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    Baboons with Briefcases: Feminism, Functionalism, and Sociobiology in the Evolution ofPrimate GenderAuthor(s): Susan SperlingReviewed work(s):Source: Signs, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Autumn, 1991), pp. 1-27Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3174443.

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    BaboonswithBriefcases:Feminism,unctionalism,ndSociobiologyn theEvolutionofPrimate enderSusan Sperling

    S TUDIES OF MONKEYS andapeshavenever eenust boutmonkeysnd pes.Historically,umans avewonderedbout hestatus f nonhumanrimates,bout heways nwhich heyrelikeand unlikeus. Withtheriseof evolutionaryhoughtnnineteenth-centuryurope,urviews f henonhumanrimatesecamefirmlyied o ourunderstandingf ourowndevelopmentver volu-tionaryime.n theWesternmagination,rimatesrenow entralo theiconographyf thehuman ast, ncludinghemeaningsfsexualdivi-sions nhuman ocieties.ModernWesternrimatetudiesrose argelyhroughnatural ieldstudiesndecolonized frica nd other hirdWorld itesntheperiodfollowing orldWar I.1Soon hereafter,nthropologicalrimatologistsandtheir dvocatesn other isciplinesegan ofit ataaboutmonkeysandapes ntomodels fhuman volution.hetemplateor his nter-prise ad been et arliernthe enturyyRobertM. Yerkesnd Clar-enceRayCarpenter,oth fwhomworkedwith onhumanrimateso

    Someofthe deas in this rticle re the result fa long,ongoingdialoguewithMi-caela di Leonardo about anthropology,eminism,nd therelationship etween ocialtheorynd evolutionarycience. gratefullycknowledgeherhelp n thearticulation fthese opicsas presented ere.Donna Haraway's perspectivesn modernprimate tudieshaveplayedan importantoleinmy approachto variousfunctionalistgendas nprima-tology.1 This article ocuses n Western rimatology,ut t is importanto note thatJapanhas also been a majorcenter orprimatological esearch.Africawas the nitial ocationoftheearlypostwarfield tudies, ollowingwhichprimatologists orked nAsia, SouthAmerica, nd theCaribbean. For a full ccount of thesedevelopments,ee Donna Har-away,PrimateVisions:Gender,Race, and Nature n theWorldofModern Science NewYork:Routledge,Chapman& Hall, 1989).[Signs: ournal fWomen nCulture ndSociety 991,vol. 17,no. 1]? 1991 byTheUniversityfChicago.Allrightseserved.097-9740/92/1701-0005$01.00

    Autumn 1991 SIGNS 1

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    Sperling EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDERexaminehumanevolutionaryssues,2 ut itis in theperiodsince WorldWar II thattheprimatological nterprise as flourished. ieldand labo-ratory bservations fprimates aveproduceda largebodyofdata onthebehavior f diverse pecies.The integrationf thesefacts ntomodelsfor human evolutionhas consumed over two decades of scholarship.Genderdifferencesnhominidshumans ndprotohumans) avebeenamajorfocusofthesemodels,which oftenhaveproposedthatchangingreproductiveehavior s the central actorn thehominid ransition.3From media stars such as JaneGoodall and Dian Fosseyto well-knownacademics uch as JeanneAltmann, lisonRichard, ndThelmaRowell,womenalwayshavebeen a visiblepresencenthedemographicsof modern rimate esearch. hisalone has sometimes roduced vaguesense that feministcorrectives o male models of primatebehaviorexist.However,such an impression an be deceptive.The history faccountsofgendered ehaviorsmongprimatess notencompassed yasimple volutionarytory f thetriumphfgood feministesearch verbad sexistresearch.To assess thegrowth fthefeminist ree nprima-tology,we mustview t as partof an entire orest f modern ntellectualdevelopments.Two theoriesof ultimatecausalityhave dominatedprimatologicalmodelsfor theorigins fmonkey, pe, and humangenderedbehavior:structural-functionalismnd sociobiology.The structural-functionalistmodel, British social anthropology'skey contribution o twentieth-centuryocial science, xplainsthe structural attern f social institu-tions n terms fhow theyfunction s integratedystemso fulfillndi-vidualand societalhumanneeds.AnthropologistsntheperiodfollowingWorldWar II translated histheory o their bservations fnonhumanprimates;theyviewed savanna baboon behaviors s adaptationsthatfunctioned othtopromotendividual urvival nd tomaintain tabletroop ife.As we shallsee,thisperspectivetructured uch heoryboutthe evolution f humangendered ehaviors s extrapolated rom tudiesof baboonsandothermonkeysndapes.Male dominancewas viewed sfunctioningo organize nd control hetroop n muchthe sameway aspolitical eadership unctionsnhumancultures. here are manyprob-lemswiththissimple nalogy.

    2DonnaHaraway,Animalociologynd a Natural conomyftheBody olitic,Part : A PoliticalhysiologyfDominance, nd Animalociologynd a NaturalEconomyf theBody olitic,artI: The Past s theContestedone: HumanNatureandTheoriesfProductionndReproductionnPrimate ehaviortudies, igns: our-nalofWomennCulturendSociety,no.1 (Autumn978):21-36, 37-60.3For pposingiews n thisssue, eeAdrienneihlman,WomenndEvolution,Part I: SubsistencendSocialOrganizationmong arlyHominids, igns ,no.1(Autumn978):4-20; and OwenLovejoy,TheOriginfMan, cience11,no.4480 (1981):341-50.

    2 SIGNS Autumn 1991

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    EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDER SperlingIn themid-1970s,ociobiologyeplaced tructural-functionalismsthepreeminentxplanatoryodel.Accordingo the ociobiologists,e-haviorslways volve omaximizehe eproductiveitnessf ndividuals

    (therelativeercentagefgenespassedon to futureenerations).l-though ifferingnsome ignificantays, othmodels xplain he x-istencefgender-dimorphicehaviorss functioningoincreasevolu-tionaryitnessndas controllednunspecifiedays ygenes. othkindsoffunctionalistrgumentsor he riginf exually imorphicehaviorsamong umansxplain hese ehaviorss adaptationsopastselectivepressuresnprimater hominidhylogeny.n thepast,many fthesereconstructionsavebeen vertlyexist; omemore ecentunctionalisthypothesesaveattemptedo redress ormerndrocentriciases.Forinstance,ome ociobiologistsave ecentlyssertedhat emalerimatesharass achothernanefforto increaseheir wngeneticdvantages.Accordingothisnterpretation,ttacks npregnant onkeysndapesbyother emalesreeffortsy he ttackersogain geneticdvantagebyreducinghenumber f competitors'ffspring.uperficially,uchmodelsmay eem t times o tell good feministrimatetory,ypositing,or xample,hat emale rimatesreaggressivetrategistsnpursuitftheir wnreproductivedvantagesatherhan assive bjectsoverwhichmalescompete. utthesenewnarratives,lthoughmorepalatable or omefeminists,est npoor mpiricaloundations. edonotfullynderstandhebiological,ocial, ndecological oots f non-human rimateggression.DonnaHaraway as applauded feministociobiology s tellingbettertory orfeministshandidearlier unctionalistodels, ut healso notes tsfailureo posita fullylternativeheoryboutgenderdifferencesndhuman rigins:

    Feministontests or uthoritativeccounts fevolutionndbe-havioral iologyrenot implylternatives,ut qually s biasedas themasculinisttories o prominentnthe arly ecades fthefield.ocountsbettertories,hey ave obetterccountorwhatitmeans obehumannd nimal. hey ave oofferfuller, orecoherentision,nethat llows hemonkeysndapestobeseenmore ccurately.Butwhatwillcount s more ccurate,uller, ore oherent?Rarely illfeministontestsor cientificeaning ork yreplac-ingoneparadigm ith nother,yproposingndsuccessfullys-tablishingullylternativeccountsndtheories.ather,s a formofnarrativeracticerstory-telling,eministracticenprimatol-ogyhasworkedmorebyaltering field fstories rpossibleexplanatoryccounts, yraisinghecost ofdefendingomeac-

    Autumn 1991 SIGNS 3

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    Sperling EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDERcounts,bydestabilizingheplausibilityfsomestrategiesr expla-nations.4Fully lternativeccounts ofthedevelopmentfgendered ehaviorsinprimates an,andmust, e developed.Feministociobiology oes notrepresent rogress orfeministvolutionaryciencebecause tsuggestsbiologicalessentialismt the heartofhumanbehavior.n followingtspath,we abandon thoseresearch trategieshatmightead us to insightsaboutgendered spectsof humanaggression,mongother hings.Feministociobiologists ave retold hestory fevolution, iving e-malesan activerole,but nusing heold narrative tructureshey ell uslittle bout the development f complexbehaviors nd theircontext-

    dependent xpressions.The new femaleprimate s dressedfor successand lives n a troopthatresembles he modern orporation:now every-one getsto eat power lunches on the savanna.But is it advantageousmerely o changeone narrative lement, s feministociobiologyhasdone,so that hecategoryfemale, ike male, s constructeds active,dominant, nd lookingout forgenetic dvantages? thinknot, and Iwantto argueinsteadfor a deconstructionf all functionalist odels,including ociobiologicalones,of sex-linked rimatebehaviors. thinkwe can hope formoreaccurate,fuller,more coherent pproachesto thestudy fprimate enderdifferencessomeofwhichmay helpus to un-derstand spectsof humanbehavior) hanthoseproposedbyfunction-alistsof the ast two decades.New theoreticalnd methodological p-proachesmust attendto the context-dependentatureof behavioraldevelopmentn primates nd thebehavioraldiversity mongdifferentspecies nd inso doing bandonreductionist-functionalistodels.But norder o understand eministociobiology nd itsdeficiencies,e needabetter ense of the unfolding toryof primate tudies and structural-functionalistnd sociobiologicalmodels.

