Gender differences in erotic plasticity: the female sex drive as socially flexible and responsive - PubMed

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• PMID: 10825779
• DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.126.3.347

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Gender differences in erotic plasticity: the female sex drive as socially flexible and responsive

R F Baumeister. Psychol Bull. 2000 May.

Abstract

Responding to controversies about the balance between nature and culture in determining human sexuality, the author proposes that the female sex drive is more malleable than the male in response to sociocultural and situational factors. A large assortment of evidence supports 3 predictions based on the hypothesis of female erotic plasticity: (a) Individual women will exhibit more variation across time than men in sexual behavior, (b) female sexuality will exhibit larger effects than male in response to most specific sociocultural variables, and (c) sexual attitude-behavior consistency will be lower for women than men. Several possible explanations for female erotic plasticity are reviewed, including adaptation to superior male political and physical power, the centrality of female change (from no to yes) as a prerequisite for intercourse, and the idea that women have a milder sex drive than men.

Comment in

• Gender differences in erotic plasticity--evolutionary or sociocultural forces? Comment on Baumeister (2000).

  Hyde JS, Durik AM. Hyde JS, et al. Psychol Bull. 2000 May;126(3):375-9; discussion 385-9. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.126.3.375. Psychol Bull. 2000. PMID: 10825780

• Beyond artificial, sex-linked distinctions to conceptualize female sexuality: comment on Baumeister (2000).

  Andersen BL, Cyranowski JM, Aarestad S. Andersen BL, et al. Psychol Bull. 2000 May;126(3):380-4; discussion 385-9. doi: 10.1037//0033-2909.126.3.380. Psychol Bull. 2000. PMID: 10825781 Free PMC article.

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