| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
Bias Toward Male Aggression
This book addresses a fourth bias that is widely present in human culture, that of aggression. In writing history, which was until recently done largely by men, male conquests and wars were showcased. Families want safety and serenity in their lives, but historians preferred to report on the clash of nations. A country living in peace for 200 years often became of interest to historians only after it embarked on a war.
Aggression has also biased the study of primate behavior during human evolution. The worship of male aggression in human cultures has tainted some of the research on primates and falsified the story of how human beings evolved from their early primate ancestors to the present.
Types of Aggression
Most animals have inherited the potential to be aggressive, which can be defined here as engaging in assaults to harm, defeat, or defend against another animal or animals in battle. Three basic types of aggression exist in social animal species. First, and probably most important, is aggression against neighboring groups that might try to annex territory or harm some members of a group. Social animals must be ready and able to fight to maintain group integrity, including being willing to lose their lives in an attack by a predator. Second, aggression is used by carnivores and a few primate species that hunt and eat meat. These two types of aggression are positive for social groups.1 The third type, which is animals quarreling within a group, can be negative for some group members or the group itself. It undermines collegiality, destroys coalitions, and stresses group members, jeopardizing their health.
For our purpose in this book, we limit the discussion to the third type of aggression: fighting within a group, not against other groups, predators, or prey. Most such struggles involve adult males battling each other.