Evolution, Gender, and Rape

by Cheryl Brown Travis (Ed.)

• ISBN13: 9780262700900
• ISBN10: 0262700905
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-02-01
• Publisher: MIT PRESS

Summary

Are women and men biologically destined to be in perpetual conflict? Does evolutionary genetics adequately explain sexual aggression? Such questions have been much debated in both the media and academia. In particular, the notion that rape is an evolutionary adaptation, put forth by Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palmer in their book A Natural History of Rape(MIT Press, 2000), vaulted the debate into national prominence. This book assesses Thornhill and Palmer's ideas, as well as the critical responses to their work. Drawing on theory and data from anthropology, behavioral ecology, evolutionary biology, primatology, psychology, and sociology, the essays explain the flaws and limitations of a strictly biological model of rape. They argue that traditionally stereotyped gender roles are grounded more in culture than in differing biological reproductive roles. The book is divided into three parts. The first part, "Evolutionary Models and Gender," addresses broad theoretical and methodological issues of evolutionary theory and sociobiology. Part 2, "Critiquing Evolutionary Models of Rape," addresses specific propositions of Thornhill and Palmer, making explicit their unexamined assumptions and challenging the scientific bases for their conclusions. It also considers other studies on biological gender differences. Part 3, "Integrative Cultural Models of Gender and Rape," offers alternative models of rape, which incorporate psychology and cultural systems, as well as a broader interpretation of evolutionary theory.

Table of Contents

Evolutionary Models and Gender
Talking Evolution and Selling Difference	p. 3
Female Sexuality and the Myth of Male Control	p. 29
Power Assymetries between the Sexes, Male Preferences, and Components of Fitness	p. 61
Does Self-Support Make Sense as an Investigative Method in Evolutionary Psychology?	p. 87
Understanding Rape	p. 105
Pop Sociobiology Reborn: The Evolutionary Psychology of Sex and Violence	p. 139
Critiquing Evolutionary Models of Rape
Of Vice and Men: A Case Study in Evolutionary Psychology	p. 171
Evolutionary Models of Why Men Rape: Acknowledging the Complexities	p. 191
Theory and Data on Rape and Evolution	p. 207
An Unnatural History of Rape	p. 221
Violence Against Science: Rape and Evolution	p. 235
Integrative and Cultural Models of Gender and Rape
The Origins of Sex Differences in Human Behavior: Evolved Dispositions versus Social Roles	p. 265
The Evolutionary Value of the Man (to) Child Affiliative Bond: Closer to Obligate Than to Facultative	p. 305
Rape-Free versus Rape-Prone: How Culture Makes a Difference	p. 337
What Is 'Rape?"---Toward a Historical, Ethnographic Approach	p. 363
Understanding Rape: A Metatheoretical Framework	p. 383
Coming Full Circle: Refuting Biological Determinism	p. 413
Index	p. 425
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