Nascent Drama

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It was so nice to be wanted,'" said researcher Anne Campbell, a psychologist at Durham University in England.

 

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"What women don't seem to see is that men drop their standards massively for a one-night stand."

 

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She added, "No woman should be flattered because a man wants to have sex with her once."

 

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Real feelings, real data

 

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While most research on the topic of casual sex has relied on fictitious vignettes or just having participants imagine they had a one-night stand, the new findings are based on self-reports of feelings following an actual hook-up.

 

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Campbell says in the June issue of the journal Human Nature that the findings suggest women are not well adapted to promiscuity.

 

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Women have much more to lose, while men are in a win-win situation.

 

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For the ladies, a baby on the way is a huge responsibility, but a guy can just bail.

 

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"The bottom line is the risks are potentially greater for women," said Todd Shackelford, an evolutionary psychologist at Florida Atlantic University who was not involved in the current study.

 

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"It's not surprising they indicate the experience is somewhat less positive, but importantly somewhat more negative."

 

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However, promiscuity does offer natural advantages for women from an evolutionary perspective, Shackelford said.

 

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These advantages could explain why women participate in one-night stands even though they feel so lousy afterward.

 

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Flings provide women with the potential to snag the best genes for offspring or they could be spurred by a chemical nudge at the peak of the menstrual cycle.

 

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The morning after

 

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Campbell surveyed more than 3,300 individual, most of whom were between the ages of 17 and 40.

 

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Of the heterosexual respondents, more than half reported a one-night stand, about evenly split between men and women.

 

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Overall women's morning-after feelings were more negative than men's.

 

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While 80 percent of men had overall positive feelings, just 54 percent of women had positive feelings.

 

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Women predominantly reported "regret at being used," with additional comments including: "I felt cheap," "horrified afterward," and "I felt degraded. Made myself look cheap and easy. Total regret."

 

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Contrary to popular belief, women said they didn't view casual sex as a prelude to a long-term relationship.