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Author Topic:   Rape and evolution
Archer Opteryx
Member (Idle past 3597 days)
Posts: 1811
From: East Asia
Joined: 08-16-2006


Message 15 of 84 (368372)
12-08-2006 5:28 AM
Reply to: Message 9 by Chiroptera
12-07-2006 10:01 PM


Chiroptera:
Remember how it used to be a sit-com staple, that the philandering husband would try to justify his philandering on the evolutionary drive to "spread his genes"?
Nature has certainly distributed the tasks for men and women in reproduction in uneven ways. The numbers have held constant through millennia of human history. This will have an inevitable effect on how individuals gauge their investments and risks in sexual behavior.
Everyone knows the numbers.
All persons are the product of sexual coupling.
Distribution of gender among genetic parents: 50% men, 50% women.
All persons are the results of pregnancies.
Distribution of gender among those having pregnancies: 0% men, 100% women.
Percentage of sexually active women who can be absolutely sure of their parentage of a given newborn: 100%
Percentage of sexually active men who can be absolutely sure of their parentage of a given newborn: 0%
Womb space for the reproductive process is relatively rare, too, while sperm for the process is relatively plentiful.
On an island populated by one man and 100 women, number of infants that can be born in a year: 100
On an island populated by 100 men and one woman, number of infants that can be born in a year: 1
These longstanding numbers exercise their influence on any sexual phenomenon we want to consider: fidelity and infidelity, courtship rituals, monogomy and polygamy, sexual aggression, sitcom moms and dads.
We have begun to see the equations fundamentally altered, of course, in our own day. We live in interesting times.
___

Archer
All species are transitional.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 9 by Chiroptera, posted 12-07-2006 10:01 PM Chiroptera has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 17 by Chiroptera, posted 12-08-2006 7:54 AM Archer Opteryx has replied

  
Archer Opteryx
Member (Idle past 3597 days)
Posts: 1811
From: East Asia
Joined: 08-16-2006


Message 20 of 84 (368424)
12-08-2006 11:11 AM
Reply to: Message 17 by Chiroptera
12-08-2006 7:54 AM


Chiroptera:
Oh, sure, there are a host of biological and physical facts that can be used to justify any cultural tradition.
And you've already touched on a few of the more cringe-inducing ones, defended through (faulty) appeals to evolutionary theory.
I wasn't interested in rationalizing this or that local tradition, though. I'm far more interested in the patterns that underlie all traditions--the big tectonic plates on which all the more recent structures rest. From there one is in a better position to explore how different cultures deal with the realities of the landscape.
100% to 0% is a hell of a ratio. Not one you see every day. And to have it apply globally?
That will affect a lot of things. Profoundly.
__
Edited by Archer Opterix, : typo.

Archer
All species are transitional.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 17 by Chiroptera, posted 12-08-2006 7:54 AM Chiroptera has not replied

  
Archer Opteryx
Member (Idle past 3597 days)
Posts: 1811
From: East Asia
Joined: 08-16-2006


Message 47 of 84 (368784)
12-10-2006 9:12 AM
Reply to: Message 36 by Lithodid-Man
12-08-2006 6:51 PM


Re: Evolution and rape
It's a charactersitic pattern with things like this. When one seeks to understand some feared aspect of human behavior, the effort is quickly read as 'seeking to justify' or 'seeking to exonerate.'
__

Archer
All species are transitional.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 36 by Lithodid-Man, posted 12-08-2006 6:51 PM Lithodid-Man has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 48 by Chiroptera, posted 12-10-2006 12:27 PM Archer Opteryx has not replied

  
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