Coordinated condemnation in women's intrasexual competition

Here, we identify a novel reason why women are often criticized and condemned for (allegedly) sexually permissive behavior due to their choice of clothing. Combining principles from coordinated condemnation and sexual economics theory, we developed a model of competition that helps explain this behavior. We hypothesized that women collectively condemn other women who appear to be sexually permissive (based on their choice of clothing). Study 1 (N = 712) demonstrated that women perceived a rival with visible cleavage more negatively. These perceptions were ultimately driven by the belief that “provocatively” dressed women are more likely to have one-night stands. Study 2 (N = 341) demonstrated that women criticized provocatively dressed women, even when these women were not direct sexual rivals (e.g., her boyfriend's sister). Our findings suggest that future research should investigate competition outside of mating-relevant domains to understand women's intrasexual competition fully. •Potentially sexually permissive women are negatively judged across traits (Study 1).•Negative mating judgments “leak” into non-mating-related judgments (Study 1)•Controlling for mating judgments reduces negative non-mating judgments (Study 1).•Women mentally represent other women's judgments of permissive rivals (Study 2).