Bateman's principles and human sex roles

In 1948, Angus J. Bateman reported a stronger relationship between mating and reproductive success in male fruit flies compared with females, and concluded that selection should universally favour ‘an undiscriminating eagerness in the males and a discriminating passivity in the females’ to obtain ma...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Trends in ecology & evolution (Amsterdam) 2009-06, Vol.24 (6), p.297-304
Main Authors:	Brown, Gillian R., Laland, Kevin N., Mulder, Monique Borgerhoff
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Animal and plant ecology Animal, plant and microbial ecology Animals Biological and medical sciences Biological Evolution Female Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Gender Identity General aspects Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution Humans Male Models, Genetic Opinion Reproduction - genetics Reproduction - physiology Selection, Genetic Sex Characteristics
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Summary:	In 1948, Angus J. Bateman reported a stronger relationship between mating and reproductive success in male fruit flies compared with females, and concluded that selection should universally favour ‘an undiscriminating eagerness in the males and a discriminating passivity in the females’ to obtain mates. The conventional view of promiscuous, undiscriminating males and coy, choosy females has also been applied to our own species. Here, we challenge the view that evolutionary theory prescribes stereotyped sex roles in human beings, firstly by reviewing Bateman's principles and recent sexual selection theory and, secondly, by examining data on mating behaviour and reproductive success in current and historic human populations. We argue that human mating strategies are unlikely to conform to a single universal pattern.
ISSN:	0169-5347 1872-8383