Feminism and Evolutionary Biology: Boundaries, Intersections, and Frontiers

Front Cover
Patricia Gowaty
Springer Science & Business Media, 1997 M01 31 - 623 pages
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.
 

Contents

Darwinian Feminists and Feminist
1
Possible Implications of Feminist Theories for
21
A Taxonomy
42
The Mask of Theory and the Face of Nature
63
1
70
27
81
A Case of Irreconcilable Differences
116
Hiring Selection
153
Systems and Evolutionary Explanations
385
Darwinian Medicine Dawning in a Feminist Light
417
An Evolutionary Psychological Perspective
431
Investment in Relation to Population Growth
466
Female Choice in the Context of Artificial Insemination
489
An Empirical Test of the Bodyguard Hypothesis
505
Politics Biology and Gender
515
Commentary
522

A Feeling for the Organism? An Empirical Look
184
Evidence and Evolutionary
207
and Female
276
The Role of Females in Extra Pair Copulations
294
Mate Choice and Intrasexual Reproductive
320
Female Influences on Male Reproductive Success
334
Sexual Dialectics Sexual Selection and Variation
351
The Emperors Moth
554
On Science Identity Politics and GroupSpeak
562
Females and Feminists Science and Politics Evolution
575
Myths of Genetic Determinism
585
Index
615
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