Steve Stewart-Williams
Professor of Psychology at the University of Nottingham Malaysia whose research focuses on evolutionary psychology, human sex differences, altruism, and nature–nurture questions. He is the author of The Ape That Understood the Universe and A Billion Years of Sex Differences.
Women’s Economic Independence Is Reshaping Male Mate Competition
Macken Murphy argues that as women gain more financial independence, men may face less pressure to compete through provision and more through parenting effort and appearance—though he says the evidence is stronger for parenting than for beauty. Rob Henderson counters that increased paternal involvement in the US is concentrated among educated, upper-middle-class men, while Steve Stewart-Williams argues that changing norms about fathers’ responsibilities may also explain the shift. Their discussion treats sex differences in mate preferences as persistent under scarcity, but disputed in how economic and cultural change alters the traits men compete on.
Most People Still Choose Exclusive Pair Bonds Under Looser Sexual Norms
The discussion turns on whether some women would prefer to share a wealthy or high-status partner rather than have an exclusive relationship with a less desirable one. An unnamed speaker argues that monogamy protects the value of exclusivity while distributing partnership more broadly among men; Williamson questions whether that arrangement primarily serves men. The speaker’s narrower empirical case is that, even under looser sexual norms, most people still form largely exclusive pair bonds, usually serially rather than for life.
Sex Differences Are Real, Overlapping, and Morally Non-Prescriptive
Evolutionary psychologist Steve Stewart-Williams argues that sex differences can be real, partly evolved and socially consequential without justifying unequal treatment or fixed roles. In a wide-ranging discussion with Chris Williamson, he says the evidence points against purely social explanations for many average differences in interests, sexuality, aggression, parenting, health and personality, while stressing that overlap between men and women is large and individual freedom should govern policy and personal life.
Women’s Erotic Preferences Skew Toward Romance Fiction Over Visual Porn
Evolutionary psychologist Steve Stewart-Williams argues that women’s lower consumption of visual pornography does not mean they are less sexual, but that male and female erotic interests often take different forms. In a discussion with Chris Williamson, he says men’s stronger average response to visual sexual cues helps explain their heavier use of pornography, while Williamson suggests romance fiction may function as a more socially acceptable and relationally framed erotic format for many women. Both reject the simple version of the claim that men want sex and women want love, noting that long-term bonding remains important to both sexes.
Sperm Donor Preferences Mirror Ordinary Mate Preferences
Chris Williamson and evolutionary psychologist Steve Stewart-Williams examine why women’s preferences for sperm donors appear to resemble their preferences in ordinary mate choice, even when sex, courtship and attraction are removed from the decision. Stewart-Williams argues that the pattern suggests donor choice exposes the genetic component of mate preferences, while their discussion of campus proposition studies shows how sexual willingness is shaped not only by desire but also by risk, status and the meaning of being approached.