    For twodecades,functionalisteductionismnprimatologyas seemedalmost mmune o sophisticatedrgumentsboutevolutionarypistemol-ogy n otherdisciplines; rimatologistsho have addressed hisproblemhave sometimesfound themselves arredwith the brush of anti-Darwinism nd antievolutionism.tephen ayGouldhaswritten fthefrustrationsnvolvedncritiquingdaptationism:A formertudentfminerecentlyompleted study rovinghat olorpatternsf certainlam hellsdid nothave theadaptive ignificancesually laimed.A leading ournalrejected erpaperwith he omment:Whywouldyouwant opublish uch4 Haraway'sassertion hatfeministociobiology ells better eministtorys meantironically personalcommunication).ee Donna Haraway, Primatologys PoliticsbyOtherMeans: Women'sPlace Is in theJungle, n Feminist pproaches o Science, d.RuthBlier New York:Pergamon, 986), 77-118.

    4 SIGNS Autumn 1991

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    EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDER Sperlingnonresults?', As Gould ointsut, he tudyfgenderifferencesuffersfromhe amebias, problemn what sprivilegeds publishable. ea-sured enderifferencesrereportednd attractttentionromhe ress.Whatwe donotknow s howoftenuch ifferencesrenotfoundndtheresults otpublished.6Other hingshapebehavioresides enes ndshape t n mportantwaysfor he rganismsnquestion.nrodents,ornstance,herereanumber fmaternalehavioralesponsesesultingrom evelopmentalsensitivityonormallynvariantnvironmentalonditions.nmanype-cies, nlyfemaleshowparentalarebehaviors,hereasmales real-ways ggressiverindifferentowardnfants.-Buthis ifferencesnotdeterminedolely ygeneticsrhormones;arentalaretakings a de-velopmentalehavioralesponsenfemales, hoarealways resenttthe ime fbirth.Malesdevelop omeofthe amecaretakingatterns,such sposturingor ursing,hen xposed onewbornoung.romnevolutionaryoint fview,uchnewbehaviors aydevelopndpersistin a populationither ecause fchangesntheaverage enotypeynaturalelectionrby nduringhangesnthe nvironmentnwhichheaverage enotypeevelops.As biologistusanOyamapoints ut,an ant arvamaybecomeworker r a queen, ependingnnutrition,emperature,ndother ari-ables, ust s a malerodentmay xhibit urturantehaviors hen x-posedto certaintimuli.7ontrol oes notflowonlyfrom hegeneoutward. o understandhevastlymorecomplex evelopmentale-quences nvolvedntheacquisitionfgenderedrimate ehavior, emusttudytdevelopmentallyatherhan ttemptingoreduce iscoursetoargumentsboutultimateeneticitness.heres muchmore o un-derstandinghedevelopmentfbehaviorhan etrospectivelyypothe-sizingtsadaptativeunction.8onsideringhepresentlyonfoundingarray fdata ongender-roleimorphismndifferentrimatepecies,tseems hat hreehingsre ikelyoprovide othbetteruestionsndanswersboutbehavioralimorphism:mphasisn both ontextnddevelopmentfbehavior,rejectionfessentialismndgenderualism,

    5Stephen .Gould, Cardboard arwinism, ewYork eview fBooks 3 (Sep-tember986):47-54.6 Anexcellentnvestigationfthese ullhypothesesay efoundnAnne austo-Sterling,Myths fGender:BiologicalTheories bout Women nd Men (New York: Ba-sic, 1985).7 SusanOyama, The Ontogeny fInformation: evelopmental ystemsnd Evolu-tionCambridge:ambridgeniversityress, 985).8 Withinhe unctionalistramework,evelopmentsusually iewed ackwardromthe dult orm,akings the tartingoint exdifferencesnadult ehavior.indaBirkehasmade his ointnher ritiquefthehormonendbehavioriteraturefthe1950sand1960s,nwhich ormonesrereifieds causalfactors;eeLindaBirke,Women,Feminism,nd Biology:TheFeminist hallenge New York:Methuen,1986).

    Autumn 1991 SIGNS 5

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    Sperling EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDERand focus n the nteractionetweenrganismsnd heir nvironmentsofdevelopment.hismandates ot he ompletebandonmentf func-tionalist odels ut heirntegrationith therevels fcausality.

    For ver wodecades,nobsession ith ender-roleimorphismsex-uallydifferingehaviors)s an adaptativemechanismasimpededurunderstandingf theoriginsnd maintenancefsuch exually istinctbehaviorsnprimates-behaviorshat,fterll,vary reatlyothwithinand cross pecies. unctionalistnterpretationsfprimateehavioriewsexually imorphicraits s endpoints f natural electionndattempttoexplainhe electiveressureshatmightave roughthese raitsntobeing,whilefailingo explain heirmechanismsfdevelopmentndgreat arietyfexpressions.hese pproaches ropose kind fPan-glossian hilosophyhat ll behaviorsadaptive,lthoughheresmuchaccumulatingvidencehat his sbyno means he ase.Theusesof nonhumanrimate ehaviororunderstandingumanevolutionaisemportantpistemologicaluestionsbouthowweknowthingsnevolutionarycience; eministcholarsnd othersnthe vo-lutionaryciencesrebeginningo addressheseuestions. sGould ndothers ave rgued,many spectsfmorphologyndbehaviorannot eexplainednly s direct esultsf naturalelection.9esearchers ustbegin o examinehemultiplyontingentathwayslongwhich iolog-icalsystemsevelop nd thecomplexways n which xtraorganismicfactorsnteract ith rganismstevery tage fdevelopment.mphasisoncontingencynthedevelopmentfbiologicalnd behavioralystemsleadsinevitablywayfrom hebiological ssentialismthebelief hatgenderedehaviorsregeneticallyetermined)opervasivenfunction-alist volutionaryodelsnprimatology.Butsuch pistemologicalritiquesffunctionalismrerarelyaisedoutsidehe cholarlynclavesnwhichvolutionaryiologists eet. uchdiscourselmost evereachesocial cientists,mongwhom hedebatehasbeendisastrouslyonstructeds onebetweeneductionistsn thebi-ological ndevolutionaryciences hocontendhat enetic echanismsselectedver hylogeneticistoryontrolmportantuman ehaviorsndfeministsndotherulturalonstructionistshodeny hat iology asany mportantole nhuman xperience.n both cholarlyndpopulardiscussions, riters isseminatehecurrentlyrivilegedunctionalistmodel n ournals,tconferences,nd nthepopular ress.10 lthough

    9 See StephenJ.Gould and E. Vrba, Exaptation-a MissingTerm n the ScienceofForm, Paleobiology (1982): 4-15.10Forinstance, heepistemological ailures fsociobiologyhavebeencritiqued incetheearly1980s bytheCambridge-basedociobiology tudyGroupof ScienceforthePeople (Sociobiology tudyGroupofSciencefor hePeople, Sociobiology-AnotherBiologicalDeterminism, ioscience26, no. 3 [March1976]: 182-86), and byother

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    EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDER Sperlinga number fprimatologistsave rgued oryears gainstheobsessionwith ltimateausalityhathascome odominatehefield,heirdeashavenotbeenwidelyonveyedutsidehediscipline. 1Structural-functionalist odels ofprimate gendered behaviorWhen beganmy enures a graduatetudentnphysicalnthropologyat theUniversityfCalifornia,erkeley,nthe1970s,moder primatestudies ademergedrom periodn which relativelymallnumberfresearchersollectedatural istoriesf varietyfprimatepeciesnthefield nd hadenterednera ofwidespreadtructural-functionalistodelbuilding.l2hefirsteriod,henatural istorytage fprimatetudies,occurredoughlyetween 950 and1965. nthe econdtagefromhemid-1960sothe ate1970s), atafrom varietyffieldtudies,articu-larlyhose f avannaaboons ndthe himpanzeesf heGombe eserveinTanzania, erencorporatednto tructural-functionalistodels or u-man volutionenteringnthe exual ivisionf abor,he riginsfthefamily,ndthe riginsfhuman enderedehavior.hethirdhase ameinthe ate1970swith hehegemonyfsociobiologys thefunctionalistmodel arexcellenceor nderstandingehavioralvolution.13groupswho find tscientificallylawed. he latterhavehad little oice in thepopulardiffusion f ideas aboutevolution nd animalbehavior.Gould's antisociobiological ol-leys nhis CardboardDarwinism re a rareexception.Fora strong nd exhaustivecritique fsociobiology,ee PhillipKitcher, aulting mbition: ociobiology nd theQuest forHumanNature Cambridge,Mass.: MIT Press,1985).1 A recent xpression fthisminoritypinion s primatologisternstein'statementon functionalismnprimatology:Proofbyassertion, lausibleargumentnd consen-sual validation re no substitute or vidence.The scientific ethod onsists fdevelop-inghypotheses rom vailableobservation r theorynd then estingo see ifthenullhypothesis,hatthere s no relationshipetween hephenomenon nder tudy nd thehypothesizedndependentariable, an be rejected t somepredeterminedevel ofconfi-dence.Many sociobiologistseemsatisfiednlyto haveproposedan hypothesis,ndexpectothers o do the workofprovidingheevidence.... Ideas are cheap.Evidencefrom igorous cientificests s hard to produce (IrwinS. Bernstein,Primate tatusHierarchies, merican oologist8, no. 741 [1968]: 111).12 Primatologists ork n a variety fdisciplinesuchas zoologyand comparativepsychology. lthough concernwithhumanevolutionhas neverbeenuniversalmongprimatologists,t is ubiquitous monganthropologists ho studyprosimians,monkeys,and apes.13 Primate tudiesbeganearly nthecentury iththe workofRobertM. Yerkes ndClarenceCarpenter,nd theuse ofnonhuman rimates s models for heevolution fhumangendered ehaviors redates hepostwarperiod.Yerkeswas concernedwithquestions fgender nd dominance nhis laboratory esearchwith pes in the1920sand 1930s, buthis theorynd methodology-whilenotunrelated o themodern tudiesreviewed n this rticle-are differentn important aysfrom heworks underreview.Fordiscussion ftheorigins ftwentieth-centuryrimate tudies nd the social agendasinformingheearlywork, ee Haraway, AnimalSociology nd a NaturalEconomyoftheBodyPolitic,Part (n. 2 above).

