Introduction
Biological Essentialist View (BEV) explains gender differences and rationalizes male dominance in biological terms. Men and women are different genetic compositions (i.e the level of testosterone) which support differences in behavior. This paper will consider rape and homosexuality to examine strengths and weaknesses of BEV. This paper will find some usefulness of BEV in explaining gender behavior but there are significant gaps in this theory. I will use post-structuralism as a way to fill in the gaps of BEV, resulting in a fully rounded ideology of gender theory.
Literature Review
While the concept of nature vs nurture has been debated for centuries, that wasn’t the literature I was looking for. I wanted to find perspectives
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Darwin observed in animal species that males and females pursued survival through different reproduction strategies. Sexual selection, in animal species, took the form of male-male competition and female mate choice. If one accepts that human behavior is consistent with that found in the animal world, at least at some genetic level, then we might be able to conclude that male behavior has its basis in the genetic need to dominate male rivals with the objective of reproducing for survival. Female behavior would be explained by a survival strategy of seeking and gaining the favor of the dominant male, in order to gain the most resources. (Gaunt, …show more content…
BEV sees rape as a natural reaction to being denied of biological needs, or as a way of spreading semen to ensure children (Delamater & Hyde, 1998). The biological instinct drives men to act impulsively on their physical needs. Rape has its evolutionary advantages, as it is a way of reproduction. Rape could also have evolutionary disadvantages as well because a woman invests a lot of resources into a child and if the child is a byproduct of rape, it could mean less resources and attention attributed to it (Vandermassen, 2010).
Raping behavior is also associated with men that have a lack of status or resources to willingly get a woman, so that rapists have a better chance of reproducing than non-rapists and thus have a chance of passing down genes (Vandermassen, 2010). The study “Sexual Selection, Paternal Care, and Concealed Ovulation in Humans” explored the concept of paternal care in regards to rape; that men who rape look for unwillingness in females to imply another romantic relationship which has the possibility of paternal care from her partner. (Strassman,
Rape is devastating to its victims. I feel as if this statement should stand alone, underlined and in bold typeface. It is crucial that we, as a society, come to a deep understanding and awareness of this message. For that reason, I will state it again:
...socially directed hormonal instructions which specify that females will want to have children and will therefore find themselves relatively helpless and dependent on males for support and protection. The schema claims that males are innately aggressive and competitive and therefore will dominate over females. The social hegemony of this ideology ensures that we are all raised to practice gender roles which will confirm this vision of the nature of the sexes. Fortunately, our training to gender roles is neither complete nor uniform. As a result, it is possible to point to multitudinous exceptions to, and variations on, these themes. Biological evidence is equivocal about the source of gender roles; psychological androgyny is a widely accepted concept. It seems most likely that gender roles are the result of systematic power imbalances based on gender discrimination.9
Women can become frightened of men and afraid of having relationship with them and men can become worried for the women in their lives. This leads to the untrusting relationships. Those who have been raped and their families suffer from emotional trauma that may interfere with their lives for years. And those who rape think their actions are acceptable
Since the beginnings of psychology the debate of nature verses nurture has been going on. Certain psychologists take the position of the nature perspective. They argue that people are born with predispositions towards certain personalities, traits and other characteristics that help shape them into the people that they become later in life. Meanwhile multiple other psychologists argue the nurture perspective. They believe that people are born as a blank slate and their experiences over the course of life help shape their personalities, traits, and other characteristics.
There are many reasons why men or women rape. Socioeconomic, sexual abuse as a young child, power, and anger to name a few are reasons to why peopl...
Notman, M. T., & Nadelson, C. C. (1976). The Rape victim: psychodynamic considerations. American Journal of Psychiatry, 133, 408-413 .
The two books examined in this paper, Martin Daly and Margo Wilson's Homicide and David M. Buss's The Evolution of Desire, suggest that human mating strategies have an evolutionary basis. The book written by Martin Daly and Margo Wilson supplies the theoretical groundwork and the book written by David M. Buss gives validity and empirical support for the theory. The two books make a strong scientific argument for evolutionary adaptations as the most crucial element to understanding human sexuality and desire. According to this argument, the key to understanding human sexuality lies in the evolutionary origin of our species.
