She says: Scout puts a lot of weight behind her father's athletic ability, or lack there of...
Have we advanced beyond Scout's short-sighted view of what truly makes a man, or as a society do we still consciously or unconsciously assign worth in this manner?
He did not do the things our schoolmates' fathers did: he never went hunting, he did not play poker or fish or drink or smoke. He sat in the living room and read.This begs the question: What is the true measure of a man? Are there still modern-day examples of the proverbial "The biggest muscles win"? (I hate to be cliche about it, but we can't deny what a professional athlete makes versus say a professional educator...or a professional stay-at-home Mom for that matter [giggle]).
Have we advanced beyond Scout's short-sighted view of what truly makes a man, or as a society do we still consciously or unconsciously assign worth in this manner?
He says: No, Scout, we haven't advanced much as a society. Here's a corollary question: as a society, can we advance much?
The field of sociobiology tries to answer questions like this by determining the evolutionary advantage that the behavior bestows on the group that exhibits it. In this case, the behavior is that women (and girls, who after all learn their behavior from their mothers and their other female role models) value males' physical ability disproportionately compared to other abilities, like the ability to play chess, write poetry, or do gender-based literary analysis. :)
The evolutionary advantage in this case seems obvious. A physically robust male is more likely to produce healthier offspring than a skinny, maladroit four-eyed computer geek. So the quarterback is generally more attractive to females than the captain of the chess club.
As you can imagine, sociobiology has been somewhat controversial over the years. Here are some books if you're interested in finding out more about it.
Sociobiology: The New Synthesis by Edward O. Wilson. Wilson invented the field of sociobiology with the publication of this book.
Why Men Won't Ask for Directions: The Seductions of Sociobiology by Richard C. Francis. Sociobiology attempts to explain human behavior in terms of its evolutionary advantages and disadvantages. As the title implies, this book contains some counterarguments to the strict sociobiological interpretation of behavior.
As to why men won't ask for directions. The sociobiological explanation is that long ago, the males who had a superlative spatial sense and sense of direction were more successful at hunting, so they were more attractive to women as potential mates.
The field of sociobiology tries to answer questions like this by determining the evolutionary advantage that the behavior bestows on the group that exhibits it. In this case, the behavior is that women (and girls, who after all learn their behavior from their mothers and their other female role models) value males' physical ability disproportionately compared to other abilities, like the ability to play chess, write poetry, or do gender-based literary analysis. :)
The evolutionary advantage in this case seems obvious. A physically robust male is more likely to produce healthier offspring than a skinny, maladroit four-eyed computer geek. So the quarterback is generally more attractive to females than the captain of the chess club.
As you can imagine, sociobiology has been somewhat controversial over the years. Here are some books if you're interested in finding out more about it.
Sociobiology: The New Synthesis by Edward O. Wilson. Wilson invented the field of sociobiology with the publication of this book.
Why Men Won't Ask for Directions: The Seductions of Sociobiology by Richard C. Francis. Sociobiology attempts to explain human behavior in terms of its evolutionary advantages and disadvantages. As the title implies, this book contains some counterarguments to the strict sociobiological interpretation of behavior.
As to why men won't ask for directions. The sociobiological explanation is that long ago, the males who had a superlative spatial sense and sense of direction were more successful at hunting, so they were more attractive to women as potential mates.
She says: Excellent insights Atticus! I have the urge to begin an in depth discussion on the evolution of sociobiology (also sometimes referred to as evolutionary psychology) itself since I know that Wilson's book was first published in 1975. As you know A LOT can change about a person, gender, science in 35 or 36 years :-)
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