{"id":54,"date":"2008-02-29T14:16:18","date_gmt":"2008-02-29T21:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=54"},"modified":"2008-03-03T12:03:41","modified_gmt":"2008-03-03T19:03:41","slug":"neanderthal-women-belonged-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=54","title":{"rendered":"Neanderthal women belonged at home"},"content":{"rendered":"\t

With a degree in Mircobiology and minor in Psychology, I’ve always been interested in the intersection of the two, in particular how our biology dictates and\/or strongly affects most, if not all, of our psychology…even when we don’t realize it.<\/p>\n\t

I ran across an article a while back about Neanderthals proposing that\u00a0 recent archaeological evidence suggests female Neandertals may have hunted alongside the males<\/a>, and that fact may have contributed to their extinction.\u00a0 Two thoughts there:\u00a0 1)\u00a0 How equitable!\u00a0 Males and females doing the hard work together.\u00a0 Isn’t that sweet?\u00a0 2)\u00a0 If they are willing to draw the “may have contributed to their extinction” inference for Neanderthals….what if they flipped that logic around on us?<\/p>\n\t

Here is the conclusion:\u00a0 Women belong at home.<\/p>\n\t

Don’t get me wrong.\u00a0 I didn’t say, “I think<\/strong> women belong in the home.”\u00a0 It certainly isn’t a personal value statement.\u00a0 Women can do whatever they like and I support that.\u00a0 I’m saying nature dictates that for species like ours with long gestation periods and unsafe environments….the species does better if women stay safe…which means they stay at home.<\/p>\n\t

Here is why:\u00a0 Let’s say there are two tribes…..each with 5 men and 5 women.\u00a0 In tribe A the women and men hunt.\u00a0 In tribe B the men only hunt.\u00a0<\/p>\n\t

Tribe A:\u00a0 4 people die hunting, two men and two women.\u00a0 Now there are only 3 women left to have babies.\u00a0 How many babies can the tribe have in a year?\u00a0 Three…and that will be true until the female babies reach puberty.\u00a0 Every woman that dies is a big deal for the tribe….it reduces the overall reproductive potential.<\/p>\n\t

Tribe B:\u00a0 4 people die hunting…..all men.\u00a0 Now there is only one man left, but there are still 5 women left to have babies.\u00a0 How many babies can the tribe have in a year?\u00a0 Still 5.\u00a0 The reproductive potential of the tribe has not changed.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\t

This thought experiment neatly shows that men’s lives are not nearly as valuable as women’s.\u00a0<\/strong> Men can die in flocks.\u00a0 Everytime a woman dies, the reproductive potential of the tribe\/species decreases.\u00a0 In short, one man can have a hundred (or even a thousand) babies, while the reverse is not true.\u00a0 From the perspective of the species, it pays to keep the women safe, which means they aren’t out hunting.\u00a0 They belong at\u00a0home….where its safe.\u00a0 No sexism required<\/em>.\u00a0 (For those who object I point out again that this is not a personal value judgment…it simply IS.\u00a0 The math doesn’t lie.\u00a0 Those species who keep the fertile women safe long enough to have babies will succeed.\u00a0 Those who don’t will be extinct.)<\/p>\n\t

The point here is that often times we\u00a0place blame on the environment\u00a0(on men for example for trying to keep women down) when the fact is we just\u00a0don’t understand the biology well enough to know that there are often other, better, more constructive\u00a0explanations that do not require (in this case)\u00a0men to be perpetuating the “women should stay at home” viewpoint.\u00a0 Division of labor is an inborn tendency for good reason.<\/p>\n\t

I’m not sure if Neanderthals died out because women hunted, but I do know if women hunted they must’ve been about as big as the males and skilled with weapons…..which debunks the myth of big hairy oaf clubbing the woman and taking her back to the cave.\u00a0 She would’ve clubbed him back.<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With a degree in Mircobiology and minor in Psychology, I’ve always been interested in the intersection of the two, in particular how our biology dictates and\/or strongly affects most, if not all, of our psychology…even when we don’t realize it. I ran across an article a while back about Neanderthals proposing that\u00a0 recent archaeological evidence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0},"categories":[8],"tags":[40,39],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3IMYj-S","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":500,"url":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=500","url_meta":{"origin":54,"position":0},"title":"The difference between “Occupy Wall Street” and Tahrir Square","author":"kellio","date":"October 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Tahrir Square ended in revolution in Egypt.\u00a0 \"Occupy Wall Street\" probably won't.\u00a0 Why not? What is similar? 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