The Evolution of Sexism: A Modern View

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.31219/osf.io/g6zmd ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Giorgio Gambirasio ◽

Ana Caroline Saldanha Martins

Keyword(s):

Homo Sapiens ◽

Theory Of Evolution ◽

Western Countries ◽

Modern View ◽

Sociosexual Behavior

AbstractPossible causes (biological and/or social) for discrimination against women are studied with help of the theory of evolution, starting in time from about two millennia ago (with Australopithecus) up to modern Homo sapiens. The chief cause of sexism appears to be the human male's insecurity before woman natural infidelity. Actual manifestation of sexism was difficult in hunter-gatherer societies, but became fully possible after the Neolithic Revolution.The sociosexual behavior of primates (gorillas, chimps, bonobos) is used as term of comparison to build up a theory describing arise and spread of sexism in human societies. Monotheistic religions (judaism, christianism, islamism) are shown to have given important contributions to the spread of sexism in western countries.

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Darwinian Evolutionary Theory

10.1093/oso/9780190867577.003.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Michael Ruse

Keyword(s):

Sexual Selection ◽

Natural Selection ◽

Middle Class ◽

Evolutionary Theory ◽

Scientific Community ◽

Homo Sapiens ◽

Origin Of Species ◽

Theory Of Evolution ◽

Descent Of Man

Charles Robert Darwin, the English naturalist, published On the Origin of Species in 1859 and the follow-up work The Descent of Man in 1871. In these works, he argued for his theory of evolution through natural selection, applying it to all organisms, living and dead, including our own species, Homo sapiens. Although controversial from the start, Darwin’s thinking was deeply embedded in the culture of his day, that of a middle-class Englishman. Evolution as such was an immediate success in scientific circles, but although the mechanism of selection had supporters in the scientific community (especially among those working with fast-breeding organisms), its real success was in the popular domain. Natural selection, and particularly the side mechanism of sexual selection, were known to all and popular themes in fiction and elsewhere.

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Accentuating Your Masculine Side

Social Psychology ◽

10.1027/1864-9335/a000144 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 44 (2) ◽

pp. 103-108 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Chongzeng Bi ◽

Oscar Ybarra ◽

Yufang Zhao

Keyword(s):

Social Norms ◽

Gender Role ◽

Cultural Context ◽

Self Esteem ◽

Western Countries ◽

Self Evaluation ◽

Two Samples ◽

Agency And Communion

Recent research investigating self-judgment has shown that people are more likely to base their evaluations of self on agency-related traits than communion-related traits. In the present research, we tested the hypothesis that agency-related traits dominate self-evaluation by expanding the purview of the fundamental dimensions to consider characteristics typically studied in the gender-role literature, but that nevertheless should be related to agency and communion. Further, we carried out these tests on two samples from China, a cultural context that, relative to many Western countries, emphasizes the interpersonal or communion dimension. Despite the differences in traits used and cultural samples studied, the findings generally supported the agency dominates self-esteem perspective, albeit with some additional findings in Study 2. The findings are discussed with regard to the influence of social norms and the types of inferences people are able to draw about themselves given such norms.

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