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

International Security 33:3 14
enemies to attack and kill. ...Thesystem of communities defended by related
men is a human universal that crosses space and time.” 16 While noting this
universality in human systems, they also note that “we quickly discover how
odd that system really is, [making] humans appear as members of a funny
little group that chose a strange little path.” 17
Evolutionary theorists explain this system in terms of male reproductive
advantage. Simply put, “Better ªghters tend to have more babies. That’s the
simple, stupid, selªsh logic of sexual selection.” 18 Although not as sexually dimorphic
as other primates, human males have upper-body strength superior
to females, indicating that sexual selection in humans was tied to ªghting in
the human evolutionary environment. An individual male’s domination of females
is dependent on his domination of other males; therefore, male capability
for domination of both sexes is selected over time.
Human groups formed because of the increased protection they provided
against predators. Although we imagine the ªrst predators of concern were
large carnivorous animals, the most important threat to males in terms of reproductive
ªtness were not only out-group males but also in-group males.
Evolutionary theorists posit that male dominance hierarchies were naturally
selected among humans to maximize protection against out-group males and
minimize conºict between in-group males. Dominance hierarchies are a system
wherein a subgroup of superordinate (or “alpha”) males dominates subordinate
males, and alpha males generally control sexual access to females. In
contemporary terms, male dominance hierarchies are the foundation of patriarchy.
Wrangham and Peterson write, “Patriarchy is worldwide and historywide,
and its origins are detectable in the social lives of chimpanzees. It serves
the reproductive purposes of the men who maintain the system. Patriarchy
comes from biology in the sense that it emerges from men’s temperaments, out
of their evolutionarily derived efforts to control women and at the same time
have solidarity with fellow men in competition against outsiders. ...Patriarchy
has its ultimate origins in male violence.” 19
In the ªrst place, this violence is directed against women. Unfortunately,
given sexual dimorphism in humans, coercion is an effective male mating
strategy. Women accede to dominance hierarchies because of “the one terrible
threat that never goes away” 20 —the need of females to have protection from
16. Wrangham and Peterson, Demonic Males, pp. 24–25.
17. Ibid., p. 231.
18. Ibid., p. 173.
19. Ibid., p. 125.
20. Ibid., p. 159.