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From: palmer@tybalt.caltech.edu (David Palmer)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,soc.men,soc.women,sci.misc
Subject: Re: Rape a reproductive advantage?
Message-ID: <5129@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu>
Date: 9 Jan 88 05:54:32 GMT
References: <517@gtx.com>
Sender: news@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu
Reply-To: palmer@tybalt.caltech.edu.UUCP (David Palmer)
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Organization: California Institute of Technology
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In article <517@gtx.com> scm@gtx.UUCP (Sue Miller) writes:
>
>>
>>>>>I expect there's an evolutionary advantage.  Rapists probably reproduce
>>>>>better than non-rapists.
>>>>>
>>>>>Keith Doyle
>>>>
>   Not really.  Not unless you intend "non-rapists" to mean ONLY those
>individuals who otherwise have no other way to pass on their DNA.
>Otherwise, if it were an advantage that increased one's fitness (a la
>Darwin, not Jack LaLanne ;-) ) I would certainly expect it to be exhibited
>more frequently.
>  As it is, I am not sure that rape as we humans know it
>even exists in any other species - although the example of cricket sexual
>behavior comes close I guess....
[Prurient description of the sex life of crickets ommitted at the
 request of Ed Meese]

Any statement which says "Humans (or Western Europeans etc.) are the only
species (people etc.) which do [some evil thing]" are usually wrong.
Rape among ducks is well documented.  (The female duck does NOT want to
be raped, the male duck uses force.)  When this happens, the husband of the
raped duck immediately rapes his wife, to reduce the chances of being
genetically cuckolded.

		David Palmer
		palmer@tybalt.caltech.edu
		...rutgers!cit-vax!tybalt.caltech.edu!palmer
	"Every day it's the same thing--variety.  I want something different."