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Animal Behavior Background This looks like rape but it isn’t (for one thing this is a dead bird, ugh). The more important point is that a male songbird cannot forceably mate a female – she has to cooperate for insemination to occur. This is true for many animals, including many mammals. Extra-pair mating is common in songbirds (all of the 4000 species so far studied anyway), but rape is not. An animal example: Male bank swallow follows a ‘mixed’ reproductive strategy – he mates monogamously but while mate is incubating the eggs, he pursues promiscious (extra-pair) matings with other females (Beecher & Beecher 1979). Rape: A Reproductive Strategy? However, rape (forceable insemination) does occur in many animals, including these beetles (Alcock chapt 14). Another well known example is the mallard duck. And, of course, humans. Many evolutionary psychologists think you can best understand rape by starting with the hypothesis that the ultimate explanation relates to its potential reproductive consequences. • • • • • • • • • • • • • because he hated women Why did felt the need to dominate someone had been abused as a child had drunk too much had too much testosterone circulating in his body was compensating for feelings of inadequacy had been raised in a patriarchal culture had watched too much violence on television was addicted to violent pornography was sexually aroused hated his mother hated his father had a rare violence-inducing gene that man rape? ¾ These are all proximate-cause explanations of behavior. One or more of them could be true, but none of them address the ultimate cause of the behavior or of the underlying psychological mechanisms. ¾ Thornhill & Palmer consider various possible ultimate-cause (evolutionary) explanations of rape in humans. ¾ Note: proximate-cause and ultimate-cause explanations are not competing explanations, but that they do have to be consistent with each other. 1 Thornhill & Palmer: Rape as a reproductive strategy Since women are choosy, men have been selected for finding a way to be chosen. ¾ One way to do that is to possess traits that women prefer (e.g., symmetry). ¾ A second way that men can gain access to women is by defeating other men in fights or other kinds of competitions – thereby gaining power, resources and social status, other qualities that women find attractive. ¾ Rape can be understood as a third kind of sexual strategy: one more way to gain access to females. These hypotheses make predictions that can be tested. For example, in contrast to the ‘rape as violence’ hypothesis, the evolutionary hypotheses predict that rape should be directed selectively towards fertile females (in contrast to non-rape violent crimes). Rape can be understood as a 3rd kind of sexual ‘strategy’: one more way to gain access to females. 1. Men might resort to rape when they are socially disenfranchised, and thus unable to gain access to women through looks, wealth or status. (Alternative mating strategy, “Making the best of a bad situation”) Over evolutionary time, some men may have succeeded in passing on their genes through rape, thus perpetuating the behavior. 2. Alternatively, men could have evolved to practice rape when the costs seem low – when, for instance, a woman is alone and unprotected (and thus retaliation seems unlikely), or when they have physical control over a woman. (Mixed, conditional mating strategy) Over evolutionary time, some men may have succeeded in passing on their genes through rape, thus perpetuating the behavior. 3. It is also possible, however, that rape evolved not as a reproductive strategy in itself but merely as a side effect of other adaptations, such as the strong male sex drive and the male desire to mate with a variety of women. [Note: in this case rape is not actually considered a ‘strategy’ or an adaptation, instead it is viewed as a deleterious side effect of otherwise adaptive mechanisms relating to male sexuality.] Evolutionary hypotheses 1 (alternative mating strategy) and 3 (by-product) predict that incidence of rape should be higher when mating opportunities are fewer (degree of polygyny greater). In modern society, divorce and remarriage of older men with younger women leads to greater reproductive variance in men (effective polygyny). 2 3