Evolutionary Psychology?

This file offers suggested resources for dealing with claims made by
evolutionary psychology.  The suggestions were made in two WMST-L discussions
in April and May 2008.  The May discussion focuses on works appropriate for the
Intro to Women's Studies course.  For additional WMST-L files available on the
Web, see the WMST-L File Collection.

Hi,

 A student has just given me a draft of an essay on feminine appearance
 which uncritically accepts huge amounts of evolutionary psychology
 saying e.g. that men are evolutionarily predisposed to seek a
 particular waist-hip ratio in women, and so on (and on and on).  I've
 seen loads of feminist criticism of such stuff scattered about, but
 I'm wondering if anyone knows of a good source for dealing with lots
 of it at once, so that I can suggest that she read it.  Many thanks
 for any help you can give!

 Best,

 Jenny
j.saul AT sheffield.ac.uk

Dear all,

Martha McCaughey's new book, The Caveman Mystique:  Pop-Darwinism and the
Debates over Sex, Violence, and Science (Routledge 2008), is an excellent
resource. I used it in my Feminist Philosophy course this semester, and it was
very well-received and appreciated by (especially women) students, many of whom
are being uncritically introduced to this discourse in many of their current
courses.

I would really appreciate it if you could post a list of all suggestions you
receive.

Best regards,
Kim

I like Natalie Angier's chapter on the subject in her book, Woman: An
Intimate Geography.  Accessible, intelligent, funny.

Elizabeth Zanichkowsky
Women's Studies
U of Wisconsin Colleges
e.zanichkowsky AT uwc.edu

Jenny,

Two sources that come to mind offhand are a talk, available online on the
Harvard website, by neurobiologist Ben Barres in which he does an excellent
job of debunking Steven Pinker, and I think Anne Fausto-Sterling might have
also written on the subject, though I'm not bringing any titles to mind.

+lise Hendrick
elise.hendrick AT gmail.com

Dear List-members,

I just got Martha McCaughey's book the Caveman Mystique in the mail today, and
skimming it-- I can't see myself using it as a *first* text (which I really
want) for an intro women's studies text. I think it might be fruitful, however,
later in a semester, after the students have digested some feminist theory- as
her book, although accessible, also assumes an investment in and familiarity
with feminist theory and certain debates like the so-called "sex wars."

Basically I'm asking list-members for YOUR FAVORITE MYTH-SMASHING *first*-text
type of reading for an INTRO class THAT CRITIQUES the biological bases of
gender and domination and/or the idea that rape, sexual harassment etc are all
based on biological necessities...  Any recommendations? What most excites and
enlightens INTRO LEVEL students on this issue, in your estimation?


thanks in advance,
Kathy Miriam
kmim AT earthlink.net

Hi,

The other main suggestion I got to my similar query was a chapter in
Natalie Angier's _Woman: An Intimate Geography_.   That might work
well with intro students, I'd think.  Also-- but clearly not
appropriate for intro students, Sally Markowitz suggested what sounds
like a great paper she's written [in Signs, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Winter, 2001), pp. 389-414]:

> This isn't a general critique of that awful stuff, but my SIGNS (Winter
> 2001) article "Pelvic Politics: Sexual Dimorphism and Racial Difference"
> deals with the racialization of sex/gender difference in the late 19th and
> early 20th centuries. I look closely at some horrifyingly hilarious views
> about the supposed racial superiority of, well, the fair-haired hour-glass
> feminine body, especially as imagined by Havelock Ellis.

Many belated thanks to all of those who replied to my query.  And
apologies for not getting back to everyone sooner!

Best,

Jenny
_________________________________________________
Professor Jennifer Saul
Department of Philosophy
University of Sheffield
Sheffield S10 2TN
E-mail: j.saul AT sheffield.ac.uk
http://www.shef.ac.uk/philosophy/staff/profiles/saul.html

What about Emily Martin's "The Sperm and the Egg?"  It critiques the science by
showing the human perceptual bias in scientific thinking and how it ends up in
textbooks.  I really like it for novices.

Elizabeth Zanichkowsky
UW-Waukesha
e.zanichkowsky AT uwc.edu

[Re Emily Martin's "The Sperm and the Egg"]

Last time I taught that essay, many of my students found it dated and
thought she was overreading.  The first of those objections might be
addressed by getting samples from the textbooks currently in use on one's
own campus. I'd appreciate suggestions of how to address the second of those
objections.

Frann Michel
fmichel AT willamette.edu

Hi all,
I've also used excerpts from Anne Fausto-Sterling's *Sexing the
Body* together with the chapter on defining gender from Joan
Roughgarden's *Evolution's Rainbow* with a lot of success.
Peace,
Jeannie

Jeannie Ludlow, Ph.D., Undergraduate Coordinator
Women's Studies Program
372-6816
jludlow AT bgnet.bgsu.edu

I recently used Ruth Hubbard's "Sexism in Sociobiology" in my 101 class.
Hubbard presents some central claims of sociobiology and then frankly discusses
the methodological problems with those claims. My students were very motivated
to think of other methodological problems to expand Hubbard's analysis.

Best,

Kelly H. Ball
Graduate Teaching Associate
Department of Women's Studies
The Ohio State University

Were the students motivated to think of methodological problems
with Hubbard's analysis? Was all the methodological problem-
seeking aimed in one direction? In short was there a
predetermined result for which the students attempted to find
supporting evidence?

------------------------------
Ophelia Benson, Editor
Butterflies and Wheels
http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/
------------------------------

I framed the class discussion so students would think critically about the
arguments of each text. The goal was to think about the material effects of
each texts' claims and the theoretical assumptions underpinning the arguments.
The students were excited to find "holes" in the arguments (and challenge each
other as to the legitimacy of these inconsistencies and under what conditions
the inconsistencies matter).

Kelly H. Ball
Graduate Teaching Associate
Department of Women's Studies
The Ohio State University