Sexual Selection In Charles Darwin's The Descent Of Man

Language: In On the Equality of the Sexes, there are a few phrases that seem to show some importance. “There is something new under the sun” is italicized in the text. She is saying that there is going to be some change coming soon with women’s education. She also uses the word superior, or superiority, quite a bit in the text. She questions whether or not mental superiority between sexes actually exists. She also talks about imagination a lot. She makes the point that society constricts how women use their imaginations. The way she uses domestication in the text is in a negative way. She uses the phrase “fertile brain of a female” and by doing this she is trying to show that females’ brains are productive and capable of becoming so much

This ideology outlines and endorses separate spheres for women and men, the domestic and public spheres. This idea derived from the natural features of each gender. As women were considered to be physically weaker than men, they were more suitable to belong to the private sphere. As Ellis writes, ‘women’s strength is in her influence’ , demonstrating the view that, though physically fragile, women were morally superior to men.

Charles Darwin was an influential ideologist, known as the father of evolution. He created the theory of evolution in which species change overtime through what he called natural selection. Natural selection is the process when organisms that are better adapted to their environment survive and pass on their genetics. In The Descent of Man, Darwin explains various topics such as the similarities between races, the relevance of evolution in society, and the process of sexual selection. Ideas of The Descent of Man, were explored before Darwin, but what sets him apart is that he wanted to find the origin of man and ape as opposed to just stating similarities and differences. The theories that Darwin created contributed knowledge to evolution as

Merchant’s representations claim that “both nature and women are subordinate and essentially passive” furthering the proof that women are held at a lower standard than men (Merchant 9).

According to Garbacik (2013), in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Japan, American Indians and Ancient Sumerian women were held in high regard, taking up “leadership posts” and were not considered “inferior” by their male counterparts. In fact, the terms “misogyny” and “Patriarchy” became more prominent in Victorian Britain, where the concept of “gender roles” were closely linked, which advocated female subordination and male dominance. In particular, through his ground-breaking theory of natural selection, Darwin (1859) depicted women as being inferior to men. Darwin theorised about “natural selection” and he suggested that men were “more courageous, pugnacious and energetic” (Darwin, 1859) than women. Darwin also never included species such as “hyenas, anglerfish, ring-tailed lemurs, black widow spiders, meerkat and praying mantis” (Garbacik, 2013) in his research that never shared dominant male and passive female characteristics, proving that his evidence was flawed, advocating a confirmation bias . What’s more, Darwin’s views of the female and male species, were bolstered in the 19th century, by the Victorian viewpoints that men were more “competitive” and “aggressive” compared to women who were more “altruistic” and “nurturing”. Not only was inequality amongst the sexes

Eliza Gamble “Supremacy of the Male” was published in 1916. She was an advocate to woman and was active in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many of her arguments were geared towards Darwin’s point of view of man being ultimately superior over woman. Women have basic functions and characteristics as dictated by nature through evolution. Women are capable of social and emotional intelligence. They also play an important role as human beings and have various characteristics that are represented and essential to mankind. The social roles are an important factor and these issues affect women.

This critical textual analysis will examine feminine identity and the essentialistic ideas of the late nineteenth century between men and women as elaborated by Kaplan and Rogers in “Essentialisms, Determinisms. It will include an analysis of theories regarding dichotomies of biological determinism and cranial classification. Essentialism argues that there are categories of objects and genres that have essential characteristics, notwithstanding individual variation, and that these essential characteristics define the objects and genres to an extent that they reveal truth (Kaplan and Rogers 27). Determinism is a theory or in some cases a doctrine. “Nature” has been the historical burden women have faced. It is not the only such burden, but it has been the largest and the heaviest. Psychological and social implications of essentialist beliefs create gender segregation, inequality, and is often used to excuse gender-based biases in society. These types of ideas are often used as a justification for misogynistic and essentialistic systems in society.

Sexual selection was an idea proposed by Darwin and refers to the process in which males and females attempt to maximize their chances of reproductive success. Within a species there are certain characteristics that make individuals attractive to potential mates. An example of this is in peacocks, female peacocks are attracted to males with long brightly colored tails, even though this makes them easier to be spotted by predators. This characteristic then evolves within the species due to how males with this characteristic have a higher chance of reproductive success and their characteristics being passed on to surviving offspring.

Women's rights was a very popular topic midway through the 19th century, and continued to be so until there was a degree of full parity between the sexes established in contemporary social, political and economic life in the 20th century. However, there were a number of dissidents who believed that women should not be treated equally as men in the 19th century, one of the most eloquent of which was Revered John Todd in his manuscript Women's Rights. The crux of the author's argument is that God did not intend for women to be independent, and therefore they were physically constructed in a manner in which true emancipation from the influence of men is impossible. Many of Todd's points to corroborate these facts are directly challenged by Gail Hamilton in her work of literature entitled Women's Wrongs. An analysis of excerpts from both of these texts indicates that Hamilton's refutation of Todd's major points is more convincing than those actual points themselves.

The commonly held theories that women are inferior to men, because they lack the strength of character, mind, and body that men are attributed to having, are misleading for many reasons. To assume that men are superior in these three aspects is to assume that all men and women equally share the same strengths and weaknesses of their entire sex. To do this one must accept the fact that all

The article, “Men, Women, Sex and Darwin” talks about the science behind men, women and sex. This article discusses about the research done about the way women and men react and think about sex. While reading this article, I was thinking about the gender stereotypes we have in our society, and this article points out some of these stereotypes. One point that article makes that stood out to me was when it compared females to female apes and how females do not let sex “find” its way to them. This point stood out to me because it uses information collected about chimpanzees and compares it to humans. I think this article provides us with a lot of information regarding how men and female view sex. According to the article, David Buss, conducted

in the government of the physical world it is observable that the female in point of strength is, in general, inferior to the male. This is the law of Nature; and it does not appear to be suspended or abrogated in favour of woman. A degree of physical superiority cannot, therefore, be denied, and it is a noble prerogative! (Wollstonecraft, 111).2

Sexual selection can best be described by the definition given by Darwin himself. Sexual selection is “the advantage which certain individuals have over other individuals of the same species solely in respect of reproduction” (Hosken et al, 2011). Sexual selection occurs throughout the animal kingdom, where male frogs dominate through the depth of their croak, and certain peacocks reign superior based on the colour and intricate detail on their tails. They remain superior to their lesser counterparts as they bear more admirable characteristics, from which they are chosen by females of the same species.

In the essay The Descent Of Man by Charles Darwin excerpted from his book The Origin Of Species (1871), he tries to describe evolution through the natural selection of accumulated favorable variations in an organism that in time form new species within which the fact that man is descended from a lower-organized life form is prescribed to, by giving evidence of similarities of the characters of man which determine embryonic development, bodily structure, sexual selection, cerebral system with those of lower-life forms and in which he evidently succeeds and it is evident that man is not a separate art of creation and is descended of a common progenitor like all other mammals and though questions can be raised against his theory in terms of

The first few chapters discuss in depth both the general rules for mate selection and the differences in mate selection and varying preferences for male and female genders. As explained in the intro the author theorizes that the current behavior of humans in relation to mating behavior can be linked to our evolutionary past. He references Charles Darwin 's theory of evolution and his idea of natural selection, which is the the process through which organisms adapt to their environment and in doing so tend to