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March 21, 2005
Demonic Males
I finished reading Demonic Males by Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson this weekend and found it to be one of the most fascinating books on human nature that I have ever read. The authors are primate specialists who point out that chimpanzees (homo sapiens closest animal relatives) and humans are the only two species that will form primarily male parties to raid the territory of other members of the same species with the intent to kill. Chimpanzees from a larger group will form small parties of around 4-6 mostly male apes and sneak into a neighboring group of chimps territory. If they find another lone chimp they will stalk and kill it, often in an extremely painful way (biting of fingers, pulling off skin etc.). They will sometimes repeat these raids until the other group of chimps is completely destroyed. Humans of course have been known to do the same thing to other groups of humans in every setting from criminal gangs to the Yanomamo tribe of South America.
The authors theorize that chimps and humans broke off from an earlier group of apes that had to compete with other apes for scarce food and water. The had to form very small groups to survive with males taking the common role of the aggressor to ward of rivals and this instinct has been passed down to us today as humans. Tribalism, patriarchy, and aggressive violence are instinctual to the male human and it is why men tend to be more violent then women. Although the form and amount of violence vary by culture, patriarchal violence is endemic to the human condition across all cultures.
Related to this are the bonobos, a species closer to chimpanzees than humans are. Bonobos probably evolved with less competition for resources and at some point broke off from chimpanzees and were able to evolve into a much less violent species without the male hierarchy present in chimpanzees and humans. Bonobos have not never been observed forming raiding parties for instance. The authors also describe other forms of violence in apes such as orangutan rape, which seems fairly common, and gorilla violence which revolves around dominate males trying to protect and control a harem.
Related to this are two other links for today. The first is from Helena Cronin a feminist who looks to evolution to explain some of the differences in male and female human nature. The second is an example of male violence, with UN peacekeepers acting as demonic males in the Congo by using the local children as prostitutes. Previous Chimpanzee post.
Posted by Pete at March 21, 2005 01:40 PM
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