Xref: utzoo sci.bio:806 soc.men:2435 soc.women:8913 sci.misc:733
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!athena.mit.edu!joe
From: joe@athena.mit.edu (Joseph C Wang)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,soc.men,soc.women,sci.misc
Subject: Re: Rape a reproductive advantage?
Message-ID: <2222@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>
Date: 10 Jan 88 21:55:00 GMT
References: <517@gtx.com> <5129@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu> <2201@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <616@PT.CS.CMU.EDU>
Sender: root@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU
Reply-To: joe@athena.mit.edu (Joseph C Wang)
Distribution: na
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lines: 37

In article <616@PT.CS.CMU.EDU> lindsay@K.GP.CS.CMU.EDU (Donald Lindsay) writes:
>In article <2201@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> joe@athena.mit.edu (Joseph C Wang) writes:
>>Forced copulation in humans and ducks are completely different phenomenon.
>
>This simply isn't correct.
>

>If it was just mallards, well, we do act very differently from mallards.
>But, if it's a broad observation about higher animals, with a reasonable
>logic going for it, then I think it does apply to us.

[lines deleted]

>This is sad, and not too useful, until we notice the "rerape" that mallards
>do. (The husband has a quick shot at getting his genes in there before the
>invading ones have beat him to the egg.) Suddenly, we have *an* explanation
>for the way that rape victims are often treated, by police, by boyfriends,
>and by court.

[highlighting mine]

We have *an* explanation; the problem I have with the word rape is the
it suggests that this is *the* explanation for such human behavior.  
I have a good reason for doubting this.

Humans are the only animals that are always in heat, and during most
of this time the female is infertile.  That suggests that copulation in
humans primarily serves another purpose.  That opens up a lot of explanations
for rape in humans that don't exist with other animals.




--------------------------------
Joseph Wang (joe@athena.mit.edu) 
450 Memorial Drive C-111
Cambridge, MA 02139