In her own recent research, Anne Campbell, a psychologist at Durham
University in the U.K., argued that young women tend to use indirect
aggression to a greater extent than young men, in part because that’s
the most socially acceptable way for women to compete.
But even Campbell stresses that it’s hard to tell whether this phenomenon is evolutionarily or culturally driven.
And it's not like men don’t attack each other when competing for scarce resources, too.
Before age 7, Fuentes said, boys and girls are equally directly aggressive. But after childhood it becomes less acceptable for girls to give each other noogies and the like, so women become far more indirectly aggressive (or “bitchy”) while men continue to be plain old directly aggressive. But by the time people reach working-age and beyond, Fuentes said, levels of indirect aggression between the sexes even out.
“At 15, you can engage as a male in direct aggression without too many repercussions,” he said. “But at 25, you're in jail.”
In fact, Buss has found that men “bitch” about their rivals, too—they just tend to insult their lack of money or status, the things women traditionally have valued in mates, rather than their physical appearance. They don’t slut-shame as much, Buss argues, because women will still date male “sluts.”
“Men derogate other men on things that women value [cues to protection and cues to resources and status], and women derogate other women on things that men value [sexual fidelity and physical attractiveness],” he told me.
- More Here
But even Campbell stresses that it’s hard to tell whether this phenomenon is evolutionarily or culturally driven.
And it's not like men don’t attack each other when competing for scarce resources, too.
Before age 7, Fuentes said, boys and girls are equally directly aggressive. But after childhood it becomes less acceptable for girls to give each other noogies and the like, so women become far more indirectly aggressive (or “bitchy”) while men continue to be plain old directly aggressive. But by the time people reach working-age and beyond, Fuentes said, levels of indirect aggression between the sexes even out.
“At 15, you can engage as a male in direct aggression without too many repercussions,” he said. “But at 25, you're in jail.”
In fact, Buss has found that men “bitch” about their rivals, too—they just tend to insult their lack of money or status, the things women traditionally have valued in mates, rather than their physical appearance. They don’t slut-shame as much, Buss argues, because women will still date male “sluts.”
“Men derogate other men on things that women value [cues to protection and cues to resources and status], and women derogate other women on things that men value [sexual fidelity and physical attractiveness],” he told me.
- More Here
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