Let's face it, say Barash and Lipton: Males and females, boys
and girls, men and women are different. To be sure, these
differences are often heightened by distinctions in learning,
cultural tradition, and social expectation, but underpinning them
all is a fundamental difference that derives from biology.
Throughout the natural world, males are those creatures that make
sperm; females make eggs. The oft-noticed "gender gap" derives, in
turn, from this "gamete gap." In "Gender Gap," Barash and Lipton
(husband and wife, professor and physician, biologist and
psychiatrist) explain the evolutionary aspects of male-female
differences.
After describing the theory underlying the evolutionary
explanation of male-female differences-in accessible, lay-person's
language-they show how it applies to specific examples of animal
behavior. Then, they demonstrate comparable male-female differences
in the behavior of human beings cross-culturally, as well as within
the United States. Barash and Lipton apply this approach to
male-female differences in sexual inclinations, propensities for
violence, parenting styles, and childhood experiences. They invoke
much work within the traditional social sciences, such as
psychology, anthropology, and sociology, which have typically
ignored biological factors in the past.
Part of the highly successful revolution in scientific thought
has been the recognition that evolutionary insights can illuminate
behavior, no less than anatomy and physiology. This new discipline,
sometimes called "sociobiology" or "evolutionary psychology,"
promises to help us make sense of ourselves and of our most
significant others, shedding new light on what it means to be male
or female. Now available in paperback with a new introduction by
the authors, this accessible volume integrates work from a variety
of fields, applying a new paradigm to research on gender
differences.
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