    Autumn 1991 SIGNS 7

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    Sperling EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDERThefirst ave fpostwarnthropologicalrimatologyncludednum-ber of long-termtudies hat aid thefoundationsfthediscipline.14JeannendStuart ltmanntudiedaboon cologyndbehaviortAm-

    boseliNational ark, enya; tuart ltmannnitiatedesearchnrhesusmonkeysntheCaribbeansland fCayoSantiago,ollowedyDonaldSade ndhis tudentlizabeth issakianndothers;nd everalesearch-ersworked n theSmithsonianrojectwithhowlermonkeyst BarroColorado.15 esearch cceleratedn the1960s:Goodallbeganherob-servationst theGombe tream eserven TanzaniaJapanese orkershad tudiedhimpanzeesnTanzaniaince 965);Thomas truhsakerndotherstudiedeveralpeciesfmonkeysntheKibale orestfUganda;SherwoodWashburnnd rven eVore tudiedavanna aboonsntheSerengetiational ark, enya; osseynitiatedbservationsfmountaingorillasn1967 nRwanda's arcdeVolcans; ndPhyllis olhinow e-searchedndianangurmonkeyst several itesn ndia.16Mostofthesestudiesandthis sonly partialist)weredescriptiveatural istorieswith ew xplicitinksmade ohuman volution.17Duringhe econd tage fmodem rimatology,hich egan nthemid-1960s,tructural-functionalistnalysisecameentralothe roblem-

    14 Haraway,PrimateVisions n. 1 above), 115-275.15StuartA. Altmann ndJeanneAltmann, aboon Ecology:African ield Research(Basel,Munchen:S. Karger, 970; distributedn theUnited tatesby Chicago: Univer-sity fChicagoPress,1970); StuartA. Altmann,A FieldStudy ftheSociobiology fRhesusMonkeys,Macaca mulatta, Annalsofthe New YorkAcademy fSciences102,no. 2 (1962): 338-435; Donald S. Sade, Some AspectsofParent-Offspringnd SiblingRelations n a Groupof RhesusMonkeys,with DiscussionofGrooming,AmericanJournal fPhysicalAnthropology3, no. 1 (1965): 1-17, and Determinantsf Domi-nance n a GroupofFree-ranginghesusMonkeys, n Social CommunicationmongPrimates,d. StuartA. AltmannChicago:UniversityfChicagoPress,1967); NicholasE. Collias nd Charles . Southwick,A Field tudyfPopulationensityndSocialOrganizationnHowlingMonkeys, Proceedings ftheAmerican hilosophical ociety96 (1952):143-56.16JaneGoodall, MyLife mongheWildChimpanzees, ationalGeographicMagazine124, no. 2 (August1963): 272-308; ToshisadaNishida, Preliminarynfor-mationon thePygmy himpanzee Pan paniscus)of theCongo Basin, Primates 3(1972): 415-25; Thomas Struhsaker,Social Behavior fMotherand InfantVervetMonkeys Cercopithecusethiops), AnimalBehavior19 (1971): 233-50; SherwoodL.Washburn nd IrvenDeVore, Social Behavior f Baboons and EarlyMan, in The So-cialLife fEarlyMan, d.SherwoodWashburnNewYork:Aldine, 961),91-105;Dian Fossey, MakingFriendswithMountainGorillas, NationalGeographicMagazine137, no. 1 (January 970): 48-68; Phyllis olhinow,Primate atternsNew York:Holt,Rinehart& Winston, 972).17 A number fimportantrganizationalvents erved o consolidatemodernprima-tology s a science. mportantmongthesewas the1962-63 PrimateYear organizedbyWashburn nd Hamburgat the Stanfordnstitute orAdvancedStudy n theBehav-ioralSciences, tanford, alif.Threemajor nternationalonferencesookplace in 1962,producing ditedvolumes.See Haraway'sPrimateVisions,123-24, for list oftheseevents.

    8 SIGNS Autumn 1991

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    EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDER Sperlingorientedtudies hat eplacedheearliermphasisn natural istory.18Primatologyasthen,s it s today, heterogeneousieldhatncludedresearchnproximateausalfactorsffectingocialbehaviorndonthecomplexnteractionetweenocial tructure,ehavior,ndecologysocio-ecology).19ut t s the tructural-functionalistrand heoryuilders,hosewho havefocusedxclusivelyn ultimateausality,hohavebeentheprogenitorsf hemostnfluentialndpopular isionsfprimateehavior.Inthe unctionalistodels f he 960s nd1970s, llaspectsfbehaviorwithinprimateroopwere xplaineds adaptivemechanisms.hus, heroles ffemalesndmalesndifferentpecies erenterpreteds selectedduringhe hylogeneticistoryf he pecies ecauseheyfunctionedopromoteurvival.

    LyndaMarieFedigan asreviewedmany fthe volutionaryecon-structionsyprimatologistsfthisperiod.20hepoints utthat hebaboonization fearly uman ife nsuchmodels estedna savannaecologicalnalogy:ince rotohominidsvolved ntheAfricanavanna,presumablyhey ouldhave haredertainelectiveressuresithmod-ernbaboon roops, articularlyor redatorrotectiony argemales.Washburn,eVore,ndotherarly aboon esearchersadviewedmaledominances functioningoorganizeroopmembersierarchicallyndtocontrolvertggression.ediganrgueshat he ther rimary odelfor rotohominidvolution,hat fthe himpanzeestudiedyGoodallattheGombeReservenTanzania, asfar referable.ere he nalogyrested n a phylogeneticelationshipetweenhimpndhuman, hichis immenselyloser. hismodel mphasizedhemother-offspringond,sharing ithinhematrifocalamily,hemmigrationfyoung emalesonewgroups, irth pacing,nd temporaryex bonding.t is to thischimpanzeeehavioral odel hat hefirst aveoffeministuthors,nparticular,he onstructorsfthe woman hegatherer odel,wouldturn orprimatologicalvidence fthesocialcentralityffemalesnearly ominidvolution.21Thesavanna aboonmodelwascompatible ith,ndtended obol-ster, Hobbesian iewofhuman ociety, hile hechimpanzee odel

    18 See LyndaMarie Fedigan,Primate aradigms: ex Roles and Social Bonds (Mont-real: Eden, 1982); and Haraway,PrimateVisions, ordiscussions ftheperiodization fprimatology.19A number fprimatologistsave seenprimate tudies s partofsocioecology,viewing rimateswithin hecontext fmammalian ocial and ecologicaladaptationsrather hanas humansurrogates. orthis pproach, ee AlisonRichard,Primates nNa-ture New York:Freeman, 985).20 Fora thorough eview fthismodeland itsmanyoffshoots,ee Fedigan,PrimateParadigms.21 NancyTanner nd Adrienne ihlman, Women nEvolution, art1: Innovationand SelectionnHuman Origins, igns1, no. 3 (Spring1976): 585-608.

    Autumn 1991 SIGNS 9

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    Sperling EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDERoriginally endedto reflect morebenignview,stressinghemother-infantpair and a moreflexible,ess hierarchical ocial structure. utmanyof the assumptions nderlyingheearlyuse of ape and baboonbehavioraldata in modelsfor hominidevolutionwereequivalent:apeand monkeybehaviorswere microcosms f human social behavior ndpolitical ife.Fediganpointsout that the baboonization of protohominids e-came so common hatbytheearly omid-1970snota singlentroductorytext n human evolutionomitted eferenceo it. As Rowell and othercritics f thismodel stressed,manyof thegeneralizationsnd assump-tions about the functions f male dominance made by earlybaboonresearchersike Washburn nd DeVore were unsubstantiatedy datafrom therresearch ites.22Rowell's studies ftroopmovementmongforest aboons,for nstance,ndicated hat hedirectionfdailyforagingrouteswas determinedy a core of maturefemales ather hanbythedominantmales.As feministcholars uch as SandraHarding nd DonnaHarawaynote,womenprimatologistsften avehad a differentisionofgroup tructurend behavior ecausethey ttended o female ctors n awaythatmaleprimatologistsid not.23 his focuson female ehaviornbaboons and in a variety f otherspeciesbecame fuelfor the criticaldeconstructionsf thebaboon modelduring he 1970s. In addition,number f studies uestioned heassumption hatmaledominance on-ferred reproductivedvantage nparticularmales, hus ontributingoselection ormale aggression.24An articlebypsychologists arol McGuinnessand Karl Pribram l-lustrates pervasive henomenon f the econdwaveofprimatology,heinsertion fprimatological ata into structural-functionalistodelsfortheevolution fgenderedhumanbehavior: In all primate ocieties hedivisionof labor by gendercreatesa highly table social system, hedominantmalescontrollingerritorialoundaries ndmaintainingrderamonglessermales by containing nd preventingheir ggression, hefemalestending he youngand forming llianceswith otherfemales.Human primates ollowthis same pattern o remarkablyhat t is notdifficulto argueforbiologicalbases for the typeof social orderthatchannelsaggression o guardtheterritoryhich n turnmaintains nequable environmentor heyoung. 25

