Abstract
It is not unusual for individuals to cite genetics as the basis for the sociopolitical stratification of sexes in society. The quote above, and others like it, would suggest that any attempts at sexual egalitarianism are doomed to fail due to genetically based gender differences. However, most people really do not understand what they mean by “genetic predisposition” or even what it means to have a genetic basis for a character. A misunderstanding about the genetic basis of characters permeates discussions of gender differences ranging from cocktail party conversation to sophisticated academic arguments about the evolution of human social behavior.
You have a political arrangement, and when push comes to shove, the higher level of political authority … should be in the hands of the husband. There’s a genetic predisposition.
-Allen Quist, Republican candidate for Minnesota governor, as quoted in the Los Angeles Times. July 12, 1994 Part B, p. 7 in a column by Linda R. Hirshman.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
American Association of University Women. 1992. How Schools Shortchange Girls. Washington, DC: Joint publication of AAUW Educational Foundation and National Education Association.
Allgeier, E. R. and M. W. Wiederman. 1992. Evidence for an evolved adaptation to rape? Not yet. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 15:377–379.
Arnold, S. J. 1994. Multivariate inheritance and evolution: A review of concepts. In C. R. B. Boake (Ed.), Quantitative Genetic Studies of Behavioral Evolution, pp. 17–48. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Arnold, S. J. and M. J. Wade. 1984. On the measurement of natural and sexual selection: Applications. Evolution 38:720–734.
Barash, D. 1979. The Whisperings Within. New York: Harper & Row.
Barkow, J., L. Cosmides, and J. Tooby. 1992. The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bateman, A. J. 1948. Intrasexual selection in Drosophila. Heredity 2:349–368.
Bixler, R. H. 1992. Men: A genetically invariant predisposition to rape? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 15:381.
Bleier, R. 1984. Science and Gender. New York: Permamon Press.
Boake, C. R. B. 1989. Repeatability: Its role in evolutionary studies of mating behavior. Evolutionary ecology 3:173–182.
Boake, C. R. B. 1994. Quantitative Genetic Studies of Behavioral Evolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Brownmiller, S. and B. Mehrhof. 1992. A feminist response to rape as an adaptation in men. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 15:381–382.
Buss, D. 1994. The Evolution of Desire. New York: Basic Books.
Cavalli-Sforza, L. L., and M. A. Feldman. 1981. Cultural Transmission and Evolution: A Quantitative Approach. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Clausen, J., D. D. Keck, and W. M. Hiesey. 1941. Regional differences in plants species. American Naturalist 75:231–250.
Cosmides, L. and J. Tooby. 1992. Cognitive adaptation for social exchange, pp. 163–220. In J. Barkow, L. Cosmides, and J. Tooby (Eds.), The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Darwin, C. 1871. The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray.
Droste, K. D. and J. Dye (Eds.). 1994. Gale Book of Averages. Gale Research. Detroit: MI.
Durham, W. H. 1991. Coevolution: Genes, Culture, and Human Diversity. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Endler, J. A. 1986. Natural Selection in the Wild. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Falconer, D. S. 1989. Introduction to Quantitative Genetics, 3rd ed. New York: Wiley.
Fausto-Sterling, A. 1992. Myths of Gender, 2nd ed. New York: HarperCollins.
Feingold, A. 1992. Gender differences in mate selection preferences: A test of the parental investment model. Psychological Bulletin 112:125–139.
Fisher, H. E. 1992. Anatomy of Love. New York: W. W. Norton.
Gavey, N. J. and R. D. Gray. 1992. Rape: The perfect adaptionist story. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 15:386–388.
Ghiselin, M. T. 1992. Genetics, functional anatomy and coercive behavior. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 15: 388.
Goldberg, S. J. 1973. The Inevitability of Patriarchy. New York: Morrow.
Gould, S. J. 1981. The Mismeasure of Man. New York: Morton Press.
Gould, S. J. 1991. Exaptation: A crucial tool for an evolutionary psychology. Journal of Social Issues 47:43–65.
Gould, S. J. 1994. Curveball. Book Review of The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life. New Yorker 70:139–149.
Gowaty, P. A. 1992a. Evolutionary biology and feminism. Human Nature 3:217–249.
Gowaty, P. A. 1992b. What if within-sex variation is greater than between-sex variation? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 15:389–390.
Hernstein, R. J. and C. Murray. 1994. The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life. New York: Free Press.
Hubbard, R., M. S. Henifin, and B. Fried. 1979. Women Look at Biology Looking at Women. Cambridge, MA: Schenkman.
Kelly, C. 1993. Quantitative genetics of size and phenology of life-history characters in Chamaecrista fasciculata. Evolution 47:88–97.
Lande, R. and S. J. Arnold. 1983. The measurement of selection on correlated characters. Evolution 37:1210–1226.
Lane, C. 1994. The tainted sources of The Bell Curve. New York Review 41(20):14–19.
Lewontin, R. C. 1970. Race and intelligence. Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 26:2–8.
Lewontin, R. C. 1974. The Genetic Basis of Evolutionary Change. New York: Columbia University Press.
Lewontin, R. C., S. Rose, and L. J. Kamin. 1984. Not in Our Genes. New York: Pantheon Books.
Money, J. and A. Ehrhardt. 1972. Man and Woman, Boy and Girl. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press.
Ryan, A. 1994. Apocalypse now? New York Review of Books 41(19):7–11.
Sadker, M. and D. Sadker. 1994. Failing at Fairness: How America’s Schools Cheat Girls. New York: Charles Scribner.
Schwaegerle, K. E. and D. A. Levin. 1990. Quantitative genetics of seed size variation in Phlox. Evolutionary Ecology 4:143–148.
Smuts, B. 1992. Psychological adaptations, development and individual differences. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 15:401–402.
Sork, V. L., K. Stowe, and C. Hochwender. 1993. Evolution in closely adjacent subpopulations of Northern red oak seedlings in response to herbivory by insects. American Naturalist 142:928–936.
Thornhill, R. 1980. Rape in Panorpa scorpion flies and a general rape hypothesis. Animal Behavior 28:52–59.
Thornhill, R. and N. W. Thornhill. 1992. The evolutionary psychology of men’s coercive sexuality. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 15:363–421.
Tobach, E. and B. Rosoff (Eds.). 1978. Genes and Gender. New York: Gordian Press.
Trivers, R. L. 1972. Parental investment and sexual selection. In B. Campbell (Ed.), Sexual Selection and the Descent of Man 1871–1971, pp. 136–179. Chicago: Aldine.
Wilson, D.S. 1993. (Review). The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture. Quarterly Review of Biology 68:621–623.
Wilson, E. O. 1975. Sociobiology: The New Synthesis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wright, R. 1994a. The Moral Animal. New York: Pantheon Books.
Wright, R. 1994b. Feminists, meet Mr. Darwin. New Republic, Nov. 28, 1994:34-46.
Wright, R. 1994c. Our cheating hearts. Time 144:44–52.
Zar, J. H. 1984. Biostatistical Analysis, 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sork, V.L. (1997). Quantitative Genetics, Feminism, and Evolutionary Theories of Gender Differences. In: Gowaty, P.A. (eds) Feminism and Evolutionary Biology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5985-6_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5985-6_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-412-07361-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-5985-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive