NCJ Number
147499
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 8 Issue: 3 Dated: special issue (Fall 1993) Pages: 271-294
Date Published
1993
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This analysis uses an evolutionary biological perspective to account for the origins and consistency across time and place of male violence against wives.
Abstract
The authors argue that males' sense of ownership or entitlement over female sexuality and reproductive capacity is manifested in different ways in different cultures, but reflects an evolved masculine psychology that is a naturally selected trait representing reproductive fitness. The evolved masculine psychology engenders a specific adaptation to the persistent problem, which occurs across generations, of out-reproducing other members of the species under conditions of limited reproductive resources. For human males, this issue often means physical coercion. Cultural studies can help determine the cues that trigger the sexually proprietary psychological mechanisms that result in violence in a particular culture. The importance and prevalence of these cues, including both activating and inhibiting cues, influence the rates of violent sexual proprietariness. Specific issues may include the intensity of intrasexual competition, the factors that affect the woman's attractiveness to rivals, situational cues of possible infidelity, female choice, and the social and personal costs to the husbands of using violence. Figure, table, notes, and 87 references