In this episode we continue our conversation based upon Chapters 3 & 4 of Lucy Cooke's book Bitch: on the female of the species. We started off the conversation doing a deep dive on the famous Bateman experiment that purported to reveal 3 principles concerning variation in male and female reproductive success and how those differences drive sexual selection. After reviewing the experiments and what they were reported to show, Sarah then discussed some more recent papers that closely re-analyzed the original 1948 experiment and how that revealed critical flaws and biases in the study which weakens the strength of its conclusion. We were left with thinking it is more Bateman Hypothesis than Bateman's Principles.
Once we established that it is not correct to characterize females as being coy and unwilling to mate more than once, we explored the reasons why females would exhibit a level of promiscuity that rivals that expected from males. We discussed the orgasm as a feature in sexual activity and how scientists have tried to characterize this physiological response in other non-human primates.
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| Image of O face adapted from drawing in Bitch from Chevalier-Skolnikoff's research. |
We had a spirited conversation about the evolution of the female orgasm and how it might influence females seeking multiple mates.
We ended the podcast with a discussion of sexual cannibalism. We explored the reasons why, in some species of spiders, the males are so much smaller than the adult females which facilitates her eating the male. Although killing and eating a potential mate seems maladaptive, we discussed the various reasons why it may be adaptive for the female and for the male to kill or be killed.
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| Post mating cannibalism in a web building spider. Image from Schneider 2014 |
The opening theme to Discovering Darwin is "May" by Jared C. Balogh. http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Balogh/Revitalized_Eyes/MAY
Interlude music
Girls Just Want To Have Fun. Song by Cyndi Lauper
Maneater. Song by Hall & Oats