    22 ThelmaRowell, The ConceptofDominance, BehavioralBiology11 (1974):131-54.23 SandraHarding,The ScienceQuestion nFeminismIthaca,N.Y.: CornellUniver-sityPress,1986); Haraway,PrimateVisions.24LyndaMarie Fedigan, Dominanceand Reproductiveuccess n Primates, ear-book ofPhysicalAnthropology6 (1983): 91-129.25 Quoted in David Goldman, SpecialAbilities f theSexes: Do TheyBegin ntheBrain? Psychology oday 12, no. 6 (November1978): 56.10 SIGNS Autumn 1991

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    EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDER SperlingMcGuinness'sand Pribram's nterpretationppeared in PsychologyToday,one ofmanypopular ournalspublishing rticles n humanna-ture nd itsbiologicalroots.Although hetemplate ere s thesavanna

    baboon troopas describedbyWashburn nd DeVore-and contestedearly nthisperiodbyRowellandotherswho call intoquestion ll ofthefundamentalssumptions f the savannamodel- all primate peciescollapsedthediversitynd specificityf data on primatesntoa singlecategory, primate ocieties. Here,and in a plethora fpopularbooksand articles ublishedduring hisperiod,monkeys nd apes wereusedexplicitlys exemplars f earlier tagesofhumanevolution.The ubiq-uitousprimateancestralgroupnow occupied a positionlike that oftribal ocieties n theevolutionarychemasofnineteenth-centuryn-thropologists. he diffusion f culturalrelativismnto all branchesofmodernsocial science had made it embarrassingnd untenable o fittribalgroups ntothis arly volutionarylot. f primitiveswere to beconsidered urequalswith omplex ndmeaningfulultures,hey ouldnot also representheprotohuman ast. In thisnew way of thinking,monkeysnd apes becametheearly ncestral roupfromwhichhumaninstitutionsould be seen to haveevolved.Thisreplacementfhuman primitives ynonhuman rimates lsorelates o global politicalevents f thepostwarperiod: Withthepro-gressivedisappearanceof human primitives' s legitimate bjects ofknowledge nd colonial rule,and withthediscreditingfpre-war u-genics,Western nthropologists ad to rethink hemeaningand pro-cesses of the formation f 'man.' 26 The substitutionf primatesforprimitives husneatlyretained n importantWestern osmologicalcategory oruse intheera ofdecolonization nd theconstructionftheThirdWorld.One consequence fthiskey nsertion fthenonhuman rimatentheWesternymbolic ichefor primitiverogenitorwas an implied blit-eration ftheborderbetweenhumanandnonhuman.27 he passage byMcGuinness nd Pribrams a massofterminologicalmbiguities.Whatis meantby terms uch as the divisionof labor when referringononhuman rimates? oes thistermmeanthesamethingwhenappliedto humangroups?Monkeysand apes do not have a divisionof laboralong gender inesas do humancultures; ach animalperformsubsis-tence asks n approximatelyhesameway as theothers, onsuming nthespotwhatis individually oraged.Human divisions f labor bysexarecomplexhistoricalnd socioeconomic henomena mbroidered ith

    26 Haraway,PrimateVisions n. 1 above), 7.27See Susan Sperling, nimalLiberators:Research nd MoralityBerkeleynd LosAngeles:UniversityfCalifornia ress,1988), fordiscussion ftherelationship etweenprimate thnologynd thecurrentnimalrightsmovement.Autumn 1991 SIGNS 11

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    Sperling EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDERsymbolic eaningsnavailableoanimals. utwhenDeVore nd Hallwrote hat thebaboon roopsorganizedround hedominance ier-archyf dultmales, heymeanttbothiterallyndfiguratively.28heyperceivedominant ales s culturally indingogetherloose,po-tentiallyhaoticggregateffemales,ubadultmales, ndyoung.nthesamework, hey fferedspatial chematizationfprimateocieties,series fconcentricircles ith hemost ominantnimalsnthe enter.DeVoreandHall visualizedmaledominances thecementfprimatesocial organization.Socialanthropologistnd popularizer obin Fox is typical f themanywritershosoughtvolutionaryegitimationsfmaledominanceamonghumans n primate ield tudies.n BiosocialAnthropology(1975),Fox was quite xplicitbouthis useofnonhumanrimatessreplacementsorhuman primitives :

    Older heoristspeculatedn the earliestonditionsfman, ndasweknowdebates aged etweenroponentsf primitivero-miscuity nd primitive onogamy. he former ereusuallyseenas a prelude o matriarchynowpopular gain)and thelatter o patriarchy.hishasall beendismisseds ridiculousorwell-knowneasons. ut think ecan nowgobackto the ues-tionn a differentay.Weknow great ealaboutprimates hichcan telluswhat s behaviorallyvailable o ourorderngeneraland, herefore,hatmust avebeen vailable ywayofa behav-ioralrepertoireo ourancestors . . earlyman then,nthis ense,was ess ikemodernmangonewild hanike primateamed. ndeven fwe cannot educe ccuratelyhekinshipystemsf earlyman sic]from hoseofthemostprimitiveumans,we can dosomethingetter, e candistill he ssence fkinshipystemsnthebasisof comparativenowledgendfindhe lementsfsuchsystemshat re ogically,ndhencen allprobabilityhronologi-cally,he elementaryormsfkinship. 29Thedifferencesetweenox's ssumptionsndthose ftheVictorianevolutionistsrenegligible.oxtraced he volutionf human inshipthroughheprimates,orrowing,s he admits,somewhat ecklesslyfromhe argon f ocial nthropology,escentndalliance. 30ccord-ing ohis nalysis,hesewo lementsrepresentn nonhumanrimate28 IrvenDeVore and K. R. L. Hall, Baboon Social Behavior, n PrimateBehavior:FieldStudiesofMonkeys nd Apes,ed. IrvenDeVore (New York:Holt,Rinehart&Winston, 965), 54.29RobinFox,BiosocialAnthropologyNew York:Wiley, 975), 11; emphasismine.30 bid., 11.

    12 SIGNS Autumn 1991

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    EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDER Sperlingsocial ystemsut re combinednlyn human roups. e divides ri-mate ocial ystemsnto wo ypes,ingle-malendmulti-maleroups,fwhichllhaven commona threefoldivisionfthe arger roupnto:a) adultmales;b) femalesndyoung; ) peripheral ales.We can ookatanyprimateocial ystem,ncludingurown, n termsftheaccom-modations'made between hese hree locks. 31 ccordingo Fox, nsingle-maleroupsgorillasndhamadryasaboons) he asicunitsthepolygenousamily, hile nthemulti-maleroupcommonaboons,chimpanzees),ifthe sexualrelationships brief ndunenduring,heconsanguinealelationshipslong astingnd of centralmportance. 32Thephylogeneticistoriesfdifferentrimatesrethus ollapsedntoseveral ategories ith certainnternalonsistencyut ittle elation-ship oactualdata.Once Foxraises hequestionftherelationshipfcomplex uman ehaviorso nonhumanrimate ehavioralariation,his evidence ecomes confusingrray frandomlyhosenbits ndpieces fbehaviorrompecies ith aryinghylogeneticelationshipsooneanother ndto humans.Although odding rieflyt the ssueofvariation,oxgoeson to theheart fhisargumentboutnonhumanprimatesndhumanulture:The real uestions dothe ules epresentmore han 'labeling' rocedureorbehaviorhatwouldoccur ny-way? .. IfgroupA and Bwere alledEaglehawk'nd Crow,' ndthevariousineagessnake,'beaver,'bear,'nd antelope,'tc., hen pictureemergesf a proto-societyn a clanmoietyasis. 33 n mportanton-sequence f this pproach s that t obscuresmany f theculturallyunique spects fhuman inship,mong hemhewidespreadxistenceofputativein mong uman ultures,hatmake tfundamentallyif-ferentromocialrelationsmong onhumans.Examples fthismissingink pproachotheuse ofnonhumanri-matebehaviorbound nthe iteraturefthis eriod,ftenocusingngenderedehaviornd tspresumedfunctions. anypopularizationsofthis pproach avehad a wideaudience.34nonesuch ccount,hesexologistndgerontologistlexComfortxplainedhepresumedon-tinualeceptivityfhuman emales:At ome ointnprimatevolution,thefemale ecame eceptivellyear ound ndeven hroughoutreg-nancy.his pparentlyriflinghangenbehavior asprobablyhe rig-ger, r one of thetriggers,hich et off heevolution fman[sic].

    31 Ibid., 13.32 Ibid., 15.33 Ibid.34Robert rdry,heTerritorialmperative:Personalnquirynto heAnimal ri-gins fPropertyndNationsNewYork:Atheneum,966);DesmondMorris, heNa-kedApe NewYork:McGraw-Hill,967);Lionel iger ndRobin ox,The mperialAnimalNewYork:Holt,Rinehart Winston,971).

