Sexual Harassment, Sexual Abuse, and the Serial Offender Personality: Derivations and Predictions from Evolutionary Psychology

Interrogation of Evolutionary Psychology to bring the study of sexual harassment (SH) fully into science and to apply the causal connection of genes and personality to the social incidence of violent crime. The definition of SH within science is expected to bring focus and objective coherence to its study and adjudication.

The notion of sexual harassment (SH) remains subjective and almost whimsical. Shultz has noted that “despite forty years of activism and legal reform ... an adequate theoretical framework [of sexual harassment] to guide action remains as pressing as ever.” Despite the need for objective specificity in study and law, SH in regard presently finds itself co-extensive with Art: no one can define it but everyone knows it when they see it. Nevertheless, sexually-based harrying remains an on-going social and criminal problem, as indicated by the currency of analyses, case-reports, and legal initiatives.

To bring the study of SH fully into science. The primary task is to deduce a monosemous and falsifiable description of SH from Evolutionary Psychology. Further, to query whether the distribution of gene-based personalities produces durable and statistically valid subsidiary fractions of a large population. Sub-populational cohorts are to be examined to determine whether they robustly manifest genetically grounded criminal personalities and, in aggregate, produce behavioral trends rising to social significance.

Evolutionary constructs of human mating behavior are queried to define SH. The HEXACO Personality Inventory and Barratt Impulsivity Scale are quantitatively applied to derive the sub-populational fractions prone to SH or violent crime.

Sexual harassment is the abusive imposition of evolutionarily endogenous mating behaviors. HEXACO-PI predicts that 9% of males and 4% of females have harassment personalities. Upon including Barratt Impulsivity, 0.6% of males and 0.2% of females are prone to violent crime, including rape. U.S. felony statistics for 2009 or 2019 confirm that 0.53% of males and 0.08% of females, ages 18-64, committed violent crimes, while 0.4% of males perpetrated felony rape. These statistical fractions consistently emerge from the college-level to nationwide. Campus sexual offense is dominated by male serial offenders, averaging five victims each. The great majority of campus rape involves alcohol or drugs. Among academic staff, the 0.23% of males and 0.10% of females with abuse-prone personalities fully explain rates of campus sexual maltreatment.

The inevitability of personality-trait extremes determines the base-line of personality-driven societal incidence of violent crime and rape, limns the small cohorts of offenders, and provides an objective basis for safety awareness. However, epigenetics and neuronal plasticity together falsify the notion of genetic determination of personality or behavior. Individual choice remains open. It is hoped that the new understanding of SH as the abusive imposition of evolutionarily endogenous mating behaviors will bring objective equality to policy and jurisprudence, and a coherent clarity to its study.