Evolution, Gender, and Rape

By Cheryl Brown Travis

Book Overview

Multidisciplinary critiques of the notion of rape as an evolutionary adaptation.

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262700905
• ISBN13: 9780262700900
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Bradford Book
• Length: 472 Pages
• Weight: 1.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Worth the value

Just read the essay of J. Coyne included in this book. It is the best rebuttal of the seudoscience in sociobiological books like "A natural history of rape". And nobody can deny Coyne a deep knowledge of biology and evolution. There is much to think about the 'mumbo-jumbo' in present day biology, even in highly SCI rated journals.