Why Do We Rape, Kill and Sleep Around?

The possibility that rape could be theorized by *anyone* as an adaptive behavior lends very little credence to the field of evolutionary psychology. Dear God --common sense--what a load of bunk. If some mythological rape gene (I am sorry but where is it again? Are the people over at HGP hiding it from us?) suuposedly exists, then why do the relatively few rapes that occur today, occur not under those same conditions that made rape an adaptive strategy/heritable to begin with? Why do the majority of rapists not correlate with the segment of the male population who have the least possibility otherwise of mating? Can anyone weigh in with the criminology and forensic statistics on rape?

I could write a much shorter and more accurate article: It is a society problem, a cultural problem not an evolutionary problem. Rape, Killing and other male activities that cause pain to other human beings are caused by lack of self-control and moral values. A man can have a gene that causes him to be naturally impulsive, but a good mother or a good father can teach him to respect others and control those impulses. Evolution can be adaptive and random. Good parenting is as scarce as violence in men is frequent.

I have to disagree with these people that claim that because something is evil, it is therefore unacceptable and untrue. When approaching an idea, one must consider it from a neutral standpoint and weigh the argument against logical counterarguments. Refuting a theory by interpreting it as an attempt to forgive immoral behavior is not a valid counterargument, but is certainly a valid opinion - which I'm positive is not Thornhill's intention. The man is simply attempting to understand the origins of one of the many aspects of human behavior, and is presenting one of his theories.

*Edit - "Wouldn't your success be greater if you copulated with both willing and unwilling mates?"

From the article:
Thornhill is adamant that rape is an adaptation, despite Hill's results from his Ache study. "If a particular trait or behavior is organized to do something," as he believes rape is, "then it is an adaptation and so was selected for by evolution," he told me.

This is precisely where Evolutionary Psychology goes off the rails, scientifically. Not every evolutionary change is adaptive. Many are neutral, or even maladaptive in the environment where they arise. Once the environment changes (as it has done rapidly during human evolution, then it is even harder to untangle whether some evolutionary change might have been adaptive in the past. In short: there is not necessarily an evolutionary "reason" for every human behavior that exists; a lot of it might as well be purely random for all purposes of determining where and why it arose.

This article is very interesting, and opens up a lot of good points about how we evolved and what controls our day to day activities. I don't think its the final say on the subject by any means, but it does give us something to think about.
On that note, what about female rapists? Pedophiles? and other non-intercourse driven sex? It seems that these scientists are stuck in the realm of a male dominated society, which is not always the society they are dealing with. Also, and I know this is one of those places no scientist wants to go, but what about homosexuality? It seems that homosexuals' genes would have died out long before they could get passed on the the next generation. Perhaps it isn't about nature, and more about nurture? I wish there was a more successful way to study them both, and perhaps blend them together.

This article debunks the Sociobiological explanation of rape as articulated by Thornhill and Palmer (forcible intercourse is an inherited behavior) and not the still-unarticulated model of rape Evolutionary Psychology implies (rape is a form of intercourse whose occurrence, frequency, cause and effect can best be understood as a result of interactions between the modern environment and a mind adapted to the demands of a the Pleistocene era). The primary difference between Sociobiology and Evolutionary Psychology, in this regard, is the degree of fatalism: whereas Sociobiology asserts that rape will occur no matter what, Evolutionary Psychology suggests that changes to our environment, if made with a realistic understanding of how our own minds work, can decrease the frequency of rape's occurrence. It's a shame this shoddy article has been allowed to smear such a versatile theory, one with that has so much potential to offer innovative solutions to today's most vexing problems.

EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY
"Evolutionary psychology is a hybrid discipline that draws insights from modern evolutionary theory, biology, anthropology, economics, computer science, and paleoarchaeology. The discipline rests on a foundation of core premises. According to... pioneers of the field Leda Cosmides and John Tooby consider five principles to be the foundation of evolutionary psychology:
-The brain is a physical system. It functions as a computer with circuits that have evolved to generate behavior that is appropriate to environmental circumstances
-Neural circuits were designed by natural selection to solve problems that human ancestors faced while evolving into Homo sapiens
-Consciousness is a small portion of the contents and processes of the mind; conscious experience can mislead individuals to believe their thoughts are simpler than they actually are. Most problems experienced as easy to solve are very difficult to solve and are driven and supported by very complicated neural circuitry
-Different neural circuits are specialized for solving different adaptive problems."
- (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_psychology)

SOCIOBIOLOGY
"Sociobiology is based on the premise that some behaviors (both social and individual) are at least partly inherited and can be affected by natural selection. It begins with the idea that behaviors have evolved over time, similar to the way that physical traits are thought to have evolved. It predicts therefore that animals will act in ways that have proven to be evolutionarily successful over time, which can among other things result in the formation of complex social processes conducive to evolutionary fitness.
The discipline seeks to explain behavior as a product of natural selection. Behavior is therefore seen as an effort to preserve one's genes in the population. Inherent in sociobiological reasoning is the idea that certain genes or gene combinations that influence particular behavioral traits can be inherited from generation to generation."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociobiology)

Basically mankind has not evolved much in the last 5000+ years. Maybe the next incarnation will be more evolved.

This article seems to interchange rape and promiscuity as if they are the same thing. Forceable rape only makes sense if the resulting child is accepted by the family/group/society in which it is born and raised. This would make sense if a woman was raped by a high ranking male in her group or kidnapped into another group. Scare resources would not be used on unwanted pregnancies or children.

The rape gene is an interesting concept. If there can be a rape gene, then it must be possible for the rape gene to encounter an anger gene, leading to a hanging gene or an electrocution gene. There have even been cases where rape genes attempted to ply their trade on the wrong victim who had a razor handy and exercised the penectomy gene, the penectomy being a surgical procedure where the penis is suddenly separated from the host of the rape gene, leading immediately to the surprise gene or the gotcha gene.

The author does not understand evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychology says the brain evolved to maximize reproductive success. The brain is also a feedback mechanism, so it's not predetermined what an individual will or will not do. People have inherited genes which affect their propensity for taking various actions. This propensity combined with cultural awareness determine an individual's responses.

I haven't read Thornhill's book but I get the impression that most of his 'ideas' are based on whimsical speculation. Is there mention of specific genes that have been identified to be related to these behaviors? I don't think so...I'd be ashamed to be a scientist who wrote such a book. His Phd should be taken away if he has one. It's too bad that there is a 'car-salesman' mentalitiy slipping in the sciences...

What a load of BULL***** Men who rape and kill are criminals not DNA victims. The explosion of pornography, loss or our moral compass, single parent households, and the constant barage of sex all over the media has certainly led to more of this behavior. This will be the new defense for criminals who rape and murder their victims. GIVE ME A BREAK criminals are criminals because of themselves and their own actions not some caveman DNA and spouses who sleep around on their mates lack moral conviction for a variety reasons they feel unloved etc.. abuse whatever the case might be but with our no fault divorce laws I am of the opinion if your unhappy then get a divorce before sleeping around. There I go again sounding like a zealot.

The evoultionary rape theory aside, rape is nothing more than power, control, domination, and humiliation of one human being over another. It is a fantasy extrapolated to a violent reality. Genetic evoultion should not now, nor should it ever be an excuse for egregious behavior.