The Caveman Mystique: Pop-Darwinism and the Debates Over Sex, Violence, and Science

Ever since Darwin first penned his theories about evolution, scientists have used his ideas to promote gender stereotypes: men are hunters, women are gatherers; men are driven by the need to inseminate as many women as possible, women are driven to find one provider. Beyond the caricatures, the implications for evolutionary theory are wide-ranging and have attributed to our notions about the division between the sexes.Martha McCaughey tells the story of evolutionary theory's influence on the popular understanding of masculinity, addressing issues of sexual competition, scientific and psychological explanations of homosexuality, rape, and the establishment of gender binaries in popular culture.Martha McCaughey is the author of 'The Caveman Mystique: Pop-Darwinism and the Debates Over Sex, Violence, and Science', published 2007 under ISBN 9780415934756 and ISBN 0415934753.