    Autumn 1991 SIGNS 13

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    Sperling EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDERBetween baboons and higher pes we findthe effects f thischange.Baboons behavevery ikeotherpack-livingnimals.Higher apes, withsexual activity ontinuing ll the year round,and unrelated o heat,develop a heterosexual ocial lifewhich is not confined o the coitalencounter. 35 omfort's rder fascent sbaboon,ape, andhuman, ndthe characteristiccontinual exualreceptivity s traced longthis ad-der in much the same way that the Victoriansassociated primitivepromiscuity ith avages,groupmarriagewithbarbarians, ndmonog-amywith civilizedhumans.As we moveup and down thephylogeneticcale,monkeys nd apesare anthropomorphized,nd behaviorsof diverse pecies are used assimpleanalogues of humancharacteristics. uch of the second-wavescholarly nd popular evolutionarywriting hat uses nonhumanpri-matemodelsreproduces his ogicalfailing. elected xamplesofgroupstructure,inship, nd dominancebehavior n nonhumanprimates reviewedas precursors f humansocial structurend behavior. he influ-enceof thesemodelson popularperceptions f therelationship f hu-mansto animalsand of themeanings fgenderdivisionshas beenpro-found.Nonhumanprimates ecamethemissingink nthe volutionarymod-elsof the ate1960s and 1970s. Butnonhuman rimates reas unwieldya link swerethe primitives fthe arly volutionists. ll iving peciesof organismshaveundergone eparatehistories ombining othevolu-tionaryndchanceevents. here s immense ariationn behavior mongprimate pecies, nd cross-phylumeneralizationsrehard tomake.Forinstance, exual behavior mongmonkeys nd apes exhibits wideva-riety fpatternshatdefyneatphylogeneticnalysis.Monkeysdisplayvariety f matingpatterns, utthemosttelling ata in thisregard refromthe apes.36There are significantifferencesetweenthe sexualbehavior fchimpanzees, orillas, nd orangutans hat n no wayrelateto theirphylogeneticlosenessto humans.For instance,hormonal ndbehavioral tates ppearclosely orrelatedngorillareproductiveehav-ior, somewhat ess so in chimps,and least of all in orangutans.Butchimpanzees remuchmorecloselyrelated o humans hanareorangu-tans.Thisfindingontradictshe inear volutionist's iew that heclosera species'phylogeneticelationshipohumans, he ess its sexualbehav-ior is hormonally ontrolled nd thegreater heresemblance o humanreproductiveehavior.

    35 AlexComfort, heNatureofHumanNature NewYork:Harper& Row,1966), 13.36 ThelmaRowell,The Social BehaviourofMonkeys Middlesex: Penguin, 972);RonaldNadler, LaboratoryResearchon theSexualBehavior fthe GreatApes, nReproductive iologyoftheGreatApes,ed. CharlesE. Graham New York:AcademicPress,1975).14 SIGNS Autumn 1991

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    EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDER SperlingSociobiologyndtheevolution fgendered ehaviornprimatesThe1975publicationf ociobiology:heNewSynthesisyHarvardentomologistdward .Wilsonwasa signalventortudentsf nimalbehaviornnumerousisciplines.37ilsonmakes womajor ssertionsinSociobiology:hat ll importantocialbehaviorsregeneticallyon-trolled ndthatnaturalelection f thegenomes causedbya setofspecificdaptivemechanismskin election)hat roduce ehaviors ax-imizingnorganism'sbilityocontributehegreatestumberfgenesto the nextgeneration.he historicaloots of sociobiologyie innineteenth-nd early wentieth-centuryrgumentsbout the evelatwhich atural electionperates,hat f thegroup rof the ndividual.EvolutionistsikeDarwin, aldane,ndWynne-Edwardsontendedhattraitsmaybe selectedecause heyreadvantageousor opulations.38Inthe1960s,William amilton ndRobert riversroposedhat raitscanbeselectednly tthe ndividualevel nd that ll socialbehaviorsaretightlyeneticallyontrolled.39Hamilton'sheoryfkin elections based nthe oncepthathe fit-ness ofanorganismas twocomponents:fitness ained hroughhereplicationf tsowngenetic aterialyreproductionnd inclusiveit-ness ainedromhe eplicationf opies f ts wngenesarriednothersas a resultf ts ctions. ccordingothisheory,hennorganismehavesaltruisticallyoward elatedndividuals,itnessenefitsokin lsobenefittheorganism,utthe ctor's enefitsredevalued ythe oefficientfrelatednessetweenctor ndrelatives.hus, enes reviewed s beingselectedecauseheyontributeotheirwnperpetuation,egardlessf heorganismfwhichheyrea part. riversefinedeciprocalltruismsbehaviorhatppearsobealtruisticutwhich,ivenmutualependencena group,may eselectedf tconfersndirectenefitsnthe ltruist.40

    37EdwardO. Wilson,Sociobiology:TheNew SynthesisCambridge,Mass.: HarvardUniversityress, 1975).38 Charles arwin, n theOrigin fSpecies yMeans fNatural electionLon-don:JohnMurray, 859); J.B. S. Haldane, The Causes ofEvolution London: Long-manns,Green,1932); V. C. Wynne-Edwards,nimalDispersion nRelationto SocialBehaviour New York:Hafner, 962).39 WilliamD. Hamilton, The GeneticalEvolution f Social Behavior, arts1 and2, Journal fTheoretical iology7 (1964): 1-52; RobertTrivers, Parental nvestmentandSexual election,nSexual electionnd theDescent fMan,1871-1971,ed. Ber-nardCampbell Chicago:Aldine,1972), 136-79.40The rootsofthese rgumentsan be traced o theworks oftheevolutionists . C.Wynne-Edwards,WilliamD. Hamilton, nd RobertTrivers.Altruismwas defined s anybehavior hatbenefitsnother rganism, otcloselyrelated,whilebeing pparently et-rimental o theorganism erforminghebehavior, enefitnd detrimenteingdefinednterms ftheir ontributionso inclusive itness. xamplesof suchaltruistic ehaviorsmight e sharing ffoodwithnonrelatives nd theaidingofnonrelativesn times fdanger.Autumn 1991 SIGNS 15

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    Sperling EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDERWilson took theconceptof kin selection nd applied t to all animaland human behaviorfrom he social insects o humans, uggestinghatthe social sciences nd biological ciencesbe subsumedbysociobiology.

    It is not surprisinghatmanyscientists iewed the idea of theirdisci-plines' cannibalisticncorporationnto thebodyof sociobiology s anunsavoryprospect.Some objectedon political groundsto its explicitreductionismnd potentialforracist and sexist interpretations.heBoston-based ollective ciencefor hePeople ssueda critical ttackonsociobiology, alling it anotherform of biological determinismikenineteenth-centuryugenics nd Social Darwinism.41At the same time,sociobiologybegan to establish foothold n American nd Europeandepartmentsf anthropology,oology,and psychology. he AmericanAnthropological ssociation ponsored two-day ymposiumn socio-biology t its 1976 yearlymeeting,nddepartmentsnthebiological ndsocial sciencesbeganto offer eminars nd classeson thetopic. Bythelate 1980s, ithad become thedominant aradigm monganthropolog-ical primatologists,eplacing he structural-functionalistodelsof thesecondperiodofmodernprimatology.I cannotherediscuss hemanyreasons,from ationalpolitical rendsto individualdepartmental olitics,for the ascendanceof sociobiologyover structural-functionalismn primate tudies.Researchers tudyingproximatemechanisms,many of themsocioecologists, ontinuedtoworkat various iteswith ittlenterestr involvementnpostulations fultimate ausality.Nevertheless,s structural-functionalismad earlier,sociobiology ecamethegrand heory onveyed o social scientistsnter-ested in humanevolution nd widely popularizedthroughnewspaperandmagazine rticles ndpopularbooks.42Bythemid-1980s, numberof important mpirical ritiques ppeared,deconstructinghe logic ofsociobiologicalarguments. ut thesehave yetto be widelycirculatedoutsideclassesand seminarsn evolutionaryheory.

    Earlysociobiologicalviewsof the evolutionofhumangenderedbe-haviors ncorporated rimatological ata and viewedmalesand femalesas havingdifferentialeproductivetrategies. ecauseof thepresumablygreater investment f female rimatesn infant earing, emalebehav-iorswereviewedas selected ecausethey dvanceda female's hancesofgainingmale protection uringvulnerableperiodsfor herself nd heroffspringoffspringre seenas fleshy acketsof sharedgenes).Femalesfrequentlyerepictured s conservative,oy, ndpassive.Bycontrast,tbehoovedmalestoinseminates manyfemales s possible, husforward-41 Sociobiology tudyGroupof Sciencefor hePeople n. 10 above).42 See Haraway,PrimateVisions n. 1 above), for historyftheactors nvolved nthedemiseof structural-functionalismnd theascendanceofsociobiology.

