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HEY SEXUAL SELECTION!
You think you are the reason why men are taller than women, but if you want to remain the star of this story, then...
THE OVARY’S IN YOUR COURT.
I wrote a paper that you can’t ignore.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/evan.21834
A (delighted) thread.
You think you are the reason why men are taller than women, but if you want to remain the star of this story, then...
THE OVARY’S IN YOUR COURT.
I wrote a paper that you can’t ignore.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/evan.21834
A (delighted) thread.
Here's the abstract
Everybody grows at about the same rate until ovaries pump out so much estrogen that they cause long bones to end their growth. Bodies without ovaries have no choice but to keep growing for long after bodies with ovaries stop growing.
What’s the evolutionary reason that women are, on average, shorter than men? Estrogen and its evolved role in reproduction and in bone growth in all humans, half of whom have ovaries which pump out more estrogen than testes do.
Ovaries exist, periods exist and so body size differences exist. Now, in that context, it's suddenly difficult to credit tall winning males for men's additional skeletal growth. This throws major doubt on sexual selection's role in sex differences in body size.
I don’t take down sexual selection in this paper, but I argue that we stop focusing on it when it comes to sex diffs in human skeletons. Expand the story. But you know what? The estrogen story is a better/stronger/evidence-based evolutionary reason. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/evan.21834
If we improve the scientific explanations of visible sex differences, then they are less likely to inspire unscientific beliefs about invisible ones. Fewer minds would leap illogically from ‘men are taller’ to ‘men evolved for competition and dominance’. As if women did not.
As we advance science and its dissemination, fewer will mistake the human body for a blueprint for the patriarchy. But they will continue to make this mistake if we continue to understand evolution as if we haven't advanced over 150 years since Darwin.
Did you read @lindy2350 ’s piece in @wapo? She writes about how beliefs in natural rigid stereotypes of masculinity and femininity (like boys are active,dominant; girls are sexual,maternal) are correlated to poor educational outcomes in all and to sexual assaults by boys,men.
A Twitter and blog battle over 3 years ago is what kick-started the research I published today. That tiff is documented here: https://www.thecut.com/2016/12/not-all-critiques-of-evolutionary-psychology-are-the-same.html
1st thing I did after that moment was this:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/07/13/human-evolutions-biggest-problems/. After that, with the wonderful encouragement of many colleagues and friends, I went to work. And with enormous gratitude to 7 anonymous reviewers and the EIC @evanthro @jasonkamilar https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/evan.21834
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/07/13/human-evolutions-biggest-problems/. After that, with the wonderful encouragement of many colleagues and friends, I went to work. And with enormous gratitude to 7 anonymous reviewers and the EIC @evanthro @jasonkamilar https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/evan.21834
If you think men are taller than women because of tall cavemen who won more sex than short losers, which is hard not to believe, given it’s the prevailing evolutionary explanation for sex differences in human height, then this paper is for you… https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/evan.21834
If you publish in books, textbooks, popular articles, etc that men are taller than women because of male-male competition and female choice for tall winners, then this paper is for you… https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/evan.21834
If you think that critiques of the dominant, old sexual selection stories about our bodies are just the siwy wittle tantrums of siwy wittle feminists, then this paper is for you… https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/evan.21834
If you believe that feminism and science *are* compatible, then this paper is for you… with respect and admiration. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/evan.21834
Sex differences in height is just 1/2 the paper.
The other half is about sex differences in the pelvis . I'll probably tweet about that another day but for now, here are thoughts about the VAGGINA hypothesis: http://ecodevoevo.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-vaggina-hypothesis-our-vaginal.html
The other half is about sex differences in the pelvis . I'll probably tweet about that another day but for now, here are thoughts about the VAGGINA hypothesis: http://ecodevoevo.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-vaggina-hypothesis-our-vaginal.html
The never-ending thread continues.
If you hit a paywall at the journal, just email me at [email protected] and I'll send you the paper.
(Eventually an open access version will be posted through my university and when it does, I'll link to it. )
If you hit a paywall at the journal, just email me at [email protected] and I'll send you the paper.
(Eventually an open access version will be posted through my university and when it does, I'll link to it. )
If you enjoy rethinking the classic ideas in human evolution, then definitely check out "An alternative hypothesis for the evolution of same-sex sexual behaviour in animals" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31740842
by @hooliamonk @ambikamath @MaxRLambert @tweetingmouse @IdeaSpermatheca
by @hooliamonk @ambikamath @MaxRLambert @tweetingmouse @IdeaSpermatheca
People are hung up on whether growth/estrogen replaces sexual selection (ss).
1. growth/e has better evidence than ss
2. I do not even try to falsify ss in this paper
3. A better explanation than present ss story is one that is bigger than merely ss and that includes growth/e
1. growth/e has better evidence than ss
2. I do not even try to falsify ss in this paper
3. A better explanation than present ss story is one that is bigger than merely ss and that includes growth/e
If you don't want to email me for the pdf of the published paper, here's the open access version of the manuscript. It's my own document prior to publisher's formatting so it's the real deal, just not fancy. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/soc_facpubs/37/