...(Yarrowplace 2). According to many feminists, their theory is said to focus on a expansive picture for women who live in a society which is prominently prevailed by men. Rape and sexual assault is viewed as one of the ways men in which achieve dominance over other men, women, and children, through potent actions. This evidently dismisses the concept that rape results from sexual attraction or the behavior and or fashion of the victim/survivor (Yarrowplace 2).
Sexual violence is sometimes thought of as a natural part of life. That men have an inherit biological trait that predisposes them to violence and that it cannot be helped. The famous quote is “boys will be boys” meaning that men have no control over their actions and that if they sexual assault someone, that it is just human nature. This is in fact false. There is nothing in the biological makeup of males that can explain away sexual violence. It is a learned cultural behavior generated by gender norms and the medias perpetuation of sexual violence.
Man charged with the rape of 31 women in New York! Ever caught the headline of a crime that occurred and wondered how a person could possibly commit such a heinous act against another person? This is the job of a criminologist. To study crimes, criminals, victims, environmental and social factors, etc. in order to come up with theories and reasons as to why people commit acts against others (Brotherton). Criminology is not a new concept, but it is an evolving one. For this reason many theories have derived from sociologist and psychologist as to why crimes are committed, who commits them, and other the factors that played a role. Take for instance the crime rape. Rape is an unwanted sexual act performed upon another individual by force, deception or while under the influence of a substance. While most rape victims are known to be women, this crime has been expanded to include rape against a man or a person of the same sex. Rape is not an easy concept to deal with, nor is dealing with a rapist. For the purpose of this paper, rape will be explained by three theories, biological, psychological and rational choice theory, all of which criminologist have deemed are fitting of the crime.
Sexual selection theory suggests that participation in risky behavior should be observed mainly in those individuals who have experienced most intense reproductive competition (Wilson & Daly, 1985). We can see an individual is fighting for a living and even for mates. We have studied in our earlier class that females are soft-hearted and emotional whereas males are strong, bold, and hide their emotion. Seeing the basic characteristics of male as an emotional hider can make him competitive. In some traditional society, if males are not being strong enough to show courage and support his family is regarded as a useless fellow. We can see people who are the warrior are both males and females, but males are preferred. In earlier days, females were
“Rape is an act of violence in which sex is used as a weapon” (Benedict, 1992, p.14). Rape is used to control one’s victim in the same way a gun is used to control a store clerk in a robbery. Both are methods of control in order to get what one wants. The majority of men cannot even sustain an erection or ejaculate during the commission of a sex crime (Men against Sexual Violence, 2003). Contrary to popular belief, rape is not the fulfillment of an overly stimulated libido; it is primarily a tool to exert power over a victim.
Rape is considered to be one element in the “Big Six” of the most common sex-related crimes. It is defined as the unlawful act of sexual activity forced upon a person who did not or was unable to give willing to give consent. There are four main types of a rapist that center around their modus operandi: Power Reassurance, Anger Retaliation, Power Assertive, and Sadistic. The goals of a Power Reassurance rapist are to gain a validation of their status and to validate their sexual adequacy. They view the act as a reassurance of a mutual relationship between them and the victim, and they usually force the victim into acting out their sexual fantasies. This could be done by demanding that the victim talks dirty or by asking reassuring questions
One of the hottest debates is and has been nature vs nurture for years, but what is the difference between the two? Nature is what people think of as already having and not being able to change it, in other words, pre-wiring (Sincero). Nurture is the influence of experiences and its environment of external factors (Sincero). Both nature and nurture play important roles in human development. Scientists and researchers are both trying to figure out which is the main cause in development because it is still unknown on which it is. The best position to side with is nature. Nature is also defined as genetic or hormone based behaviors (Agin). Regardless of the involvement in everyday life, or nurture, this argumentation centers around the effect genes have on human personalities. Although it is understandable on reasons to side with nurture, nature is the better stand in this controversy. Reasons to side with nature is because of genes and what genes hold. Genes is what
The controversy of nature vs. nurture has been going on for many years, and a