Sarah Blaffr Hrdy Flashcards
Benefits of polyandry comparative evidence
First stereo type to crumble was that males are unique in seeking sexual variety for its own sake.
Traits facilitating polyandrous mating are prominent in primates
Where multiple males are permanently in residence the most efficient solution is for females to compress mating into a discrete period around ovulation and to conspicuously advertise estrus so that males must follow the female around and compete among themselves for the opportunity to mate and then their goal accomplished. One dominant male can exclude competing males females have only occasional opportunities to mate with other outside males. Under these circumstances one way for females to solve the problems of mating with a range of males is to exhibit the same midcycle peak in libido universally found in primates.
Why is polyandry so rare in human?
What is important about polyandrous motherhood its not just the spectacle of women having fun but the more enduring vision of mothers making do.
Everywhere polyandrous unions and communal sharing of wives are fragile arrangements especially after contact with outside groups. It is unusual in any traditional society for publicly sanctioned informal polyandry to survive contact with economic system that produce competition for defensible resources.
FLexible
Does not doubt that some early hominids lived patrilocally relied on male biased inheritance of status and hunt grounds and developed many of the essential ingredients of patriarchal mindset. But more and more I am impressed by how flexible an opportunistic many primates including human forger are. Can not think of any reason why the mating system and preferences of these people would be less variable and less flexible than those of foragers today.
As powerful as evolutionary theory is why do we still need history?
At what points in human evolution and history did patrilineal interests start to prevail. Are the consequences now inscribed in the genome of our relatively chaste and extremely modest species. Just as social scientist can not hope to understand human affairs without taking into account evolution I am convinced that evolutionist cannot do so without taking into account history .
