Sex & War

Comments from the Goose: Before sharing this book review, I'd like to make a few humble comments. First of all, we ARE ANIMALS. I believe that recognizing this fact is a first step to digging us out of our current mess. Secondly, like our cousins the chimpanzees, we humans have a predisposition for violence. Now, one of the main points of my blog is that we must evolve past our violence to survive. The authors of this book look at our affinity for violence as an "evolutionary hangover." Violence may have been great in the caveman days, but it has now outlived its usefulness. What provides hope in this book is a study of the Bonobo, the smaller relatives of the Common Chimpanzee. These guys are PEACEFUL, for some really interesting reasons, which you will have to read about below. Anyway, the book also makes links to violence and rapid population growth. Unfortunately, not even world leaders are apparently able to make this connection. Here is a quote to think about: "...political instability and violence often follow hard on the heels of high birthrates."

Benbella Books. 2009. Pp 457. US$ 24.95. ISBN 1933771577

Book Review: Sex and War
How Biology Explains Warefare and Terrorism, and Offers a Path to a Safer World

By Maha Syed, Grassroots Fellow
Population Connection

In Sex and War, Malcolm Potts and Thomas Hayden attempt to explain war and terrorism through human and primate biology. For the most part, they deliver. Sex and War deconstructs evolutionary biology in a discursive manner aimed at the non-scientist. The human male predisposition to behave violently is compared with similar warlike behaviors of male chimpanzees. With recurrent references to Jane Goodall’s research and endless historical examples, Potts and Hayden seek to demonstrate that man’s affinity for war is an “evolutionary hangover,” which helped our ancestors survive in prehistoric times but is now a development
obstacle.

Their Hobbesian argument is that war is the natural state of humans. The authors insist that the question should not be “Why does war break out?,” but rather, “Why does peace break out?” Referring to the testosterone molecule as the “ultimate weapon of mass destruction,” they contend that the propensity of male humans for war is testosterone driven. Women, they say, are more likely to possess characteristics of empathy and compromise. Peace, therefore, is more easily attained when women are active members of society and are free to participate in political life. The chapter dedicated to this theory was co-written by Potts’ wife,
Martha Campbell.

Sex and War postulates that men have a unique ability to dehumanize other people by creating in-groups and outgroups. In-group mentality, they say, is especially dangerous within youth bulges, a phenomenon caused by rapid population growth. Young men, aged fifteen to twenty nine, are the demographic most susceptible to violent behavior. Irrational decision-making, sexual frustration, inadequate employment and lack of material resources are among the factors behind youth bulge violence. “With the exception of Bosnia in 1994-1995, every time the U.S. military has intervened on the ground since 1990, it has been where the average woman has four or more children—in other words, political instability and violence often follow hard on the heels of high birthrates.” A future with less conflict may hinge on slowing population growth in the most conflictprone parts of the world.

Potts and Hayden do not advocate controlling population from the outside. Stabilization can and should be achieved through women’s empowerment. When society overcomes “the evolved male drive to control female reproduction” for the purpose of spreading their genes, women and couples generally choose to have smaller families.

The authors dispel the myth that poor women must either be left to perpetuate the cycle of high fertility or be coerced to have smaller families in order to climb out of the poverty trap. Potts and Hayden cite numerous country examples where family size has declined due to simple contraceptive access.

Sex and War touches on the intriguing example provided by the Bonobo, the smaller genus-mate of the Common Chimpanzee. Unlike chimpanzees, bonobos do not partake in team aggression, although other sources have recently reported that they can and do hunt their prey. When a new female enters a bonobo troop, she establishes a sexual relationship with another female (male bonobos also partake in homosexual activities). Perhaps because of these sexual bonds, females stand up for each other against larger imposing males, giving them equal status. Research suggests that this recreational sexual activity may diffuse agitation in tense situations, an intuitively logical finding.

Gender equality and non-procreative sex may be keys to bonobos’ peaceful existence. The book does not detail the evolution of bonobos from our common ancestors. This could have been interesting given their pacific lifestyle. We humans, perched on a nearby branch of the family tree, engage in countless wars and conflicts. Perhaps one day, we humans will evolve to be as peace-loving as the Bonobo. There’s no escaping the fact that we’ve produced the abhorrent likes of Genghis Khan and Joseph Stalin. But we also count Mozart, Shakespeare, and Gandhi among our numbers. Perhaps there is hope for us yet.

Reprinted from Population Reporter.