Why Sex Matters

by Low, Bobbi S.

• ISBN13: 9780691028958
• ISBN10: 0691028958
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-11-01
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

Why are men, like other primate males, usually the aggressors and risk takers? Why do women typically have fewer sexual partners? Why is killing infants routine in some cultures, but forbidden in others? Why is incest everywhere taboo? Bobbi Low ranges from ancient Rome to modern America, from the Amazon to the Arctic, and from single-celled organisms to international politics to show that these and many other questions about human behavior largely come down to evolution and sex. More precisely, as she shows in this uniquely comprehensive and accessible survey of behavioral and evolutionary ecology, they come down to the basic principle that all organisms evolved to maximize their reproductive success and seek resources to do so.Low begins by reviewing the fundamental arguments and assumptions of behavioral ecology: selfish genes, conflicts of interest, and the tendency for sexes to reproduce through different behaviors. She explains why in primate species--from chimpanzees and apes to humans--males seek to spread their genes by devoting extraordinary efforts to finding mates, while females find it profitable to expend more effort on parenting. Low illustrates these sexual differences among humans by showing that in places as diverse as the parishes of nineteenth-century Sweden, the villages of seventeenth-century China, and the forests of twentieth-century Brazil, men have tended to seek power and resources, from cattle to money, to attract mates, while women have sought a secure environment for raising children. She makes it clear, however, they have not done so simply through individual efforts or in a vacuum, but that men and women act in complex ways that involve cooperation and coalition building and that are shaped by culture, technology, tradition, and the availability of resources. Low also considers how the evolutionary drive to acquire resources leads to environmental degradation and warfare and asks whether our behavior could be channeled in more constructive ways.

Author Biography

At the University of Michigan, Bobbi S. Low is Professor of Resource Ecology at the School of Natural Resources and Environment, Associate Director of the Population Environment Dynamics Program, and Faculty Associate at several centers within the Institute for Social Research.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
Acknowledgments	xvii
Introduction	3	(16)
Vampire Stories and Beyond	4	(2)
Explaining Behavior without Folklore	6	(3)
Kinds of ``Why'' Questions	9	(2)
Simple Rules, Complex Outcomes	11	(1)
Humans as Critters	12	(7)
Racing the Red Queen: Selfish Genes and Their Strategies	19	(16)
Whose Genes Count, and Why? Kin Selection	23	(4)
Summing Up the Basics: Assumptions and Objections	27	(4)
Novel Evolutionary Environments: Can the Principles Still Hold?	31	(2)
More than Ants or Peacocks: Lifetimes, Culture, Ecology, and Variation	33	(2)
The Ecology of Sex Differences	35	(22)
Sex and Strategies	37	(7)
The Ecology of Being Male and Female	44	(3)
Mating Effort	47	(5)
Parental Effort	52	(1)
Variance in Reproductive Success: Mating versus Parental Strategists	53	(4)
Sex, Status, and Reproduction among the Apes	57	(20)
The Ecology of Dominance and RS in Primates	58	(2)
Ecological Aspects of Mating Systems	60	(2)
Sex, Resources, and the Ecology of Human Reproduction	62	(4)
The Ecology of Human Mating Systems	66	(8)
The Ecology of Monogamy and Polyandry	74	(3)
Sex, Resources, Appearance, and Mate Choice	77	(15)
What Men and Women Want	78	(5)
Beauty, Resources, and Mate Choice	83	(1)
Signals of Desirability and Their Manipulation	84	(4)
Who Can Choose?	88	(4)
Sex, Resources, and Human Lifetimes	92	(21)
Starting Out: Resource Striving in the Womb	95	(1)
What's a Mother to Do? Optimizing Maternal Effort among Offspring	96	(2)
Conflicts of Interest: Abortion, Infanticide, Abandonment, Neglect	98	(4)
Sex Differences in Reproductive Lifetimes	102	(8)
Sex Differences in Senescence	110	(3)
Sex and Resource Ecology in Traditional and Historical Cultures	113	(14)
Sexual Divisions of Labor	113	(2)
Sex and Control of Resources	115	(1)
Men, Women and Resources in Traditional and Historical Cultures	116	(11)
Sex, Resources, and Fertility in Transition	127	(19)
Nineteenth-Century Sweden	130	(5)
Sex, Resources, and Life Histories	135	(4)
Female Life Paths	139	(1)
Male Life Paths	140	(2)
Sex, Resources, and Fertility	142	(2)
Fertility Transitions: What, If Anything, Do They Mean?	144	(2)
Nice Guys Can Win --- In Social Species, Anyway	146	(17)
Are We Lemmings? A Cautionary Tale	147	(1)
When and Why Do We Cooperate?	147	(3)
Simple Strategies in Winning Games	150	(4)
From Family to Dyads to Groups to Cultures	154	(1)
The Group Selection Muddle	155	(5)
Altruists or Good Neighbors?	160	(1)
Cooperation and Free-Riders	161	(2)
Conflicts, Culture, and Natural Selection	163	(18)
Cooperation, Competition, and Groups	164	(1)
Working Out Our Conflicts: Moral Systems and Group Life	165	(3)
Intertwining Cultural and Natural Selection	168	(8)
Logically Inept, Socially Adept: The Social Contexts of Intelligence	176	(5)
Sex and Complex Coalitions	181	(17)
Coalitions, Resources, and Reproduction	183	(10)
Sex and Human Coalitions	193	(5)
Politics and Reproductive Competition	198	(15)
Men, Women, and Politics Cross-Culturally	200	(9)
Women in Politics: When Did It Pay?	209	(4)
Sex, Resources, and Early Warfare	213	(17)
Resources and Conflict	214	(2)
Why Women Warriors Are Rare	216	(1)
War: Runaway Sexual Selection?	217	(1)
Other Biological Approaches to Understanding War	218	(3)
Intergroup Conflict in Other Species	221	(2)
Conflict in Preindustrial Societies	223	(7)
Societal Complexity and the Ecology of War	230	(15)
Greek Hoplites: Early ``Western'' Warriors?	233	(1)
The Ecology of Renaissance War	234	(2)
The Behavioral Ecology of Modern War	236	(4)
Disadvantaged Men in War	240	(1)
War and Reproductive Success Today	241	(1)
Proximate and Ultimate Causes of War: Evolutionary Novelty	241	(4)
Wealth, Fertility, and the Environment in Future Tense	245	(14)
Fertility, Consumption, and Sustainability: Weaving the Strands	247	(1)
Wealth, Fertility, and Consumption Today: Empirical Data	248	(2)
Wealth, Women's Age-Specific Fertility, and Women's Life Paths Today	250	(2)
An Evolutionary Perspective: Reducing Both Fertility and Consumption Is Novel	252	(1)
What's Missing in Current Strategies?	253	(4)
Can New Strategies and Tactics Help?	257	(1)
An Evolutionary Bottom Line	258	(1)
Notes	259	(64)
Glossary	323	(10)
References	333	(58)
Author Index	391	(10)
Subject Index	401	(8)
Taxonomic Index	409	(2)
Society/Social Group Index	411