by Angela Saini
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Afterword
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Konner, Melvin. Women After All: Sex, Evolution, and the End of Male Supremacy. New York: W. W. Norton, 2015.
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Tavris, Carol. The Mismeasure of Woman: Why Women Are Not the Better Sex, the Inferior Sex, or the Opposite Sex. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.
INDEX
Please note that page numbers are not accurate for the e-book edition.
abortion: of female fetuses, 29–31; restricting access to, 105, 178
Aché nomadic hunter-gatherers, Paraguay: gender equality, 117; hunting by females, 119; hunting by males, 111–12; role of grandmothers, 164
The Age of Scientific Sexism (Ruti), 9
alleles (genes), 39
alloparents: and cooperative breeding, 105; defined, 102; gr
andmothers as, 165–66
American Anthropological Association, male bias, 108–109
amygdala, sex differences in, 86, 92
Anderson, Wyatt, 134–35
androgen, 25–26, 59–61. See also sex hormones
“The Angel in the House” (Patmore), 16
animals, research involving: animal orgasm studies, 145; applicability to humans, 58; chromosome research on mice, 41; impacts of sex hormones on brain growth and behavior, 55–57; and male guarding behaviors, 143; sex biases in, 43; species showing female dominance, 151–53. See also primatology
anthropology: contributions to understanding of gender identity, 26–27; focus on male behaviors, 107–10; and the hunting hypothesis, 107–13, 115; on male contributions to human longevity, 172; and studies of modern-day hunter-gatherer societies, 101–2, 117; and women as tool inventors and users, 110
archaeology, data on sex differences from, 94–95
Ardrey, Robert, 108
Arnold, Arthur, 38–41, 43–44, 46
Ashworth, Ann, 31
Asia, South Asia: cultural preferences for male children, 29–32, 104, 178; extended families in, 163
Austad, Steven, 33–37, 40, 42–43
autism: as extreme version of the systemizing brain, 52, 54–55; relationship with fetal sex hormones, 68–69
autoimmune disease, sex differences in, 36–37
Ayers, Beverley, 174
baboons, 99, 154
Baranowski, Andreas, 132
Baron-Cohen, Simon: empathizing-systemizing theory, 52–55, 63, 67–68; studies of fetal testosterone and brain development, 51–52, 66–69; study on gender differences in newborns, 53–54
Bateman, Angus John: critiques of fruit fly study, 127–28, 132, 134–35; fruit fly mating studies, 121–25, 136–37; and sexual selection theory, 129
“beauty map” of British women (Galton), 17
Beery, Annaliese, 43
Behan, Peter, 56–57
behavioral research, 49–54, 129–31
Bennett, Craig, on functional magnetic resonance imaging, 82–83
Berthold, Adolph, experiments with cockerel testes, 22–23
Bethlehem Royal Hospital (Bedlam), postmenopausal women in, 157–58
biological research, 14–15, 36, 42–43
Bird, Rebecca Bliege, 112, 118–19
Blackwell, Antoinette Brown, 18
Blair-Bell, William, 25
bluebirds, 134
Bluhm, Cynthia, 130
bonobos: bonds between females, 100, 153; casual sex among, 152–53; dominance of females over males, 150–52; fertility patterns and behaviors, 102–3; hunting by females, 153; identification as separate species, 151
“Boys Will Be Boys” (Pinker), 125–26
brains, human: composition and architecture, 77–78; diversity and uniqueness, 90–92; neural connections in, 78–79; plasticity, 89–92; size, as ratio to body size, 76
brains, sex differences research: blood flow studies, 76–77; critiques of, 77–78, 81–82, 85–86; dimorphism assumptions, 84; and gender stereotyping, 88, 90, 93; and hippocampus size, 84–85; weight and volume studies, 72–76. See also Baron-Cohen, Simon
breast ironing, 142
Bribiescas, Richard Gutierrez, 102–3, 105–6, 111
Brown, Gillian, 131
Brown-Séquard, Charles-Édouard, 23
Burnell, Jocelyn Bell, 9
Buss, David, 125
Cahill, Larry, 86–87, 89
Cameroon, West Africa, breast ironing in, 142
Carosi, Monica, 145
Cerebral Dominance (Geschwind and Galaburda), 57
chess, dominance of males in, 87
childbirth: and cultural restrictions on female equality, 119; differences between primates and humans, 102; and female failure to evolve, 15; mortality associated with, 163
children: early environment and brain development, 112–13; and emergence of gender identity, 50–51; external stimulation and brain function, 71–72; factors influencing survival, 166; importance of community supports, 106; male, cultural preferences for, 29–30, 32, 104, 178; parental investment in, 123–24; role of parents in gender socializing, 63, 71; sex differences in health and physiology, 31–33; survival of, and grandmother effect, 163, 166. See also infanticide, feticide
chimpanzees: birthing behaviors, 102; dominance of males among, 97; female tool-using skills, 110; male coercion of females by, 149–50; male preference for older females, 170
China, foot binding in, 142