    16 SIGNS Autumn 1991

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    EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDER Sperlingingtheirttemptedeneticmonopolyf thefuture.Wilsonwrote: Itpaysmales o beaggressive,asty,icklendundiscriminating.ntheoryit s more rofitableor emalesobecoy, o holdbackuntil hey anidentifyhemalewith hebest enes.Humanbeings bey his iologicalprincipleaithfully. 43eVore ndotherociobiologistsavemaintainedthat hesexualandromanticnterestfmiddle-aged en nyoungerwomen ndtheir resumedackof nterestn their emalegecohortstem romelectiveressuresn maleprimateso inseminates manyfertileemaless possible.44Wilsonappliedsociobiologicalrgumentso themeaning f themiddle-classuclear amilynAmericanulture:

    The building lockofnearly ll human ocieties s the nuclearfamily.hepopulace f anAmericanndustriality,olessthanband of hunter-gatherersn the Australianesert,s organizedaround his nit. nboth ases hefamily oves etweenegionalcommunities,aintainingomplexieswith rimaryinbymeansofvisitsortelephoneallsand etters)ndthe xchangefgifts.Duringhedaythewomen ndchildrenemainntheresidentialareawhile hemen orageor ame r ts ymbolicquivalentntheformfmoney.hemales ooperatenbands rdeal withneigh-boringgroups.45It snocoincidencehat ociobiologyndthe econdwave fWesternfeminismere imultaneousccurrences.arly ociobiologistslearlyenvisionedheir ewmodel s disproving eminism.he ociobiologistPierre andenBerghewrote: NeitherheNationalOrganizationorWomennortheEqual RightsAmendmentillchange hebiologicalbedrockfasymmetricalarentalnvestment. 46hillip itcher1985)hascommentednthe exism fmany ociobiologicalrguments:Sometimesheexpressions tingedwithregretfulympathyorideals f ocial usticeWilson),totherimeswith zealtoepaterlesfeministesVandenBerghe).I]t sfar romlear hat ociobi-ologistsppreciatehepoliticalmplicationsftheviews hey ro-43EdwardO. Wilson,On HumanNature Cambridge,Mass.: HarvardUniversityPress,1978).44DeVore is an actor n theprimatological ramawho has made a smooth ransitionfrom hefunctionalistgendasofthe1960s to thoseofthe1980s. He was an importantproponent f theuse ofthebaboon troopas a functionalist's icrocosm fhumansoci-ety nd laterbecame a strong dvocateofsociobiology.45Wilson,Sociobiology, 53.46PierreVandenBerghe,HumanFamily ystemsNew York: Simon& Schuster,1979), 2, quoted inKitchern. 10 above),5.

    Autumn 1991 SIGNS 17

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    Sperling EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDERmulgate. heseimplications ecomeclearwhena New YorkTimesserieson equal rights orwomenconcludeswitha seriousdiscus-sionofthe imits hatbiologymightetto women'saspirations,ndwhenthenewrightnBritain nd France nnounces tsenthusiasmfortheprojectof humansociobiology.47More recently, feminist iscourse n sociobiologyhas shifted tten-tion to thepresumedgender-specificeproductivetrategies f femaleprimates. ystressingemale ariance, eministociobiologistsssert hatselection ctson females s well as malestoencodegenetic rograms orenhancedfitness. he primatologistarahHrdy, n importantontribu-torto this iterature,as lauded the mphasis nsociobiology nvariance

    in reproductiveuccessforcontributing bracingdose of feminismoprimatology.48hus,these esearchersee femalematechoiceandfemaleelicitationfmalesupport ndprotectionnrearing oung s integralothecompetitivetrategiesf females is-a-vis therfemales.49 heyde-scribe prolongedfemalereceptivity n some nonhumanprimates ndhuman females s an evolvedmechanism o manipulatemale behavior.Variationnmotheringtyles nd skills, nd thedegreeof selfishnessfcaretakers,re said to reflect ariance n reproductiventerestshataresometimes t odds with thoseof offspring.heyalso describe as kin-selection trategies)ompetition etweenfemaleswhenever ertilityndtherearing fyoungare limitedbyaccess to resources nd thecompe-titionof dominantfemales n behalfof theiroffspring y eliminatingcompetitorsrforestallingeproductionnthemothersfpotential om-petitors: Femaleprimates aveevolved obefierceompetitorsndtheyare obsessedwithsignsof statusdifferencesr disrespect nlywhenitpaysoff nterms faccessto energy esources ... Femaleprimatesmaycompete sexually ... theymay harass otherfemales,especially ow-status nes,to suchan extent hat hey re unableto conceive ffectively,maintain estation r adequately actate.Therearealso scattered eportsthatfemalesmaykillandcannibalize he nfantsf ow-status emales, rseize them nd 'aunt' them o death. 50Thisnewviewof females mongacademicsociobiologistssmirroredin popular journalism bout primate nfanticidend infant buse and

    47Kitcher, .48SarahB. Hrdyand GeorgeC. Williams, BehavioralBiology nd the Double Stan-dard, nSocial BehaviorofFemaleVertebrates,d. SamuelK. Wasser New York:Aca-demicPress,1983), 3-17.49SarahB. Hrdy,The WomanThatNever Evolved (Cambridge,Mass.: HarvardUniversityress,1981); JaneB. Lancaster,ntroductiono FemalePrimates: tudiesbyWomenPrimatologists,d. Meredith mall New York:Liss, 1984), 1-12.50 JaneB. Lancaster, uoted in Small,ed., 1.

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    EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDER Sperlinginterfemaleggressionndcompetition.ere,human emalesrepor-trayeds bearersfbehavioralomologuesromheir onhumanri-mate ncestorsnd arly ominidast, redisposinghem owardertainmodesof interindividualompetition,atherhan s thepassive ndnurturanteaklingsf ome ormerunctionalistodels.n these eweraccounts,emale ompetitionas taken entertage. t is temptingoblame ournalistsndsciencewritersor hese urid mages nd theirextensiono human emales,ut hatwouldbe a mistake:he cademicsociobiological odel sclearlymeantoapply cross heprimaterdertohumans. eVore,for xample,nterpretsoap operas o reflectisvision ffemaleeproductivetrategies:

    Soap operas ave huge ollowingmong ollegetudents,ndthefemale-femaleompetitionsblatant. he women nthese howsuseeveryingle eminineile.Onthe nternationallyopularoapDynasty,or xample, divorceeeesher x-husband'sewwiferidinghorse earby.heknows hewoman obenewly regnant,so she hoots ff gun,whichpooks hehorse,which hrowsheyoungwife,ndmakeshermiscarry.hedivorcee'swnchildrenare ivingwith heir atherndthiswoman; hedivorceeoesn'twant hisnewyoung hingobring ivalheirs nto heworld ocompete ith er hildren.Wholendustriesurningut verythingromipstickoperfumetodesignereans rebased nthe xistenceffemaleompetition.Thebusiness fcourtingndmatingsafterll,a negotiationro-cess,nwhichachmemberfthepair snegotiatingith hose ftheoppositeextoget hebestdealpossible,,andobeatoutthecompetitionromne'sown ex.... I getwomen nmy lass ay-ing 'mstereotypingomen,nd saysure, 'mstereotypingheoneswhomake ipstick multibillionollar ndustry.t'squitefewwomen.Basically, appealto studentso lookinside hem-selves:what re ife'sittle ilemmas? hen our oommateringshome guy owhom ou're xtremelyttracted,oes tsetupanysort fconflictnyourmind?51Manysociobiologistsisclaimhereductionismftheir opularn-terpreters;ilson ndHrdyhavebothpublishedtatementsbouttheimportancefhumanulturalransmissionndthe ossibilityfchangeinhuman ocialrelationsausedbyculturalactors.52his sdisingen-51 Duncan M. Anderson, The DelicateSex: How FemalesThreaten, tarve, ndAbuseOne Another, cience7, no. 3 (April 1986): 43-48.52 Wilson,On HumanNature;Hrdy.

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    Sperling EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDERuous; it has now become fashionable orbothbiologicaland environ-mental eductionistso claim nteractionisms theonlyreasonableviewandthen orevertmmediatelyo thereductionistheories hatbelietheirassertions.nfact, cademic ociobiologists rawthe ame conclusions stheirournalisticnterpreters.53

    Whatwe know boutgendered rimatebehaviorScientists ow criticizemanyformerssertions bout reliablydiffer-entiating ehavioraldimorphismscrossprimate hylaas based on in-complete ata.54The morewe know aboutnonhuman rimate ehavior,

    themoreexamplesofintraspecificnd interspecificariety merge. ev-eral commonfunctionalistssertions bout genderdifferencesow ap-pear to be unsubstantiated.or instance,male monkeys nd apes of avariety f differentpecieshavebeen described s moreaggressivehanconspecificemales.Barbara B. Smuts,however, inds o consistent en-derdifferencenfrequenciesfaggressionn numerous rimate pecies.55She focuseson thecontextual actorsnfluencinggonisticbehaviorsnbothmalesandfemales,ncluding owmalesand femalesnfluenceachother,rather han positing nherent, enetically ontrolledbehavioraldimorphisms.Another ecentlyhallenged unctionalistheoryboutnonhuman ri-mates is thatsocial dominance s highly orrelatedwithreproductivesuccessand thatdominancebehaviorshave been selected verthephy-logenetic istories fspecies. rwinS. Bernstein,nreviewing ata fromnumerous rimatetudies, uggestshat heres little ssociationbetweendominancerank and reproductiveuccess.56Fedigansummarizes hewhole era of reports n male copulations,mating uccess,consortship,and male dominance nd concludesthatnoneof the measuresprovides

    53 Oyama's The Ontogeny fInformationn. 7 above) discusses hemanywaysthatbiologicalreductionistsedgetheir etsby making ociobiological ssertionsbout thedifferenteproductiventerestsf thesexesbutaddingthatcultural actors re impor-tantforhumans. As shepointsout,this s an additivemodelof human culture innedonto the primatebiogram 83).54 rwinS. Bernstein,The EvolutionofNonhumanPrimate ocial Behavior,Genetica73 (1987): 99-116; Fedigan, Dominanceand Reproductiveuccess n Pri-mates (n. 24 above); BarbaraB. Smuts, Gender,Aggression,nd Influence, n Pri-mateSocieties, d. BarbaraB. Smuts t al. (Chicago:UniversityfChicagoPress,1986),400-412.55 Smuts's Gender,Aggression,nd Influence s a veryuseful eview fgenderdi-morphismn aggression.Her interpretationsfbaboon data in Sex and FriendshipnBaboons,ed. BarbaraB. Smuts New York:Aldine,1985), aregenerallyonsistentwiththefeministociobiology ritiquedn this rticle.56 Bernstein,The Evolution fNonhumanPrimate ehavior.

