Abstract
Although attempts to rectify intimate partner violence (IPV) predominantly target gender inequality as its socio-structural source, evolutionary insights cast doubt on the notion that gender equality unambiguously lessens IPV. Here we test whether the effect of gender equality on male-to-female IPV will depend upon men’s relative position in the sexual marketplace (i.e., their mate value). We primed 350 subjects (218 men) with one of three different prime types (high or low gender equality, or neutral control) each replicated five ways (total 15 primes). We measured support for coercive IPV and attitudes to abortion (to see if gender equality cues men’s urges to control female reproduction). Mate value moderated the effect of gender equality on men’s (but not women’s) attitudes towards IPV, and there was no effect for abortion. High-value men were supportive of IPV in conditions of gender equality, yet we found the reverse for low-value men. We interpret our results in light of the fitness costs and benefits IPV poses to perpetrators in high and low gender equality environments. Our findings show that phenotypic plasticity in male-to-female IPV can depend upon both broader socio-structural conditions between men and women and on an individual man’s position in the sexual marketplace.
Highlights
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive phenomenon worldwide and is the most common form of violence suffered by women (World Health Organization, 2013)
A number of caveats have been proposed to account for the conditional nature of backlash and ameliorative effects, arguing, for example, that these effects depend on women’s societal status (Gartner et al, 1990) or men’s labor force participation (Macmillan and Gartner, 1999). Though these caveats have merit, we argue that the relationship between gender equality and IPV should be considered in light of gender equality being a destabilizing force in the sexual marketplace
We extend this work by showing that the effect of gender equality on attitudes that underpin the incidence of IPV is consistent with predictions, derived from evolutionary theory, regarding the relative fitness costs and benefits accrued by enacting IPV in high and low gender equality environments
Summary
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive phenomenon worldwide and is the most common form of violence suffered by women (World Health Organization, 2013). Attempts to rectify this major public health problem predominantly target gender inequality as its socio-structural source, with numerous campaigns seeking to reduce IPV by elevating women’s social status. The social and political ramifications of raising women’s status have profound and lasting positive consequences (Hudson et al, 2012), empirical and theoretical insights cast doubt on the notion that gender equality unambiguously lessens male-to-female IPV (Jewkes, 2002; Burazeri et al, 2005; Krishnan et al, 2010; Rahman et al, 2011). We seek to shed light on these contradictions.
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