"Misogyny Is Not Human Nature"

[applegrove]

Misogyny Is Not Human Nature

By Eric Michael Johnson at Slate

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/09/online_misogyny_of_the_fappening_stealing_celebrity_photos_is_not_just_human.2.html

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A troop of baboons in Kenya would disagree with this sentiment. Baboons live in a highly patriarchal society in which high-ranking males dominate those males who are subordinate to them. Of all primates, baboons are notorious for the aggressive behavior that males display toward females, and they have been known to viciously attack any who reject their sexual advances. Since male baboons are about twice the size of females and have 2-inch-long canines that they use to eviscerate their opponents, they would seem to justify the assumption that “might is right” in the natural world. But nature is not monolithic. Within every population, whether we are looking at baboons or humans, there is a range of variation in traits. Some individuals are highly aggressive and seek dominance, whereas others are more content to socialize with their peers. These traits become enhanced or reduced based on the environment in which the population lives.


In the early 1980s, a group of olive baboons known as “Forest Troop” underwent a unique natural experiment. The territory of their neighbors, “Garbage Dump Troop,” overlapped with that of a tourist lodge. The Garbage Dump Troop had access to the leftover meat that had been discarded into the lodge’s dump. The most aggressive males from Forest Troop began invading their neighbors’ territory to access the meat for themselves. Soon afterward, tuberculosis ravaged the baboons from both troops who had been feeding at the garbage dump. Because it was only the most aggressive males of Forest Troop that died out, the results were twofold: Less aggressive males were more common in the population, and the female-to-male ratio had now doubled.


The social consequences were startling. According to Stanford University primatologist Robert Sapolsky, who documented the event and followed the troop for the next 20 years, the brutal hierarchy that was common among male baboons disappeared, and the amount of affiliative behaviors—such as males and females grooming one another—increased markedly. What was most surprising was what followed over the intervening years. Males always migrate to other troops at puberty, and new immigrant males to the Forest Troop adopted the local culture that they encountered. Even though none of the original population is alive today, this highly cooperative baboon society remains intact. As Sapolsky wrote in Foreign Affairs, “Forest Troop’s low aggression/high affiliation society constitutes nothing less than a multigenerational benign culture.”

Something similar has been found in human societies today. According to a study published this year in the journal Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences by Daniel Kruger, Maryanne Fisher, and Paula Wright, there are dramatic differences between societies based on the relative culture of patriarchy. The authors examined demographic data from the World Health Organization, United Nations, CIA World Factbook, and Encyclopedia of World Cultures and found a strong association between female empowerment and the level of early mortality among both women and men. In highly patriarchal societies, men control resources and female sexuality. The outcome of this is that there are increased levels of competition between males that result in higher rates of early death. But when female empowerment is increased, this highly unequal environment is relaxed and aggression against others is reduced. Ultimately, patriarchy hurts men as well as women. But does this also extend to online environments?



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[BlancheSplanchnik]

1. fascinating! a really obvious take away here,

That no one will like to think about, is that the aggressive males were allowed to reap the consequences of their actions. They got themselves the most meat, and got sick.

No one jumped in to save them from the consequences of their own behavior. ......and lo and behold, the baboons with that aggressive genetic make-up died out. A new, more cooperative type was allowed to flourish.

Interesting. Verrry verrrrrrrrry interesting.

[applegrove]

2. The cooperative baboons were always there. They just went along

with the aggressive ones when the aggressive ones were in power. The point is the cooperative people have to speak out to bad behaviour. I get what you are saing about the banking crisis. But I do think, as aggressive males controlling things in the baboons or human communities, they do die much younger so and don‘t seem to notice that. Which means there is self delusion going on with the powerlust. So if the USA had let half the banks go under I doubt the alpha males would lead to less risky behaviour. Regulations work too in controlling their behaviour in humans.

[A Little Weird]

3. Interesting article

Thanks for posting.

[malthaussen]

4. Well, I'll be a monkey's...

Very interesting.

-- Mal

[libodem]

5. Wow!

I love this study!