Evolution and Rape: A Feminist Darwinian Perspective

It is commonly thought that feminist and evolutionary explanations of rape cannot be integrated. As I aim to show, this view is incorrect. Although feminist and evolutionary approaches are not compatible on all fronts, theories incorporating factors from both perspectives have been proposed, on theoretical as well as empirical grounds. Unfortunately, the debate between feminist and evolutionary scholars is frequently characterized by a lack of mutual openness and by the use of illegitimate arguments. The book A Natural History of Rape (Thornhill and Palmer 2000), and the controversy it provoked, is a case in point. I will highlight a more productive interaction of both perspectives by discussing the work of the feminist evolutionary biologist Barbara Smuts.