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She’s a Gold-Digger, Bad Mom, and Drug-Using Floozy: Women’s Rivalry Gets “Dirty”

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Abstract

Gossip is an inherent part of human sociality and can be used to manipulate other’s reputations. Women’s reputations in particular are the subject of derogatory gossip, and are more vulnerable, compared to men’s reputations (Hess & Hagen, 2002, 2006; Reynolds et al., 2018). Here, we explore how women’s reputations are presented via anonymous posts on the gossip website, The Dirty. Using a qualitative analysis, trained blind coders performed thematic analysis of 25 posts about women for each of the five most populous cities in Canada and the USA (N = 250). We support our prediction that posts derogate women’s sexuality, personality, and mothering qualities, but also found derogations about women’s resource extraction, mate poaching, and substance use. As well, posts often contained a direct warning about associating with the woman. Sexuality was the most commonly mentioned aspect, followed by personality, and warnings, while resource extraction, mate poaching, and substance use were equally derogated, and mothering qualities least mentioned. We review these findings in light of women’s intrasexual mating competition and the importance of women’s reputations.

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Notes

  1. During data collection, 2020 census estimates placed Ottawa as the fifth most populated city, but since that time, Edmonton has been listed as the fifth most populous city, larger than Ottawa by 7432 people (https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210114/t001a-eng.htm).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, NS, B3H 3C3, Canada

    Maryanne L. Fisher, Mackenzie Zinck & Jaedan Link

  2. Department Biology, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, NS, B3H 3C3, Canada

    Mackenzie Zinck

  3. Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry, and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK

    Jessica Savoie

  4. Department of Business Administration and Tourism and Hospitality, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Canada

    Arianna Conrod

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  1. Maryanne L. Fisher
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  2. Mackenzie Zinck
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  3. Jessica Savoie
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  4. Arianna Conrod
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Maryanne L. Fisher primarily designed the study and coding strategy with input from the other authors, and wrote the majority of the paper. Mackenzie Zinck performed the statistical treatment. All authors commented on the drafts and the paper was revised accordingly. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Maryanne L. Fisher.

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Fisher, M.L., Zinck, M., Link, J. et al. She’s a Gold-Digger, Bad Mom, and Drug-Using Floozy: Women’s Rivalry Gets “Dirty”. Evolutionary Psychological Science 8, 430–441 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-022-00339-8

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