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Coercive Sexuality of Men: Is There Psychological Adaptation to Rape? (From Sexual Coercion: A Sourcebook on its Nature, Causes, and Prevention, P 91-107, 1991, Elizabeth Grauerholz, Mary A Koralewski, eds. -- See NCJ-128585)

NCJ Number
128592
Author(s)
R Thornhill; N W Thornhill
Date Published
1991
Length
17 pages
Annotation
The chapter outlines a hypothesis about coercive sexuality derived from theoretical biology: psychological features of men are designed by a history of evolution by selection in the context of coercive sex and have the evolutionary function of motivating and regulating men's coercive sexuality.
Abstract
The hypothesis that men's sexual psyche includes adaptation to rape is consistent with, and is not falsified by, the natural history of men's sexual behavior. The background information discussed includes evolutionary psychology and rape, sex-specific psychological adaptation, and heritability of and learned behavior of rape. The mating strategy of and coercive sexual behavior of men are presented along with men's sexual motivation and the conditions influencing rape motivation and rape's multiple motives. The common use of coercion by men to achieve sexual access suggests that men's sexual psychology is adapted to motivate reproductively competent sexual performance regardless of whether mating is achieved by force or nonforce. 1 note

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