Texas, Taliban, and Apes

Who controls female reproduction in Texas?
Males do. Powerful males.

A gorilla would understand that.

The Texas legislature essentially banned abortion beginning even before a woman knows she is pregnant. The Texas governor just assured Texas women that he would protect them from being raped.

The movement to ban abortion is being carried out under false pretenses. It isn't about the fetus. If it were about the fetus, the laws would be assurances for pre-natal health care, day care, and early childhood education.  Banning abortion is about males controlling female reproduction. It is a story as current as the Taliban putting veils on women and as old as primates living in trees. That reality must be ignored or denied because it is so contrary to our professed values of the dignity and autonomy and equal citizenship of women. It is an insult to women, but it is happening--for a reason. 

Hogan Sherrow sheds some light on that reason.

Hogan Sherrow

Hogan Sherrow is a Fulbright Scholar and has a Ph.D. in Evolutionary Anthropology from Yale University. He has studied the behavior and ecology of humans and other animals on three different continents, specializing in the evolution of political behavior, tribalism, leadership, and aggression. Hogan now consults for individuals, organizations, and campaigns, here in the Rogue Valley as Owner of You Evolving, LLC, www.you-evolving.com.

Guest Post by Hogan Sherrow

Texans and the Taliban: An Evolutionary Perspective

The Taliban and Texas. On the surface the two don’t seem to have much in common. Texas is staunchly patriotic to the United States (except when they are trying to secede from the Union), overwhelmingly Christian and largely of European, Central American, or Native American descent. The Taliban operates out of Afghanistan, but has no state level allegiance, is strictly Islamic and of Arabic, Afghani, or Pakistani descent.

Despite their deep differences the leaders of the Taliban and the leaders of Texas are eerily similar in one aspect, they continue to do everything they can to control women’s bodies, and their reproductive choices. The Taliban is far more militant and draconian in their efforts than our countrymen in the Lone Star state. They keep women confined to their homes unless escorted by a male relative, prevent them from going to school, and execute women who are accused of adultery. In Texas, things are a bit more subtle, but maintain the same goals. The latest efforts by Texas Republicans and their allies are focused on banning abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected and are a clear attack on the rights of women to control their own bodies and reproduction. Both groups justify their attacks on women based on their religious beliefs.

To some, it might seem that the control of women’s bodies and reproduction is just about power and control, or that it is guided by religion. While both of those are true to some extent, power, control, and religion only scratch the surface of the dynamics at play. The core of this behavior goes much deeper, and it begins with the very way mammals reproduce. Females gestate offspring inside their bodies, and always know that their offspring are their own. This is not the case for males, as they can never be completely sure that any given child is theirs. As a result, male mammals use a whole range of strategies to try to sway the reproductive odds in their favor. From monogamy to promiscuity and sperm competition to harems, efforts by male mammals to influence, or in some cases control female reproductive behavior is common. Primates, the biological Order we belong to, are not immune to efforts to assure or increase paternity. In fact, among our closest living relatives, in apes we see nearly all the strategies used by males to influence or control females played out in a real-time forest setting.

Gorillas are well known for establishing harems, with one powerful male attracting multiple females as mates. So long as the male successfully leads and protects the group, females will stay bonded to and mate with him. However, if the male fails in his responsibilities, she will leave him and find a new male to join. Among our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees, and bonobos we see drastically different approaches used by males in mating. Chimpanzee males use intimidation and force to impress females and females, in turn favor those males that are the loudest or most violent toward them, and who have the highest rank within the dominance hierarchy. Dominance among male chimpanzees is extremely important because higher ranking males get more mating opportunities. Bonobos are a completely different story, with high-ranking females dominating males, and every community member being a potential or real sexual partner. Male bonobos have no choice but to treat every baby bonobo as their own.

In Kibale National Forest, Uganda

What is playing out half-way around the world and deep in the heart of Texas is, at its basest, rawest form what males have been doing to females for millions of years and what men have been doing to women for millennia. From Chinese foot-binding, to virgin marriages, to public stonings, to outlawing abortions, men have long sought to control the bodies and reproduction of women. While the laws and policies enacted by Mohammad Hasan Akhund’s Taliban and Governor Greg Abbott’s Texas Administration are dangerous and threaten the freedom and safety of women, they are not surprising from an evolutionary perspective. They are exactly what we expect to see when males act out primal behaviors, without checks and balances to keep them in order. What those checks and balances should be will be the topic of another post.