Public perceptions of “negging”: lowering women’s self-esteem to increase the male’s attractiveness and achieve sexual conquest
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JACPR-06-2016-0235 |
| Published date | 10 April 2017 |
| Date | 10 April 2017 |
| Pages | 95-105 |
| Author | Kathleen Green,Zoe Kukan,Ruth J. Tully |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Aggression, conflict & peace,Sociology,Gender studies,Gender violence,Political sociology, policy & social change,Social conflicts,War/peace |
Public perceptions of “negging”: lowering
women’s self-esteem to increase the
male’s attractiveness and achieve
sexual conquest
Kathleen Green, Zoe Kukan and Ruth J. Tully
Abstract
Purpose –“Negging”can be described as the purposeful lowering of a woman’s self-esteem to increase
perceived attractiveness of the man in order to achieve sexual conquest. Negging has evolved over time.
Whilst “original”negging was intended to be a harmless tool for attracting women, more recently dating
companies have been teaching men “evolved”negging in a potentially damaging way, which could escalate
into an abusive intimate relationship. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach –An online survey involving vignettes depicting negging between
strangers with three conditions: “original”,“evolved”, and “control”was completed by 308 participants.
Participants were asked how harmful, acceptable, and how likely to escalate each scenario was. A fourth
vignette described “evolved”negging between partners.
Findings –Mixed methods analysis of variance indicated that participants perceived all negging as being
significantly more harmful than control “pick-up”lines. “Evolved”negging was considered to be more likely to
escalate in seriousness than “original”negging.
Research limitations/implications –Despite the public viewing negging as harmful and with the potential
to escalate in seriousness, women are still being targeted in this mannerand the industry “teaching”negging
is growing despite controversy. This study aims to increase general awareness of negging in order to
minimise harm caused to women who are “picked-up”through this technique. To this end, directions for
future research are highlighted.
Originality/value –This paper is one of the first empirical studies in the area of negging. The perceived,
and potential, harm caused can be studied in light of these novel findings with the aim of protecting women
from harm.
Keywords Self-esteem, Dating, Emotional abuse, Intimate relationships, Negging, Partner violence
Paper type Research paper
In 2014, the UK Home Office banned Julien Blanc, a controversial American “pick-up artist”
(PUA), from entering the UK, following a petition signed by 158,000 UK residents. A similar outcry
occurred in February 2015, where PUA Daryush Valizadeh, nicknamed “Roosh V.”, published an
article advocating that raping women should be legal “when done off public grounds”(Valizadeh,
2015). Whilst there is currently no formal definition of a PUA, informal definitions exist, such as:
A pick up artist is a man (or less commonly, a woman; FPUA) who is dedicated to improving his skills
with the opposite sex through the methods found in the pickup community –a community of guys
who study how to seduce and sleep with women.
Pick-up artistry is not a new notion; books on pick-up techniques date back to 1970, for
example, How to Pick Up Girls (Weber, 1970). The concept of what is referred to as “negging”
developed more recently following the publication of books such as The Venusian Arts
Handbook (Mystery Method Corporation, 2005), The Game –Penetrating the Secret Society of
Pickup Artists (Strauss, 2005) and Revelation (Odom, 2008).
Received 26 June 2016
Revised 20 September 2016
25 September 2016
Accepted 25 September 2016
Kathleen Green is a Forensic
Psychologist and Zoe Kukan is
a Forensic Psychologist
Trainee, both at the Centre for
Forensic and Family
Psychology, The University of
Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Ruth J. Tully is a Consultant
Forensic Psychologist at
Tully Forensic Psychology Ltd,
Nottingham, UK and Assistant
Professor at the Centre for
Forensic and Family Psychology,
The University of Nottingham,
Nottingham, UK.
DOI 10.1108/JACPR-06-2016-0235 VOL. 9 NO. 2 2017, pp.95-105, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1759-6599
j
JOURNAL OF AGGRESSION, CONFLICTAND PEACE RESEARCH
j
PAGE 9 5
To continue reading
Request your trial