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The Psychology of Everyday Life:Love, Marriage, and the Baby Carriage

Sexuality

Is there an evolutionary function to controlling women’s sexuality?

The remarkable pervasiveness of attempts to control female sexuality suggests it serves an evolutionary function, possibly the protection of paternity. While a mother can be very confident that her children are her own, men can never be 100 percent positive of their children’s paternity. Controlling his partner’s sexual freedom enhances a father’s confidence (and that of his relatives) in the paternity of the children he is raising. Similar behavior is found in the mate-guarding of prairie voles and other animal species.