Kimberly A. Hamlin
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226134611
- eISBN:
- 9780226134758
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226134758.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Chapter four traces the Darwinian concept of “female choice” of sexual partners as it reverberated through feminist and socialist reform circles at the turn of the twentieth century. Darwinian ...
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Chapter four traces the Darwinian concept of “female choice” of sexual partners as it reverberated through feminist and socialist reform circles at the turn of the twentieth century. Darwinian feminists, including Eliza Burt Gamble and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, argued that humans needed to return to female choice, a practice that was the norm throughout the animal kingdom except among humans. Socialists, too, embraced female choice and suggested that only economically independent women were capable of freely choosing their mates. Female choice offered feminist socialists one unified way to critique the institution of marriage, decry the lack of economic opportunities for women, denounce capitalism for creating a class of wealthy people for whom fitness was not a criterion to mating, and reject the type of women—corseted, dainty, and submissive—so often selected as wives by men. Ultimately, these ideas shaped the early thinking of birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger, a socialist who studied with the British Neo-Malthusians and with sexual selection expert Havelock Ellis.Less
Chapter four traces the Darwinian concept of “female choice” of sexual partners as it reverberated through feminist and socialist reform circles at the turn of the twentieth century. Darwinian feminists, including Eliza Burt Gamble and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, argued that humans needed to return to female choice, a practice that was the norm throughout the animal kingdom except among humans. Socialists, too, embraced female choice and suggested that only economically independent women were capable of freely choosing their mates. Female choice offered feminist socialists one unified way to critique the institution of marriage, decry the lack of economic opportunities for women, denounce capitalism for creating a class of wealthy people for whom fitness was not a criterion to mating, and reject the type of women—corseted, dainty, and submissive—so often selected as wives by men. Ultimately, these ideas shaped the early thinking of birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger, a socialist who studied with the British Neo-Malthusians and with sexual selection expert Havelock Ellis.
Kimberly A. Hamlin
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226134611
- eISBN:
- 9780226134758
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226134758.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
From Eve to Evolution analyzes the U.S. reception of Charles Darwin through the lens of gender and provides the first full-length study of women’s responses to evolutionary theory. Raised on the ...
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From Eve to Evolution analyzes the U.S. reception of Charles Darwin through the lens of gender and provides the first full-length study of women’s responses to evolutionary theory. Raised on the idea that Eve’s sin forever fixed women’s subordinate status, many 19th-century women embraced Darwinian evolution, especially sexual selection theory as explained in The Descent of Man (1871), as an alternative to the Genesis creation story. Darwin also introduced readers to the concept of human-animal kinship, allowing feminist reformers to look to animals for examples of non-patriarchal gender roles, domestic arrangements, and sexual power systems. This book chronicles the lives and writings of the women who combined their enthusiasm for evolutionary science with their commitment to women’s rights, including Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Helen Hamilton Gardener, Eliza Burt Gamble, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The Darwinian feminists believed evolutionary science proved that women were not inferior to men, that it was natural for mothers to work outside the home, and that the progress of women went hand-in-hand with that of science. The practical applications of this evolutionary feminism came to fruition in the early thinking and writing of the American birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger. While household names in their day, after 1890, the Darwinian feminists frequently published in small women’s rights periodicals, the freethought press, and socialist publications, and, thus, are not as well-known today. Studying their writings reveals an alternate discourse in the history of U.S. feminist thought and the centrality of evolutionary science within it.Less
From Eve to Evolution analyzes the U.S. reception of Charles Darwin through the lens of gender and provides the first full-length study of women’s responses to evolutionary theory. Raised on the idea that Eve’s sin forever fixed women’s subordinate status, many 19th-century women embraced Darwinian evolution, especially sexual selection theory as explained in The Descent of Man (1871), as an alternative to the Genesis creation story. Darwin also introduced readers to the concept of human-animal kinship, allowing feminist reformers to look to animals for examples of non-patriarchal gender roles, domestic arrangements, and sexual power systems. This book chronicles the lives and writings of the women who combined their enthusiasm for evolutionary science with their commitment to women’s rights, including Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Helen Hamilton Gardener, Eliza Burt Gamble, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The Darwinian feminists believed evolutionary science proved that women were not inferior to men, that it was natural for mothers to work outside the home, and that the progress of women went hand-in-hand with that of science. The practical applications of this evolutionary feminism came to fruition in the early thinking and writing of the American birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger. While household names in their day, after 1890, the Darwinian feminists frequently published in small women’s rights periodicals, the freethought press, and socialist publications, and, thus, are not as well-known today. Studying their writings reveals an alternate discourse in the history of U.S. feminist thought and the centrality of evolutionary science within it.
Paul Schmid-Hempel
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- September 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780198832140
- eISBN:
- 9780191870873
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198832140.003.0006
- Subject:
- Biology, Disease Ecology / Epidemiology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
The sexes (male, female) differ in parasite load and immune defences. In general, males are more frequently infected and often have lower defences. The differences are one consequence of sexual ...
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The sexes (male, female) differ in parasite load and immune defences. In general, males are more frequently infected and often have lower defences. The differences are one consequence of sexual selection, where females invest more in maintenance. Females can choose males based on signs (e.g. ornaments) of higher resistance to parasites. Several theoretical scenarios can explain part of this variation. Advantages also result from genetic heterozygosity. Sex-specific hormones affect immune defences in many ways.Less
The sexes (male, female) differ in parasite load and immune defences. In general, males are more frequently infected and often have lower defences. The differences are one consequence of sexual selection, where females invest more in maintenance. Females can choose males based on signs (e.g. ornaments) of higher resistance to parasites. Several theoretical scenarios can explain part of this variation. Advantages also result from genetic heterozygosity. Sex-specific hormones affect immune defences in many ways.
Geoffrey E. Hill
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- June 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198818250
- eISBN:
- 9780191859465
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198818250.003.0008
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
At each new generation, sexual reproduction creates new combinations of nuclear and mitochondrial genes, and the potential arises for mitonuclear incompatibilities and reduced fitness. Sexual ...
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At each new generation, sexual reproduction creates new combinations of nuclear and mitochondrial genes, and the potential arises for mitonuclear incompatibilities and reduced fitness. Sexual selection plays a key role in maintaining mitonuclear coadaptation across generations because it enables pre-zygotic sorting for coadapted mitonuclear genotypes. In this chapter, I present data that individuals engaged in mate choice select partners with correct species-typical mitochondrial and nuclear genotypes as well as individuals with highly functional cellular respiration. The implication is that mate choice for compatible nuclear and mitochondrial genes can play a significant role in generating the patterns of ornamentation and preferences observed in animals.Less
At each new generation, sexual reproduction creates new combinations of nuclear and mitochondrial genes, and the potential arises for mitonuclear incompatibilities and reduced fitness. Sexual selection plays a key role in maintaining mitonuclear coadaptation across generations because it enables pre-zygotic sorting for coadapted mitonuclear genotypes. In this chapter, I present data that individuals engaged in mate choice select partners with correct species-typical mitochondrial and nuclear genotypes as well as individuals with highly functional cellular respiration. The implication is that mate choice for compatible nuclear and mitochondrial genes can play a significant role in generating the patterns of ornamentation and preferences observed in animals.
