Harsher judgments toward women (relative to men) for engaging in similar heterosexual sexual activity have been termed the sexual double standard. Within heterosexual casual sex scenarios, we examined whether the sexual double standard can be explained by desire to avoid counterstereotypical behaviors for fear of social repercussions (i.e., backlash effects). Study 1a showed that female casual sex accepters received more opprobrium than male accepters. Study 1b demonstrated that women were...