E-Book Overview
We trust our sciences to operate on a plane of objectivity and fact in a world of subjectivity and cultural ideologies, but should we? In The Age of Scientific Sexism, philosopher Mari Ruti offers a sharp critique of the gender profiling tendencies of evolutionary psychology, untangling the insidious threads of various gender mythologies that have infiltrated-or perhaps even define-this faux-science. Selling stereotypes as scientific facts, evolutionary psychology continually brings retrograde models of sexuality into mainstream culture: it insists that men and women live in two completely different psychological, emotional, and sexual universes, and that they will consequently always be locked in a vicious battle of the sexes. Among these regressive arguments is the assumption that men's sexuality is urgent and indiscriminate, whereas women are “naturally” reluctant, reticent, and choosy-a concept constructed to justify masculine behavior, such as cheating, that women have historically found painful. On its most basic level, The Age of Scientific Sexism explores our impulse to “explain” romantic behavior through science: in the increasingly egalitarian gender landscape of our society, why are we so eager to embrace the rampant gender profiling that evolutionary psychology promotes? Perhaps these simplistic gender caricatures owe their popularity, at least in part, to our overly pragmatic society pragmatic society, which encourages us to search for easy answers to complex questions.
E-Book Content
The Age of Scientific Sexism
The Age of Scientific Sexism How Evolutionary Psychology Promotes Gender Profiling and Fans the Battle of the Sexes Mari Ruti
Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc
Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc 1385 Broadway New York NY 10018 USA
50 Bedford Square London WC1B 3DP UK
www.bloomsbury.com BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published 2015 © Mari Ruti, 2015 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ruti, Mari. The age of scientific sexism : how evolutionary psychology promotes gender profiling and fans the battle of the sexes / Mari Ruti. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-62892-379-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-62892-380-3 (hardback : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-62892-381-0 (ePub) -- ISBN 978-1-62892-382-7 (ePDF) 1. Sex (Psychology) 2. Mate selection--Psychological aspects. 3. Sexual attraction. 4. Sex differences (Psychology) 5. Sexism. 6. Evolutionary psychology. I. Title. BF692.R87 2015 155.3’3--dc23 2014049113 ISBN: HB: 9781628923803 PB: 9781628923797 ePub: 9781628923810 ePDF: 9781628923827 Typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NN
It is only a slight exaggeration to say that there is nothing about human life we hold less in common with animals than our sexuality. We can imagine a bird happening to make a nest out of a lady’s shoe; we cannot imagine her getting excited about it. The shoe-as-nest holds onto a biological function; the shoe-as-fetish leaves that behind. Jonathan Lear
CONTENTS
Introduction 1
1 The Myopia of Men vs Women 23 2 The Ideology of Gender Difference 53 3 The Arrogance of the Backlash 83 4 The Downfall of the Coy Female 113 5 The Cruelty of Optimism 149
Conclusion 1