Not all self-protection functions to promote survival

Women express greater fear of personal crimes (e.g., murder, assault, rape, burglary) than men (e.g., Ferraro, Reference Ferraro1996; Franklin & Franklin, Reference Franklin and Franklin2009), despite the fact that women are victimized less frequently for most such crimes, outside of rape (Craven, Reference Craven1997; Rennison & Rand, Reference Rennison and Rand2003). Although these data align with the SAT, women's greater fear of personal crimes appears to be driven more by the desire to protect reproductive choice than to stay alive. Indeed, sex differences in fear of personal crimes are eliminated or reversed when fear of rape is statistically controlled, but not fear of murder (Ferraro, Reference Ferraro1996; but see Lane & Meeker, Reference Lane and Meeker2003). Described as the “shadow of sexual assault,” women's greater fear of personal crimes is largely driven by a fear that those crimes will co-occur with rape (Ferraro, Reference Ferraro1995, Reference Ferraro1996; Fisher & Sloan, Reference Fisher and Sloan2003; May, Reference May2001; Warr, Reference Warr1984, Reference Warr1985). Moreover, women's fear of rape often matches or exceeds their fear of murder (Ferraro, Reference Ferraro1995, Reference Ferraro1996; Warr, Reference Warr1984). In short, the SAT is not sufficient to fully explain the sex difference observed in fear of personal crimes.

Women's fear of rape and their history of sexual assault are also associated with self-protection behaviors aimed at reducing the likelihood of becoming the victim of violent crime. For example, women consume true crime media with greater frequency than men, particularly when it has high information value for self-protection (e.g., when it features female victims, describes the perpetrator's motives, and provides tips for escape; Vicary & Fraley, Reference Vicary and Fraley2010). This desire for self-protective information appears to be rooted in women's fear of rape. Indeed, women who express a stronger fear of rape consume true crime media with greater frequency, and do so with the explicit motivation to learn strategies for defensive vigilance (McDonald et al., Reference McDonald, James and Roberto2021). Although consumption of true crime media may cause elevated rape fear, it is plausible that the causal pathway is bidirectional. To that point, women's sexual assault history (unlikely to be the causal outcome of true crime consumption) is positively associated with women's frequency of true crime media consumption and the motivation to consume it for the purpose of defensive vigilance. In total, there is good evidence to suggest that women who are particularly fearful of rape engage in behaviors to protect their reproductive choice.

A number of studies have also documented that women's self-protection behavior varies as a function of conception risk across the menstrual cycle, a key factor that exacerbates the reproductive cost of sexual assault. For example, studies have shown that women at high risk of conception, relative to women at low risk, are less likely to engage in sexually risky activities (Bröder & Hohmann, Reference Bröder and Hohmann2003; Chavanne & Gallup, Reference Chavanne and Gallup1998), infer greater threat from male strangers (Fessler, Holbrook, & Fleischman, Reference Fessler, Holbrook and Fleischman2014; Garver-Apgar, Gangestad, & Simpson, Reference Garver-Apgar, Gangestad and Simpson2007), exert greater handgrip strength in response to sexually threatening contexts (Petralia & Gallup, Reference Petralia and Gallup2002), and express greater bias against outgroup males (McDonald, Asher, Kerr, & Navarrete, Reference McDonald, Asher, Kerr and Navarrete2011, Reference McDonald, Donnellan, Cesario and Navarrete2015; Navarrete, Fessler, Fleischman, & Geyer, Reference Navarrete, Fessler, Fleischman and Geyer2009). While a general motivation for self-protection should be constant across the menstrual cycle, the motivation to protect reproductive choice is most pertinent on days when conception risk is elevated, indicating that these findings are better explained by the motivation to protect reproductive choice than the SAT.

The functions of self-protection behaviors may not be mutually exclusive

Some of the data presented by Benenson et al. cannot be easily explained by a motivation to protect reproductive choice (e.g., women's heightened immune response and lower pain threshold), but others are somewhat ambiguous. For example, the higher rate of nighttime awakenings among girls versus boys, and the onset of this sex difference during puberty, suggests that such awakenings could also be explained by the protection of reproductive choice. Given social and legal sanctions against rape, it is a behavior often hidden at night (Waterhouse, Reynolds, & Egan, Reference Waterhouse, Reynolds and Egan2016). Indeed, “nightcrawling” is a common form of rape in small-scale societies in which men trespass into women's homes to sexually coerce, rape, and abduct women (Rozée, Reference Rozée1993; Sanday, Reference Sanday1981).

Many of the findings highlighting women's tendency to engage in behaviors that reduce the risk of interpersonal conflict, such as smiling, politeness, recognizing negative emotions, avoiding confrontation, and experiencing more threat-responsive negative emotions, may also be seen as attempts to reduce the risk of sexual aggression – particularly given the overlap in women's fear of crime and rape. Similarly, the tendency for women to score more highly on measures of neuroticism may simultaneously function to protect reproductive choice, given research showing positive associations between neuroticism and women's fear of rape (McDonald, Coleman, & Brindley, Reference McDonald, Coleman and Brindley2019).