My subway read this week was the evolutionary psychology book Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters by Alan Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa. Its basic premise is that humans are really not so advanced - in fact, our brains haven’t evolved since the Stone Age - and that reproductive fitness is still what drives us. Most women have no trouble mating, whereas many men have to go to lengths to woo wombs. Attractive members of both sexes are at an advantage. Surprise! That’s when the authors go into explaining sex as the motivation for everything men do, from being a terrorist to a deadbeat dad to an entrepreneur.
The book works to confirm stereotypes, explaining, “Yep, it’s politically incorrect, but it’s empirical observation.” Some of it is really hard to digest, though. For example, the authors suggest homosexuality may go extinct because many men now come out of the closet. Huh? Does not compute.
I’m not exactly recommending this book. It’s too simple. What about exceptions to the author’s evolutionary rules? What about homosexuality and the idea of self-actualization as personal fulfillment? Why is it all about women being coy treasures, and men being brash pirates? But maybe I’m just being one of those feminists the book “corrects” in some of its chapters.
Here’s an excerpt. I’ve run this by a few enlightened modern men. They said, “Yep,” which is caveman-speak for, “I really am that simple. Would you like to hear me grunt, sweet thang?”
The power of female choice becomes quite apparent in a simple thought experiment. Imagine for a moment a society where sex and mating were entirely a male choice; individuals have sex whenever and with whomever men want; not whenever and with whomever women want.What would happen in such a society? Absolutely nothing, because people would never stop having sex!
In reality, however, women do often say no to men. This is why men throughout history have had to conquer foreign lands, win battles and wars, compose symphonies, author books, write sonnets, paint portraits and cathedral ceilings, make scientific discoveries, play in rock bands, and write new computer software in order to impress women so that they will agree to have sex with them. There would be so civilizations, no art, no literature, no music, no Beatles, no Microsoft, if sex and mating were a male choice. Men have built (and destroyed) civilizations in order to impress women so that they might say yes. Women are the reason men do everything.
The comedian Bill Maher captures the essence of female choice perfectly when he quips: “For a man to walk into a bar and have his choice of any woman he wants, he would have to be the ruler of the world. For a woman to have the same power over men, she’d have to do her hair.”
Men and women in the audience, what do you think? Does knowing how to write software really give men a reproductive leg up? (I type this with a smile, knowing I’m dating someone who can code any website into submission). Is the Bill Maher quote right about the hair? Perhaps it’s time I learn how to blow mine out with a round brush.
I tried reading this. I don’t think I got through the first chapter.
My deal with it is that there are some sweeping generalizations posited as academic, but it is not even close to an academic study. I’ve read other evolutionary psychology articles that are rather interesting. This, though, is just essentialist.
I actually heard about this book through your GoodReads update! I was skimming through a lot of it. Once you read the first three chapters, you get the gist. It’s overly simple and uses “men do everything for sex; women do everything to nurture offspring” as its justification, rather than giving much evidence. Definitely not the most sound piece of “scientific” writing.
Hey Amanda,
I’ve been keeping up with your blog since last fall when I stumbled across it and read the whole thing (from your first post to the most recent) like a book and was completely hooked. I come from a family of writers-not famous or anything, but creative-and I think you are an amazing writer. You have a cynical and witty yet moving style that is completely your own and so much fun to read, just so original. And with your semi-romantic semi-feminist and semi-cynical(sorry if I’m mislabeling you here:-) sentiments, I’ve been able to relate to your writing more then most I’ve come across elsewhere.
So that being said…I really, really think you should make your blog into a book. You definitely have enough material. I especially enjoyed reading about your experiences teaching in the Harlem school. I thought it was eye opening, and I’m sure many others would think so as well. I do hope you write a book one day-I will be sure to read it:-)
thanks for your creative inspirations..
-Jessica