Religiosity, gender, and the double standard

Scottish teenagers (N = 690) participated in a survey concerning the relationship between religiosity, gender, and social judgments of sexual activity. Respondents estimated the number of sexual partners of 20-year-old men and women and made evaluative judgments of sexually active men and women on positive and negative dimensions. On both tasks, evidence was obtained for the operation of a double standard. Women were expected to have fewer sexual partners than men, and their sexual activity was judged more negatively on evaluatively negative dimensions. Contrary to findings of previous studies in this area, gender differences in endorsement of the double standard were not found. Only moderate support was found for the view that religiosity contributes to different standards of sexual behavior for men and women, although religiosity had significantly greater influence on judgments made by women than on judgments made by men.