“Choosy But Not Chaste: Multiple Mating in Human Females” (Scelza), 130–31
Cimpian, Andrei, 66
Clark, Russell, 120–21, 127, 132–33
Clayton, Janine, 44–45, 47
clitoris removal, during female genital mutilation, 139–40
Coall, David, 106, 166
Coates, John, 27
cockerel testes, 22–23
cognitive neuroscience, 82. See also neuroscience
Colom, Roberto, 65
complementarity principle, 17, 80–81, 94
Confucius, 142
congenital adrenal hyperplasia, 63
Connellan, Jennifer, 53–54, 66–68
consciousness-raising, 134
Cooper, Wendy, 160
cooperative breeding systems, 102–5, 107, 115–16
Craig, Michael, 104
The Creation of Patriarchy (Lerner), 146–47
Crittenden, Alyssa, 171–73
Croft, Darren, 166–67
Cronin, Helena, 51–52
cultural/social factors: and the encouragement of high-achieving males, 65–66; and excess mortality among girl babies, 32; and female vs. male response to disease, 37–38; impact on female equality, 119
Curie, Marie, 8
Cut: One Woman’s Fight Against FGM in Britain Today (Wardere), 141
Darwin, Charles: assumptions about male superiority, 14, 18, 95, 107; Kennard’s letter to, 13–16; and sexual selection theory, 122
Datoga pastoralist-warriors, 106
Day, Alice Chenoweth. See Gardener, Helen Hamilton
de Beauvoir, Simone, 13
Delusions of Gender (Fine), 67, 84
The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (Darwin), 14–15, 121
de Waal, Frans, 153
diffusion tensor imaging, 78
“digging sticks,” 110
digoxin, sex-related research findings, 45–46
Disteche, Christine, 40
Do Babies Matter: Gender and Family in the Ivory Tower (Mason, Wolfinger, and Goulden), 4
Dogon communities, Mali, 142
“Do Men Need to Cheat on Their Women? A New Science Says Yes” (Playboy), 124
ducks, mallard, 130
Dyble, Mark, 116–17
Eddy, Sarah, 5–6
education, sexism in, 8
Ehrenberg, Israel, 177
Eliot, Lise, 85
empathizing-systemizing theory (Baron-Cohen): critiques, 63, 67–70; supporting evidence, popularity, 52–55, 57, 63
endocrinology. See estrogen; hormone therapy for menopause; sex hormones; testosterone
Engels, Friedrich, 146
the Enlightenment, view of science during, 16
Equal Pay Act, UK, and the gender pay gap, 5
The Essential Difference (Baron-Cohen), 54–55
essentialism, 93
Estioko-Griffin, Agnes, 114–15 estrogen: loss of, and menopausal symptoms, 159–60; in men, discovery of and implications, 25–26. See also hormone replacement therapy for menopause; menopause; sex hormones
Eté, Democratic Republic of the Congo, alloparenting among, 102
Evans, Herbert, 26
Eve, as subservient woman, 19
evolutionary biology: data on sex differences, 94–95; and the development of language and intelligence, 112–13; explanations for female orgasm, 145; explanations for menopause and postmenopausal survival, 161–63, 165, 168–69; and the importance of primate r
esearch, 98–99, 154; sexist assumptions, 19, 14–22, 98–99, 116–17, 134, 136; and sexual selection theory, 121–25
evolutionary psychology, and gender-based concepts of monogamy and polygamy, 125–26
The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating (Buss), 126
The Evolution of Human Sexuality (Symons), 125
The Evolution of Sex (Geddes and Thomson), 17
The Evolution of Woman, an Inquiry into the Dogma of Her Inferiority to Man (Gamble), 20
extended families, and the grandmother hypothesis, 163
extended longevity hypothesis, 165, 168
Facts and Fictions of Life (Gardener), 74
fathers, fathering, 103, 106–7. See also alloparents; partible patrimony
Fausto-Sterling, Anne: on fetal sex hormones and brain development, 70; on human beings as developmental systems, 70; newborn and baby research, 55, 71–72; on Victorian concepts of femininity, 25; on Wilson’s sexist language, 160
female dominance, animals that show, 151–53
female genital mutilation (FGM), 139–41
females, women: and alloparents, 101–2; biases against in high-achieving disciplines, 2–5, 66; as biologically predetermined, 3, 120–21, 131, 133, 143; childcare role, and development of language, 112–13; and choice of mate, benefits to children, 130; and concepts of femaleness, femininity, 16, 23–28, 90; cooperation among, 156; disease incidence and virulence in, 36–37, 40–41; economic limitations and restrictions, 17–18; educational limitations and restrictions, 8; endurance and strength, 31–33, 113–14, 177; experience of, brain effects, 89; as gatherers, work involved in, 109–10; and the gender pay gap, 5; as hunters, 110, 114–15; intelligence and skill acquisition, 63–65, 72–76, 84, 90, 110; and the maternal instinct, 103–4; and mate selectivity, 133; monthly cycles, physiology of, 159; as natural leaders, 177–78; as naturally monogamous, 121–26; pro-male gender bias shown by, 5; sexual assertiveness, 128; sex-related response to medications, 44–45; unique characteristics, 61–62; unpaid labor performed by, 4–5; violence against, 178–79. See also empathizing-systemizing theory; menopause; sex hormones; sexuality, female; virginity, female chastity