Women’s Avoidance of Sexual Assault

Abstract

Abstract Men’s sexual aggression against women has been a recurrent feature of human evolutionary history. Most of the research in this area has focused on why men are perpetrators of sexual assault, and why women are victims of sexual assault. However, given the reproductive costs of sexual victimization for women, it is important to also examine whether women are equipped with a psychological architecture that operates to avoid or thwart sexual assault. In this chapter, we discuss women’s psychology of rape avoidance using the framework of an evolved threat management system. The system is proposed to include an emotional calibration system that operates in response to variables that increase the risk or costs of sexual victimization. Women who are disproportionately at risk of becoming the victim of sexual assault, or for whom such threats would be particularly costly, are expected to experience a calibrated fear response. It is this fear that motivates adaptive behavioral adjustment to avoid or thwart sexual assault. This includes manifest behaviors deployed to defend against sexual aggression, including not walking alone at night and being more attuned to one’s surroundings. We review the extant research on the association between factors that increase the risk and costs of sexual victimization and the emotional and behavioral output that fosters avoidance of sexual threats.