Lecture 5:Evolutionary and biological explanations of deviance and crime Flashcards
What is the main argument presented by Thornhill & Palmer regarding rape?
Rape is a natural evolutionary strategy that developed to help some men to spread their genes.
According to Thornhill & Palmer, which group of men is most likely to commit rape?
Men of lower status who cannot ensure the dissemination of their gene pool in more legitimate ways.
What do Thornhill & Palmer argue about the motivation behind rape?
Rape is mostly about sexual desire, not about power relations.
True or False: Thornhill & Palmer support the feminist perspective on rape.
False
What empirical support do Thornhill & Palmer use to back their claims?
Studies in non-humans, specifically scorpion flies.
Who are the most common victims of rape according to Thornhill & Palmer?
Young women of reproductive age.
What is one reason provided for why most rape victims are not murdered after the act?
The idea that they will become pregnant and then reproduce.
Fill in the blank: Thornhill & Palmer suggest that women should be more _______.
careful
List some policy recommendations made by Thornhill & Palmer for women to avoid rape.
- Dress more modestly
- Avoid walking alone
- Avoid dating in cars and private homes
What do Thornhill & Palmer recommend for men’s education regarding rape?
Men should learn that rape is natural and then learn to control it.
What critique do Thornhill & Palmer face regarding their depiction of feminist theories?
They provide a distorted depiction and oversimplify feminist theories.
What is one of the main critiques of the evolutionary explanation for rape?
There is no evidence for an actual genetic/psychological mechanism for men’s tendency to rape.
True or False: Thornhill & Palmer address rape by women in their argument.
False
What is a significant flaw identified in Thornhill & Palmer’s argument regarding the universality of rape?
Statistics of rape vary a lot nationally and different societies may have different definitions.
Fill in the blank: Thornhill & Palmer’s argument is critiqued for intentional _______ of data.
misrepresentation
What does research show about the age of a significant portion of rape victims?
1/3 of the victims are under reproductive age (younger than 11).
What do Thornhill & Palmer suggest about women’s dress codes in relation to rape prevention?
They suggest that women should have better dress codes, but there is no evidence that this works.
What is a common misconception about the perpetrators of rape according to the critiques?
Most rape victims know their perpetrators; it is not necessarily a random evolutionary mechanism.
What are the main arguments of Thornhill and Palmer’s paper: why men rape?
- Rape is a natural evolutionary strategy that developed to help some men to spread their genes
- Rape would be most common among men of lower status, who cannot ensure the dissemination of their gene pool in more legitimate ways
- Rape is mostly about sexual desire, not about power relations (as argued by feminist scholars) → they reject the feminist perspective.
What empirical support do Thornhill & Palmer use?
- Studies in non-humans → scorpion flies studies extrapolated the results to humans
- Most rape victims are young women → “reproductive age”
- Most rape victims are not murdered after the act → the idea that they will become pregnant then reproduce
- Young women suffer more as a result of rape → women are failing to choose the best father, they are suffering
- Married women suffer more → rape is seen as a setback for reproduction
What are Palmer and Thornhill’s Policy Recommendations?
- Women should be more careful:
- Dress more modestly
- Avoid walking alone
- Avoid dating in cars and private homes - Men should be educated about the fact that rape is natural and then learn to control it
What are critiques about Palmer and Thornhill’s Paper?
1) Distorted depiction of feminist theories.
They critique feminist thinking but they have explained the feminist theories in an oversimplified manner → it is easy to refute a simple hypothesis. There are many feminist voices and they ignore this variety of voices. Not entirely sure that feminist are actually arguing that rape is not about sexuality and only about power.
Does not touch on rape by women, political rape, children rape, non-vaginal rape (which has no evolutionary function) yet this all happen in society.
2) No evidence for an actual genetic/psychological mechanism for men’s tendency to rape.
3) Extrapolation from lower species
Can these creatures actually tell us something about humans (biological reductionism: scorpion fly → human
How can we determine if there was consent in animals?
4) Is rape really universal?
“Rape must be natural because it is universal” but the statistics of rape vary a lot nationally. Different societies may have different definitions.
What is natural? What makes something natural?
5) Alternative explanations for the “findings”
We could come up with various explanations for rape; ie, younger women might simply be more exposed to situations where they could be raped.
Shifts in cultural definition in what rape is.
6) Intentional misrepresentation of data
Research shows that ⅓ of the victims are under reproductive age (younger than 11) → this goes against their whole argument
They distorted findings: level of suffering following rape.
Additionally, it is very difficult to measure “suffering”
7) Dubious political recommendations
They suggest recommendations that are not supported by evidence (ie: have women dress better - there is no evidence for this working)
Rape is most often by acquaintances, including BF and husbands so this strict code on how we dress won’t do much.
These take away the responsibility from men
8) Most of rape victims know their perpetrators - not necessarily random evolutionary mechanism
What was William Sheldon’s consitutional theory (Positivist School)?
4 basic body types:
* Endomorph – overweight with a large stomach. Tolerant and likes people
* Mesomorph – Athletic and muscular. Aggressive, competitive, fearless and risk-taking
* Ectomorph – Thin and fragile, Long, slender, and delicate. Artistic and introverted. Low testosterone levels
* Balanced type – average build, without any special traits
Which body type correlated to the most crime?
- Each of these body types have a certain propensity for social behaviours
Which has the most tendency for crime? He took photos of male ivy league students and compared them with criminal records → found that the mesomorph had the most criminal records.
* This could simply have to do with age. Your body type changes with age. Later adolescence to 35/40 is more typical in crime. This could be what we are seeing.
* Cultural stereotypes and law enforcement. People that look like this; stronger + muscular are more often profiled.