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    EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDER Sperlinga convincingicturefdominant alesmonopolizingstrousemales.57High evels fmale ggressionndwoundinguringhe reedingeasonmayhavemore o do withmalemobility,xenophobia, ndrank n-stabilitymongmales uringhebreedingeason hanwith ightingverfemales.58Aggression,eproductionccess,nddominancere mergingsmorecomplex, ariable,ndcontextependentndas lesssubject ogener-alizationsasily pplied ross-phyla.ndnot llprimatepecieshowpatternfmaleprotectionromredatorsor emalesndyoungtheirownorthose fothermales); ndeed,many onot.Robert .O.HardingandDanaK.Olsonreporthat he ivid isplaysfmalepatas a type fAfricanmonkey),ong ssumed odistractredatorsrom emalesndyoung, horemainedrozennthegrass, owappear o be associatedwithntermaleompetitionuringhebreedingeason.59 o complicatethepictureurther,heseargeAfricanercopithecinesere houghtolive nexclusivelyingle-maleroups.nfact,t snowclear hat atasfemalesmatewith varietyfmales.How canwegeneralizeith ny ertaintyboutgenderedehaviornnonhumanrimates? e know hat emale rimatesonceive,estate,and lactate, nd that n most pecies t is thefemale rimarilyhonurturesheyoungalthoughonhumanrimatenurturancehouldnotbe confused ith heculturalraditions ithwhich hisword sassociatednhuman roups).Males nseminateemales.here s ittlernosexualdivisionnsubsistenceabor mong onhumanrimates,nefact mongmany thers hatmakes hemtrikinglyifferentrom u-manbeings. llnonhumanrimatesorage or hemselvesndthere slittle haringf food,with fewexceptions,uchas theoccasionalopportunisticuntingy omemale himpsndbaboons.nmany,utnot ll, pecies fmonkeysndapes,males re argerhan emales, oremuscular,nd have argeranines. izedimorphismeems o be impor-tant n a numberf peciesngiving riorityfaccess oenvironmentalincentivessuch s desired roomingartnersrpreferredoods), utlargermalesbynomeans lways ominatemaller emales. ggressiveandaffiliativeehaviorsfmale ndfemalerimatesary ependingnthe pecies,ocial ontext,nd ndividual.nfact, eare onfrontedithanenormousange fvariationsn ntraspecificnd nterspecificehav-iorthatdefies eatclassificatorychemas. et,ratherhan tudy heontogenyfbehaviorscross he ife pan f ndividualnimals, daunt-

    57 Fedigan, Dominanceand Reproductiveuccess n Primates.58 Bernstein,The Evolution fNonhumanPrimateBehavior.59RobertS. O. Hardingand Dana K. Olson, Patterns fMatingamongMale PatasMonkeys Erythrocebusatas) in Kenya, American ournal fPrimatology 1 (1986):343-58.

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    Sperling EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDERingtaskbut one likely o yield ome mportantlues about thedevelop-ment nd maintenance fbehaviors,manyprimatologistsavegenerallycontinued o posittidy x postfactoexplanations bout function.Toward n epigenetic erspectivengendered rimate ehavior

    A recent nd morerefined iscourse n evolutionarytudieshas sug-gested hat mportantnfluencesnthedevelopmentforganismsannotbe explainedbyreductionist-adaptationistodels.60 ernstein as notedthe concentrationn function ather hanmechanismn the literatureandpointsoutthatwhilefunctionalonsequencesmay nfluenceeneticchange n a population'sfuture,heydo notalwaysreflectvolutionaryhistory. he conceptthat evolution lwaysproduces deal solutions g-noresmanyotherfactors hatmayhavehad varying egrees f impor-tancein a species'history: andomprocesses,phylogeneticnertia, n-vironmentalhange, nd therandomnature f mutation. he zoologistHans Kummernoted: Discussionsof adaptiveness ometimeseave uswiththe mpressionhatevery rait bserved n a speciesmustbydefi-nitionbe ideally daptive,whereas llwe can saywithcertaintys that tmustbe tolerable, ince t didnot lead to extinction. 61Whetherthey propose masculinistor feminist rguments,bothstructural-functionalismnd sociobiology ommit hefallacy f affirm-ingtheconsequent.n 1951 theethologist iko Tinbergen osed a setofquestionsforunderstandinghe reasonforthe existence f a biologicalstructure:1) What were the immediatepreceding vents eading tochangesproducing hestructurer behavior? 2) What are the conse-quencesof thestructureitsfunctions)?3) What processesfrom on-ception othepresent ave nfluencedheattributesfthe tructure?nd(4) What were the evolutionaryelectivepressures hat influencedhegenetic ontributionso thestructure?t is important o note thatthesecond and fourth uestionsare separate:functions a future onse-quence; it s not thesameas evolutionaryistory,ecauseenvironmentsarenot constant.62he firstnd third uestionsdeal withproximal nddevelopmentalactorshatbring boutbehaviors,evelsofanalysis ftencompletelygnored yfunctionalistsut ikely oyield he most nterest-ingdevelopmental ata on genderedbehavior.Tinbergen's lassic con-structionhrows ntorelief he error ftryingo answer ll questions t

    60 Patrick ateson, Ontogeny fBehaviour, ritishMedicalBulletin 7, no. 2(1981): 159-64; Fausto-Sterlingn. 6 above); Gould and Vrba (n. 9 above); Kitcher;Oyama.61 Quoted inBernstein,The Evolution fNonhumanPrimateBehavior, 01.62 Ibid.

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    EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDER Sperlingthe evel f functionlone, s so many f thegrand heoryuildersnmodernrimatologyavedone,withoutxplicatingroximalause ndmechanism.63

    Althoughinear unctionalistgendashaveprevailednreconstruc-tions f he volutionfhuman enderedehavior,iews fwhat emaleandmalemonkeysndapesaredoing,ndwhy heyredoingt,havechangedonsiderably.64henewassertionsf feministociobiologycanbeanalyzednthe ight frecentpistemologicaliscoursenfemi-nist heory.araway ndothers ave ontextualizedrimatologyothhistoricallynd culturally;omecompellingeministeconstructionshave iewed rimatologys a mythiccience f goodstories nd badstories. rimatesre consfor s.They eem o ive t theboundaryfnature ndculture,nd, sHaraway asbrilliantlylucidated,hewaysthey ppearncurrent esternymbolismeflecthe oliticalndsocio-economiciscoursesf hehistoricaleriods uring hich rimatetud-ieshave evelopedsa discipline.65ut ostmoderneministeconstruc-tions fprimatologyave ended o avoid he ssue fgood cienceersusbadsciencenrelationshipofeministoals.66Sandra arding'secentreatmentf he scienceuestionnfeminismprovidesuseful ay oframehe pistemologicalssues aisedwhen ri-matologiststudyhe volutionfgenderedehavior.67ardingiscussesthree eministpistemologies,hichhecalls feministmpiricism,thefeministtandpoint,nd feministostmodernism.eministmpiricismassumeshatmorewomen nscience ill reate lesspatriarchalgendaandthat he electionfappropriateroblemsornquiry ill hangeswomen ecome ractitioners.riticsf he arlyndrocentricoci fmaleprimatologicalesearchersave ointedut hat heirmodels eremascu-

    63 I am followingrwinS. Bernstein's se ofNiko Tinbergen's onstruction fcausal-ity nbehavior,s outlined n ibid.64 The ascendanceoffunctionalist odels nprimate tudiesmirrors hedebateoverhierarchicals. nonhierarchical odels n interactionistheoriesn biology hroughoutthetwentiethentury.n many ases,theproponents fhierarchy avewon out. Foradiscussion fthispoint, ee EvelynFox Keller,A Feeling ortheOrganism:The LifeandWorkofBarbaraMcClintock New York:Freeman, 983).65 Haraway,PrimateVisions n. 1 above).66 EvelynFox Kellerhas madethispoint: The intellectual angerresides nviewingscience s puresocialproduct; cience hendissolves nto deology nd objectivityosesall intrinsicmeaning.n theresultingultural elativism,nyemancipatoryunctionfmodern cience s negated, nd thearbitrationftruth ecedes ntothepoliticaldomain.Against hisbackground,hetemptationrises forfeministso abandon their laimforrepresentationn scientificulture nd, in itsplace,to invite returno a purelyfemale'subjectivity,eaving ationalitynd objectivitynthemaledomain,dismissed s productsof a purelymaleconsciousness Evelyn ox Keller,Reflectionsn Gender nd Science[NewHaven,Conn.: Yale Universityress,1985], 113).67 Harding,The ScienceQuestion nFeminismn. 23 above).

