Briffault's law

Categories: Theories, Science

'''Briffault's law''' holds that [[women]] only associate with [[men]] when they can personally benefit from doing so. In other words, that females exhibit [[non-altruism]] and are by default cold-hearted toward males. Buxton and Briffault (1927) defined it as follows:
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{{cquote|The female, not the male, determines all the conditions of the animal family. Where the female can derive no benefit from association with the male, no such association takes place.<ref>Briffault R, Buxton LHD. 1927. ''The Mothers: A Study of the Origins of Sentiments and Institutions''. Vol. I, p. 191 [[https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=0jMEAQAAIAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1 Book]]</ref>}}
<br>Briffault's law was defined in 1927 by Dudley Buxton and was widely known in biological, sociological, and gender studies circles during the 20th century. In the 21st century the term became mainly relegated to the [[manosphere]].<ref>Buxton LHD. 1927. ''The mothers: a study of the origins of sentiments and institutions.'' [[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2984756/ Abstract]]</ref> The concept is related to the [[principle of least interest]].
==Explanation==
Briffault's law is a consequence of [[Bateman's principle]] which states women are choosier due to the greater parental investment required of women in their progeny than is required of men. Being more [[sexual selector|choosy]], women are overall [[libido|less interested]] in any sexual contact. This, in turn, means men have fewer dating opportunities on average, so men more likely make compromises out of sexual frustration ([[principle of least interest]]). This allows women substantial decision power in sexual matters, which they can exploit by [[pussy cartel|strategically withholding]] sex.<ref name="roy">Baumeister RF, Vohs KD. 2004. ''Sexual Economics: Sex as Female Resource for Social Exchange in Heterosexual Interactions.'' Personality and Social Psychology. Vol. 8, No. 4, 339–363. [[https://assets.csom.umn.edu/assets/71503.pdf FullText]]</ref> The principle of least interest is one cause of [[hypergamy]], i.e. the tendency that women date up because making compromises means dating down.
==Evidence==
Striking evidence of Briffault's law is summarized in [[Roy Baumeister|Roy Baumeister's]] study on sexual economics:<ref name="roy"></ref>
{{quote|If sex is a female resource, then it will ultimately be up to the woman to decide when and whether sexual relations commence. This view of women as sexual gate-keepers was supported by Cohen and Shotland (1996), who  computed  correlations  between  when  people thought  sex  should  start  in  a  given  relationship  and when they actually began having sex. For the hapless men, the correlation was not even significant (r &#61; .19), indicating that their wishes and preferences were essentially irrelevant, whereas for women the correlation was very high (r &#61; .88), indicating that sex occurred when they preferred. This study also found that men wanted  sex  to  commence  earlier  than  the  women. Thus,  women  decide  when  sex  commences,  and  the man’s role is to invest time, money, attention, commitment,  and  other  resources  until  the  woman  is  sufficiently satisfied.}}
==References==
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==See also==
*[[Principle of least interest]]
*[[Juggernaut law]]
*[[Libido]]
*[[Hypergamy]]
*[[Female solipsism]]
*[[Sexual selector]]
*[[Fisherian runaway]]
*[[Sexual conflict]]
*[[Sexual economics theory]]
*[[Women As Sex Vendors (book)]]
[[Category:Theories]]
[[Category:Science]]
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