Sex as Power: Attractive Women Link Sexuality and Power for Personal Gain

It is often believed that women and men differ in their approaches for exercising power, in that women in powerful positions seem more likely than men to mentor and coach (Eagly and Johannesen-Schmidt 2001). Although women and men tend to differ in their emphasis on the personal versus relational self (Cross and Madson 1997), women nonetheless possess a personal self complete with individualized goals, desires, and preferences (Gabriel and Gardner 1999). Knowing that women generally use power for mutual gain while acknowledging that women have inner goals that they seek to attain for their own personal gain suggests that there will be circumstances in which women seek personal gain through power. When and how women seek power for personal gain was the focus on the current research.