Xref: utzoo sci.bio:863 soc.men:2504 soc.women:9095 Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!brl-adm!umd5!purdue!i.cc.purdue.edu!j.cc.purdue.edu!pur-ee!iuvax!bsu-cs!dhesi From: dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi) Newsgroups: sci.bio,soc.men,soc.women Subject: Re: Rape: a genetic catastrophe Message-ID: <1966@bsu-cs.UUCP> Date: 27 Jan 88 19:42:08 GMT References: <517@gtx.com> <5129@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu> <2201@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <3755@aw.sei.cmu.edu> <361@rruxa.UUCP> <5159@c <1932@bsu-cs.UUCP> <574@xyzzy.UUCP> Reply-To: dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi) Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, Indiana Lines: 31 In article <574@xyzzy.UUCP> throopw@xyzzy.UUCP (Wayne A. Throop) writes: [see earlier articles for full context] >Is >canibalism primarily a food-gathering strategy, driven by hunger? It >may be in some rare instances, but in general, almost certainly not. [and rape is analogous] The "selfish gene" hypothesis popularized by Dawkins implies that the more closely an animal is related to other animals, the less likely it is to harm them. Cannibalism of those of one's own species is consistent with the selfish gene hypothesis when the victim is not closely related to the one practising cannibalism. There are two opposing forces at work here: the instinct to propagate one's own genes and the instinct to preserve oneself. So long as there is a reasonable alternative, cannibalism is unlikely, because there's always a small chance that the other person is at least distantly related to oneself. Cannibalism in the absence of alternative mechanisms to feed oneself in is perfectly consistent with the selfish gene hypothesis. Rape in the absence of alternative mechanisms to propagate one's genes is equally consistent with the selfish gene hypothesis. What's interesting is the following question: Why are some people so opposed to the hypothesis that rape reflects our genetic make-up? I can understand people maintaining that this remains unproven, but I can't understand their vehemently insisting that it's necessarily false. -- Rahul Dhesi UUCP: !{iuvax,pur-ee,uunet}!bsu-cs!dhesi