4. ^ Delaney, Sheila (1975). "Sexual Economics, Chaucer's Wife of Bath, and The Book of Margery Kempe". Minnesota Review. 5 (1): 104–115. ISSN 2157-4189.
  5. ^ Regnerus, Mark; Uecker, Jeremy (2010-12-10). Premarital Sex in America. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199743285.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-974328-5.
  6. ^ Smuts, Barbara (March 1992). "Male aggression against women". Human Nature. 3 (1): 1–44. doi:10.1007/bf02692265. ISSN 1045-6767. PMID 24222394. S2CID 7627612.
  7. ^ Baumeister, Roy F.; Vohs, Kathleen D. (2012-10-18). "Sexual Economics, Culture, Men, and Modern Sexual Trends". Society. 49 (6): 520–524. doi:10.1007/s12115-012-9596-y. ISSN 0147-2011.
  8. ^ Baumeister, Roy F.; Twenge, Jean M. (2003-04-15). "The Social Self". Handbook of Psychology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. doi:10.1002/0471264385.wei0514. ISBN 0-471-26438-5.
  9. ^ Pirog-Good, Maureen A.; Stets, Jan E. (January 1991). "Violence in Dating Relationships". Family Relations. 40 (1): 117. doi:10.2307/585669. ISSN 0197-6664. JSTOR 585669.
  10. ^ Firestone, Robert W.; Firestone, Lisa A.; Catlett, Joyce (2006). Sex and love in intimate relationships. doi:10.1037/11260-000. ISBN 1-59147-286-5.
  11. ^ "Gender Inequality and Discrimination: The Case of Iranian Women". Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. 2013-03-05. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
  12. ^ "A brief discussion on Infidelity, Concubinage, Adultery and Bigamy". Philippine e-Legal Forum. 23 November 2009. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
  13. ^ Hald, Gert Martin (2006-10-01). "Gender Differences in Pornography Consumption among Young Heterosexual Danish Adults". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 35 (5): 577–585. doi:10.1007/s10508-006-9064-0. ISSN 1573-2800. PMID 17039402. S2CID 35560724.
  14. ^ "The 2019 Year in Review – Pornhub Insights".
  15. ^ "The 2019 Year in Review – Pornhub Insights".
  16. ^ Griffiths, Josie (2017-02-21). "This is how much porn stars get paid". News.com.au. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
  17. ^ Escoffier, Jeffrey (2007-08-01). "Porn Star/Stripper/Escort: Economic and Sexual Dynamics in a Sex Work Career". Journal of Homosexuality. 53 (1–2): 173–200. doi:10.1300/J082v53n01_08. ISSN 0091-8369. PMID 18019074. S2CID 6367311.
  18. ^ "PsycNET". psycnet.apa.org. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  19. ^ Kempadoo, Kamala; Sanghera, Jyoti; Pattanaik, Bandana (2015-12-03). Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered: New Perspectives on Migration, Sex Work, and Human Rights. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-26451-4.
  20. ^ Snow, Melissa; Vardaman, Samantha Healy; Smith, Linda (2009). "The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: America's Prostituted Children". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  21. ^ "International Labour Organization". www.ilo.org. Retrieved 2019-05-22.
  22. ^ "United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime". www.unodc.org. Retrieved 2019-05-22.
  23. ^ Macy, Rebecca J.; Graham, Laurie M. (2012-04-01). "Identifying Domestic and International Sex-Trafficking Victims During Human Service Provision". Trauma, Violence, & Abuse. 13 (2): 59–76. doi:10.1177/1524838012440340. ISSN 1524-8380. PMID 22491971. S2CID 35568730.
  24. ^ "Sex Trafficking | Human Trafficking for Sex – End Slavery Now". endslaverynow.org. Retrieved 2019-05-22.
  25. ^ "Sexual Bribery". TheFreeDictionary.com. Retrieved 2019-05-22.
  26. ^ "Abstracts Database – National Criminal Justice Reference Service". www.ncjrs.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-22.
  27. ^ MacKinnon, Catharine A. (1979). Sexual Harassment of Working Women: A Case of Sex Discrimination. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-02299-5.
  28. ^ Statistics, c=AU; o=Commonwealth of Australia; ou=Australian Bureau of (2017-11-08). "Main Features – Experience of Sexual Harassment". www.abs.gov.au. Retrieved 2019-05-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ Fitzgerald, Louise F; Shullman, Sandra L; Bailey, Nancy; Richards, Margaret; Swecker, Janice; Gold, Yael; Ormerod, Mimi; Weitzman, Lauren (1988-04-01). "The incidence and dimensions of sexual harassment in academia and the workplace". Journal of Vocational Behavior. 32 (2): 152–175. doi:10.1016/0001-8791(88)90012-7. ISSN 0001-8791.
  30. ^ "18yo selling virginity for $100k". Chronicle. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
  31. ^ Gordon, Claire (2010-02-09). "How Much Is Virginity Worth?". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
  32. ^ Carpenter, Laura (2005-11-01). Virginity Lost: An Intimate Portrait of First Sexual Experiences. NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-7200-3.
  33. ^ Charlton, James I. (1998-03-27). "Nothing About Us without Us". Nothing About Us Without Us Disability Oppression and Empowerment. University of California Press. pp. 3–18. doi:10.1525/california/9780520207950.003.0001. ISBN 978-0-520-20795-0. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
This page was last edited on 27 December 2023, at 04:08
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