Do Men and Women Sin Differently?

If we look at sins such as violence, lust, addiction and criminality we find that men are more frequently involved than women in these behaviors. So the question must be asked, “Do men and women sin differently?” I believe that they do, and I suggest that this is just one more piece of evidence that sin has biological roots.

Physiologically men and women are very different. It is often extremes (both highs and lows) in the same hormonal and biochemical systems that differ between the sexes, which predispose us to sinful behavior. God made the sexes different but complimentary (Genesis 2:20-25). He instilled certain drives and desires in the man, so that he might fulfill his divinely determined masculine role. A different set of female specific drives and desires was created in the woman so that she might accomplish her God ordained purposes. The complementary nature of these physiological drives and desires changed when sin entered the world. Mankind became selfish and independent with each individual now relying only on him or herself to fulfill his/her natural desires and physical appetites.

The gender differences observed in sinful behavior are foreshadowed in the curse that God pronounced upon Adam and Eve in the garden (Genesis 3:16-19). The man is told that he will have great difficulty in providing for himself and his family, so the sins most often committed by men tend to focus on obtaining immediate pleasure or gratification (e.g., lust). The curse upon the women was that she would no longer be in an equivalent relationship with the man and he would rule over her. So the sins of women tend to be about relational status, privilege or position (e.g., envy). A recent Catholic survey supports this idea that men and women sin differently. The study was based on the confessions heard by 95 year-old, Jesuit priest Fr. Roberto Busa and focused on the traditional seven deadly sins (pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed, sloth). The most common sins for men were lust, gluttony and slothfulness, while women were more likely to struggle with pride, envy and anger.

God created us as embodied spirits, having both physical and spiritual aspects to our being. Deeply stained and scarred by original sin, both spiritually and physically, we are at birth separated from God and incomplete. Because God created men and women as physically different it is understandable that the effect of original sin on our bodies and minds varies between the sexes. Through faith in Christ, we are transformed spiritually, but like all the physical creation, our bodies still long to be redeemed and made new (Romans 8:20-23). While salvation occurs in an instance, sanctification (the process by which our bodies and minds are formed into Christ’s likeliness) is a lifelong process that will only be fully realized at Christ’s second coming.