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    Sperling EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDERlinistndhave uggestedorrectinghis yremovingheir iases ndthusfixing hebad sciencenvolvedntheironstruction.As we have een,many rimatologistsnthe arly 970s showed hecentralityf femalegency.arly eministriticsxposed he ndrocen-tric iasof much ormeresearch,hich ocusednmale gonistice-havior o the xclusionfother xesof ocial ifenthebaboon roop.Anumberfwomen rimatologistsoughto redresshemasculinist od-elsof he astbydescribingemale oles ndbehaviors ithinhe aboontroop ndbyprivilegingemale ehaviorssintegralotroop tructure.68Thework fwomen rimatologistsn a multitudef pecies asgiven sa more alanced escriptionf behavioryfocusingn femalenimalsand theirnteractions,howinghat emale rimatesre active nd m-portantotroop ife.As mportants these eministorrectivesre, nemphasisn femaleprimatesnd femaleersonneloesnot hallengehe unctionalismhatunderliesmuchprimatologyf thisperiod.Once thesenewdata onfemale ehavior ere inked ofunctionalistodels,hey ftenufferedfrom he ame mpiricalnadequaciess did themale-centeredodels,using daptationistypothesesna waythat eems o tell bettertoryfor eministsutneverthelessltimatelyefeatscientificoals.InSandraHarding'second pistemology,thefeministtandpoint,men'sdominatingole n sciences seenas resultingn partial ndperverse nderstandingsthe ubjugatedosition f women llowingfor he ossibilityf more ompleteision).Womenredisproportion-ately epresentedn theranks fprimatologistss comparedo otherareasofevolutionarytudies. ut he ocial xperiencesfwomen aryenormouslyccordingo class,race,and culture;nd the socialandeconomic rivilegenjoyed ybourgeoiswomenprimatologistsayitselfroduce erversenderstandings.his snot minorssue:profes-sionalmaleandfemale rimatologistsn theUnited tateshavecome,almostwithoutxception,rom hewhite pper-middlerupper lasses.Feministrimatologistsromhe conomicallyrivilegedlasses ftheWest ave ocusedmuchnergyn dentifyingnddescribingtatusolesof female rimates. edo notknowwhatprimatologicalssuesmightemergeromcholars hose ocial xperiencesreradicallyifferent.orexample,rimatologistsfa differentlassbackground ightlace essemphasis pon ocialdominancendmore n themutuallyupportiveinteractionsfnon- alphamonkeysndapes.69

    68 Forexamplesof thisemphasis, ee Small,ed. (n. 49 above).69 I do notmeanto imply hat simplerelationshipxistsbetween ocial positionand ideology.Butin aggregatehe deas ofworking-classnd minoritymembers ave

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    EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDER SperlingSomeprimatologistsavebeen lowto realize hat heprimatesheystudied ere art fa changinghirdWorld cologyndthat pportu-nitiesmust ecreatedor umanommunitiesfnonhumanrimatesre

    to surviven thecontextfrapidlyhanging olitical conomies. orexample,he ole fthepoacher s entrepreneurndtheneedfor iablealternativesor hosewhodepend conomicallynpoachingrerarelyconsideredn primatologicalccounts. he naiveconservationismfsome rimatologistsndtheirupporterss evidentntheNationalGeo-graphic ision fthe Africanpes: innocentairy rimatesefendedagainst fricansythe onewhitewomenwhostudyhem.70SandraHarding's hird pistemology,feministostmodernism,challenges any fthe ssumptionsnwhich hefirstwoarebased.Like tructuralism,emiotics,econstruction,ndpsychoanalysis,emi-nist ostmodernismrequireseeking solidaritynouroppositionsothedangerousictionfthenaturalized,ssentialized,niquelyhuman'(read manly') nd to thedistortionnd exploitationerpetratednbehalffthis iction. 71ome fthemostnterestingritiquesfevolu-tionarymodelshavecomefrom ostmodernisteconstructionistshoreadprimatologys text norder orevealtsculturalmeanings.Likepractitionersfthe ecentethnographys text econstructionofculturalnthropology,growingumber fhistoriansndsociolo-gists f cience ave iewedhe volutionaryodels fprimatologistssa series fmyths,ne replacingnother,nd contextualizedhemnrelationowider ocial ndpoliticalssues.Harawaysthemostmpor-tant xemplarfthis chool. hewritesn Primatologys Politics yOtherMeans : Butvalues eems nanemic ord oconveyhemultiplestrands fmeaning oven nto hebodies fmonkeysndapes.So Ipreferosay hat he ife ndsocial ciencesngeneral,ndprimatologyinparticular,re tory-laden;heseciencesrecomposedhroughom-plex,historicallypecifictorytellingractices.acts retheory-laden;theoriesre value-laden;aluesare story-laden.herefore,acts remeaningfulithintories. 72ostmodernistsave endedosee ess ex-istandmore emale-centeredriginmythss goodfor eminism.uchperspectivesave ed firmlywayfrom onsiderationsf theroleofbiologynhuman ehaviornfavorfanalysisfthe extualontentfevolutionarytories.ut herereproblems ith his pproach,ort sonethingosaythat ciencessociallyonstructedut notherodeny,been ittleepresentednprimatology,hose ractitionersend ocome romnelitehomogeneouslassbackgroundndtobewhite.70 Haraway,PrimateVisions.71 Harding,The ScienceQuestion nFeminism,8.72Haraway,PrimateVisions.

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    Sperling EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDERas postmodernists ave oftendone, thatbiologyhas a role in humanevolution nd behavior. ostmodernismeavesuntouched hequestion fthe relativeworth of epistemologiesn evolutionary cience,becausepostmodernistsend to viewall epistemologiess equallymythicocialconstructions.SandraHardingdiscussesthe tensions nherentn each of theseap-proaches nd endorses radicalenterprisehat onsiders otthe womanquestion nsciencebut,rather,he sciencequestion nfeminism: hesees the elimination fmasculinebias in scienceas requiring funda-mental ransformationfconcepts,methods nd interpretations;n ex-amination fthevery ogicofscientificnquiry. 73he movementwayfrom inearfunctionalist odelsin primatologyowarda more robustepigenetic isionof evolutionary iologyfits quarelywithinthislastenterprise.he resistanceothis hange sstrong: he inear eductionismof thepast is clean and orderly, hereasformany, heambiguityf thekindof approach I am suggestings oftenunbearablymessy. uch anapproach s also time-consuming;rimatesre ong-lived pecies, ndtheresearch trategies ecessary ora fullexplication fgendered ehaviorrequire ifehistorytudies, difficultrospectwithin hecurrenttruc-ture facademicscience inwhichmostprimatological ata areacquiredfordoctoraldissertationsuring ne or two field easons).

    Can there an be a feministvolutionaryiology hatdoes morethanretell unctionalisttoriesn a less sexistformat? lthough eministunc-tionalismhas told new stories about male and femaleprimates, henarrativeogicof functionalist odelsofprimate ehavior s ultimatelyantitheticalo feministoals. Itproposes reductionistcience fgeneticessencesofmaleness nd femalenesshatdoes notexplainthediversityobserved nnature.An approachthat ooks at genetic nd extrageneticfactorsn theorigin, iversity,nd persistencefgenderdimorphic e-havior smoreuseful, lthoughmorecomplicated ndproblematic,hanreductionist-functionalistodels.74Life history tudies of primates,whichview development rom heperspective f bothproximate ndultimate ausality, re necessary o our future nderstandingf all as-pectsofbehavior,ncluding endered ehaviors.

    73 Harding,The ScienceQuestion nFeminism,08.74 In A Feeling ortheOrganism n. 64 above),Fox Kelleruses geneticistMc-Clintock'sradical nteractionisms an exampleof this pproach: In lieu of the inearhierarchyescribed ythe centraldogmaofmolecularbiology,n whichthe DNA en-codes and transmitsll instructionsor heunfoldingf a living ell,herresearchyielded viewoftheDNA in delicate nteraction iththe cellular nvironment-an r-ganismic iew.Farmore mportanthatthegenome s such (i.e.,theDNA) is the over-all organism.' As shesees it,thegenomefunctionsonly nrespect o theenvironmentinwhich t is found. n thiswork,theprogram ncodedbythe DNA is itself ubject ochange 121).

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    EVOLUTION OF PRIMATE GENDER SperlingFeministsnthe ocial ciences ave ftenurnedway rom consid-erationf volutionaryiology ecause f heir warenessf he angersof tsfrequentlyeductionistaradigms.ut more obustndsophis-

    ticatedrimatethology ayhave omethingooffery lucidatinge-velopmentalechanismshat pply cross rimatehylandbydefiningthe mportantifferencesetween umanndnonhumanrimates.u-mangenderedehaviornvolvesniquelyumanultural,ognitive,ndlinguisticharacteristicshatppear oberecentevelopmentsnhominidevolutionndthat renot hared yother rimates.iologicalnthro-pologistsancontributeoanunderstandingfhuman enderedehavioronlybyattendingirsto itshistorical,conomic,ndculturalauses.Without sophisticatedrasp fhuman ocialbehavior,hey ave ittletoofferhe ocial ciencesywayoftheorizingboutbiologicalrootsofcomplex uman ehaviors.Feministheorysdependentnthe argerntellectualcology. ecentdiscoursenthe ocial ndbiologicalciences oints utproblems ithnormativetudieshat ssumehat ehaviorsrefixed imorphismso bemeasurednadulthood. ecentritiquesnevolutionaryheoryhallengereductionist-adaptationistodels hat ollapse ariationnto heoriesfmaleandfemale eproductivetrategies.rimatologistsust ttendothesergumentsswell s acknowledgehat hehumanworld asneverexistedeforendthatts onditionsre onstantlyhanging.75hisfactsetsmportantimitationsnwhatwecanknow bouthumanvolutionfromtudies fmonkeysndapes.Ultimately,angursn ipstickre notan improvementverbaboonswith riefcases: emust eturnhem ll totheir aturalnvironments.Thismandateshangesnresearchtylenvolvingescriptionndcoher-ent xplanationfwhat ctuallyappens uringife-cycleevelopment.Withmoresophisticated ethodologiesnd morerobust heoreticalmodels,rimatologyay et ave omethingaluable oofferhose fusinterestedngendereduman ehavior.

    SocialScience ivisionChabotCollege

    75 am hereparaphrasing yama (n. 7 above).

    Autumn 1991 SIGNS 27