Are Men and Women Really That Different? Examining Some of Sexual Strategies Theory (SST)’s Key Assumptions about Sex-Distinct Mating Mechanisms

Sexual Strategies Theory (SST; Buss and Schmitt 1993) suggests that, typically, men more so than women are more likely to spend proportionately more of their mating effort in short-term mating, lower their standards in short-term compared to long-term mating, feel reproductively constrained, and seek, but certainly not avoid, sex if pregnancy is likely in short-term relationships. A series of 4 survey studies each containing hundreds of college student participants from the western portion of the United States were conducted to test these hypotheses. The findings are inconsistent with SST but are consistent with Attachment Fertility Theory (AFT; Miller et al. 2005) that argues for relatively few evolved gender differences in mating strategies and preferences.