The Heart of the Matter Valerie M. Hudson, - MIT Press Journals

The Heart of the Matter 13
the direction of one’s genotype. Changes in rates of survival and reproduction
among individuals and kin groups will eventually change the genotype of the
overall population in this way.
Evolutionary theory suffers from two common misconceptions. The ªrst is
that evolutionary predispositions are intractable. No evolutionary theorist believes
this. Richard Dawkins explains, “It is perfectly possible to hold that
genes exert a statistical inºuence on human behavior while at the same time
believing that this inºuence can be modiªed, overridden, or reversed by other
inºuences.” 13 The second misconception is that evolutionary theory posits
static and essential characteristics for males and females. This has been debunked
as well. In debunking this myth, Theodore Kemper notes, “Across the
spectrum of the social sciences, the results show that females are not essentially
paciªc, retiring, unaggressive, lacking in motives and psychological need
for power and dominance. While successful ideological socialization may persuade
many women that this is true of themselves, it is not biologically true.” 14
Laying these two misconceptions aside, we turn to the insights that evolutionary
theory can provide into the relationship between the physical security of
women and general traits and behaviors of human collectives, including
nation-states.
According to evolutionary theory, human social structures are profoundly—
even predominantly—shaped by natural selection for reproductive ªtness.
Richard Alexander writes that culture can be seen as a “gigantic metaphorical
extension of the reproductive system. ...[There is] a reasonably close correspondence
between the structure of culture and its usefulness to individuals in
inclusive-ªtness-maximizing.” 15
Sex differences across animal species produce a dazzling diversity of malefemale
interaction. Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson note, however, that
out of “4,000 mammals and 10 millions or more other animal species,” only
two species (humans and chimpanzees) live in “patrilineal, male-bonded communities
wherein females routinely reduce risks of inbreeding by moving to
neighboring groups [to mate within these communities]. ...with [these communities
having] a system of intense, male-initiated territorial aggression, including
lethal raiding into neighboring communities in search of vulnerable
13. Richard Dawkins, The Selªsh Gene (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), p. 331.
14. Theodore D. Kemper, Social Structure and Testosterone: Explorations of the Socio-Bio-Social Chain
(New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1990), p. 138.
15. Richard D. Alexander, “Evolution and Culture,” in Napoleon A. Chagnon and William Irons,
eds., Evolutionary Biology and Human Social Behavior: An Anthropological Perspective (North Scituate,
Mass.: Duxbury, 1979), pp. 59–78, at p. 77.