Feminism And Evolutionary Biology

Standing at the intersection of evolutionary biology and feminist theory is a large audience interested in the questions one field raises for the other. Have evolutionary biologists worked largely or strictly within a masculine paradigm, seeing males as evolving and females as merely reacting passively or carried along with the tide? Would our view of nature `red in tooth in claw' be different if women had played a larger role in the creation of evolutionary theory and through education in its transmission to younger generations? Is there any such thing as a feminist science or feminist methodology? For feminists, does any kind of biological determinism undermine their contention that gender roles purely constructed, not inherent in the human species? Does the study of animals have anything to say to those preoccupied with the evolution and behavior of humans? All these questions and many more are addressed by this book, whose contributing authors include leading scholars in both feminism and evolutionary biology. Bound to be controversial, this book is addressed to evolutionary biologists and to feminists and to the large number of people interested in women's studies.

Have evolutionary biologists worked largely or strictly within a masculine paradigm, seeing males as evolving and females as merely reacting passively or carried along with the tide? Is there any such thing as a "feminist science" or "feminist methodology"? These are just two of the many vital questions examined in this up-to-date primary source, exploring the boundaries, intersections, and frontiers between evolutionary biology and feminism, particularly as they relate to Darwinian process.

A balanced and accessible introduction to the engagements that feminist scientists and science scholars undertake with a variety of biological sciences.

The link between biology and feminism is well established in history. Even as recently as the nineteenth century, preeminent men of science employed skewed biological theorizing to explain the disadvantaged position of women in our society. These male scientists argued that women are mentally inferior to men by design of evolution. They erroneously "proved" that the female of the human species has a relatively smaller brain than the male, attributing this "difference" to the fact that the energy that women use to reproduce is drawn off at the expense of their intellectual development. At odds with nineteenth-century feminist critics, men such as Freud, Darwin, Broca, and Spencer did not assign the supposed inferiority of women to such factors as their decreased access to education, believing instead that tangible biological differences subjugated women to men. In the latter part of the twentieth century we again see a link between biology and feminism that expresses itself through women's health issues, reproductive rights, and ecofeminism. In Biology and Feminism: A Dynamic Interaction, Sue V. Rosser offers an intriguing explanation of the possible bias of biological theories. Rosser maintains that the modern scientific method, accepted as objective and factual, may instead be colored by the values and assumptions of the traditional, male scientist. Her study offers critiques of the traditional scientific research method from the viewpoint of a number of different feminist theories. Rosser also details the contribution of several eminent women of science, past and present, to illustrate the impact of feminism on biological theories, and points out that ironically, biology has had amuch greater impact on feminism than feminism has had on biology. Finding that the standard methods of teaching biology have changed little, Rosser presents models for transforming curricula. Her proposed changes aim to identify and correct unconscious biases and teach student store spect differences. Embracing a wide range of studies, this innovative and thoughtful commentary will be of use to biology, health sciences, women's studies, anthropology, sociology, psychology, and history students alike.

Why should feminism and the biological sciences be at odds? And what might be gained from a reconciliation? In Who's Afraid of Charles Darwin? Vandermassen shows that, rather than continuing this enmity, feminism and the biological sciences—and in particular evolutionary psychology—have the need and the potential to become powerful allies. Properly understood, the Darwinian perspective proposed in this volume will become essential to tackling the major issues in feminism.

Why women evolved to have orgasms--when most of their primate relatives don't--is a persistent mystery among evolutionary biologists. In pursuing this mystery, Elisabeth Lloyd arrives at another: How could anything as inadequate as the evolutionary explanations of the female orgasm have passed muster as science? A judicious and revealing look at all twenty evolutionary accounts of the trait of human female orgasm, Lloyd's book is at the same time a case study of how certain biases steer science astray. Over the past fifteen years, the effect of sexist or male-centered approaches to science has been hotly debated. Drawing especially on data from nonhuman primates and human sexology over eighty years, Lloyd shows what damage such bias does in the study of female orgasm. She also exposes a second pernicious form of bias that permeates the literature on female orgasms: a bias toward adaptationism. Here Lloyd's critique comes alive, demonstrating how most of the evolutionary accounts either are in conflict with, or lack, certain types of evidence necessary to make their cases--how they simply assume that female orgasm must exist because it helped females in the past reproduce. As she weighs the evidence, Lloyd takes on nearly everyone who has written on the subject: evolutionists, animal behaviorists, and feminists alike. Her clearly and cogently written book is at once a convincing case study of bias in science and a sweeping summary and analysis of what is known about the evolution of the intriguing trait of female orgasm.

The author dispels some of the myths about the nature of females and female sexuality, and suggests new hypotheses aboutthe evolution of women.