Evolutionary Models of Why Men Rape

RANDY THORNHILL AND CRAIG PALMER’S NEW BOOK A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion (2000a) sets up a stark contrast between evolutionary theory and feminist theory that performed perfectly in its intended role as a media hook (for a summary of the book, see Thronhill & Palmer, 2000b). The authors have appeared on CNN, Dateline, and other television programs, and on National Public Radio disseminating their position. Victim advocates, National Organization of Women officers, experts on evolutionary biology, and Susan Brownmiller herself rebutted these authors. This media phenomenon was a sad incident for rape prevention advocates, evolutionary biology, and science itself. The framing of the issues by Thornhill and Palmer increased the resistance to evolutionary analysis, ill represented the process of science, and encouraged harmful prevention suggestions. This commentary examines in more depth than permitted in the public media their thesis, supporting evidence, and recommendations for rape prevention. The complexity of the causal analysis of rape is highlighted, including the consensus of expert panels on violence against women that no theory emphasizing a single cause is adequate to explaining why men rape, no matter what its ideology is.

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