Evolutionary ecological insights into the suppression of female sexuality

The suppression of female sexuality is a widespread phenomenon, which often has harmful effects on the wellbeing of women who are the target of the suppression. Theories that have attempted to explain the origins of the phenomenon have heavily focused on which sex might be responsible for the suppression. In the past two decades, researchers in social psychology have either argued for the Male Control Theory (MCT) of sexual suppression or the Female Control Theory (FCT) of sexual suppression. The former theory proposes that men suppress female sexuality more than women do, whereas the latter proposes that women suppress female sexuality more than men do. Instead, we review evidence showing that other individual and ecological factors besides sex facilitate sexual suppression and might better explain its origins. We first review evidence in support of the MCT, then evidence in support of the FCT, and then evidence that shows that both women and men might be responsible for the suppression, although for different reasons. We then combine evidence from relevant evolutionary disciplines, such as evolutionary psychology, human behavioral ecology, and biological market theory, to better understand the root causes of the phenomenon. In so doing, we show how a person's sexual attitudes can depend not only on their sex, but also on their socio-sexuality, mate value, the sex of their close kin, their parental status, and their local mating market. Our approach suggests productive ways forward for the study of sexual suppression and other phenomena whose psychological bases remain elusive.