A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion Book

In the past three decades the notion that rape is a crime of misogynistic violence rather than of misguided lust has gone from being a cutting-edge feminist theory to being an accepted criminological fact. So widespread and pervasive is this view of rape, accepted by politicians, judges and educators alike, to challenge it is to risk academic ostracism.Now two American biologists, Randy Thornhill and Craig Palmer, have risked precisely that. Their carefully weighed thesis is that rape is not the culturally learned behaviour of conditioned woman-haters, rather it is a Darwinian adaptation, an instinctive behaviourism typical of males (of many species) seeking to mate and propagate with otherwise unavailable fertile young females. In other words, rape IS sexual.Predictably, this theory has caused outrage. Feminist lawyers says it gives rapists a "genetic excuse"; feminist academics say it ignores male-on-male rape, and rape of non-fertile females. In response to such expected critiques Thornhill and Palmer have adduced a persuasive mass of evidence from fields as diverse as zoology, psychology and haute couture. And the facts are truly curious. Did you know that women dress more skimpily during ovulation?This is not a flawless text. It is too reductive. The writing is thick with scientific jargon: you should know the meanings of 'morphological' and 'phenotype' before you start. And sometimes the book becomes a bit of a rant against the "closed minds" of its politically correct opponents. But maybe that is to quibble too much: this is still an exhilarating and exciting book; it is also a very courageous attempt to throw some scientific light on a treacherously murky subject. --Sean ThomasRead More