by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(June 27, 2008) A British researcher has found that after several decades of the feminist revolution and its relaxed rules of sexual conduct, the “one-night stand”still leaves women feeling more “used” than “liberated.”
Professor Anne Campbell from the UK’s Durham University looked at whether women have been able to adapt to the kind of casual sex that feminists claim was supposed to “free” them. Her study, which was published in the June issue of Human Nature, was designed to determine if, after several decades of liberation, women proved able to adapt to the relaxed sexual mores of the feminist revolution.
To test this theory, she conducted an internet survey of 1,743 men and women who had experienced a one-night stand and asked them to rate both their positive and negative feelings the following morning.
“Evolution often acts through positive or negative emotions which draw us towards adaptive behaviors or drives us away from harmful ones,” Professor Campbell explained. “For example, we enjoy other people’s company but get depressed if we spend too much time alone. Basic emotions guide us down pathways that have been advantageous for our ancestors. It seemed obvious that if our female ancestors really were adapted to short-term relationships they ought to enjoy them.”
Her research found just the opposite. Almost half of the women surveyed reported negative feelings after these brief sexual encounters.
The predominant negative feeling reported by women was regret at having been “used.” Women were also more likely to feel that they had let themselves down and were worried about the potential damage to their reputation if other people found out.
“What the women seemed to object to was . . . the fact that the man did not seem to appreciate her. The women thought this lack of gratitude implied that she did this with anybody,” Professor Campbell explained.
Overall, she found that women’s feelings were much more negative than men’s. Eighty percent of men said they had overall positive feelings about the experience, compared to 54 percent of women.
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“Smart Sex” by Jennifer Roback Morse focuses on the true nature of sex and marriage, explains the difference between smart sex and safe sex, and how science proves Church teaching on love and. Marriage. Click on the picture for more information!
