No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Staying alive enhances both women's and men's fitness
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 July 2022
Abstract
We argue that Benenson et al. need to consider not only sex differences in the effects of care on offspring survival but also in age-specific fertility when predicting how longevity affects fitness. We review evidence that staying alive has important effects on both women's and men's fitness, and encourage consideration of alternative explanations for observed sex differences in threat responses.
- Type
- Open Peer Commentary
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press
References
Benenson, J. F., Webb, C. E., & Wrangham, R. W. (2021). Self-protection as an adaptive female strategy. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Accepted manuscript, 1–86. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X21002417CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blurton Jones, N. G. (2016). Demography and evolutionary ecology Hadza hunter gatherers. University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Boyette, A. H., Lew-Levy, S., Sarma, M. S., Valchy, M., & Gettler, L. T. (2019). Fatherhood, egalitarianism, and child health in two small-scale societies in the Republic of the Congo. American Journal of Human Biology, 32(4), e23342. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23342Google ScholarPubMed
Campbell, A. (1999). Staying alive: Evolution, culture, and women's intrasexual aggression. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22(2), 203–214.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hill, K., & Hurtado, A. M. (2009). Cooperative breeding in South American hunter–gatherers. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 276(1674), 3863–3870. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.1061CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marlowe, F. (2000). The patriarch hypothesis: An alternative explanation of menopause. Human Nature, 11, 27–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meehan, C. L., Helfrecht, C., & Quinlan, R. J. (2014). Cooperative breeding and Aka children's nutritional status: Is flexibility key? American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 153(4), 513–525. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22415CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muller, M. N., Blurton Jones, N. G., Colchero, F., Thompson, M. E., Enigk, D. K., Feldblum, J. T., … Pusey, A. E. (2020). Sexual dimorphism in chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) and human age-specific fertility. Journal of Human Evolution, 144, 102795. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102795CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nisén, J., Martikainen, P., Silventoinen, K., & Myrskylä, M. (2014). Age-specific fertility by educational level in the Finnish male cohort born 1940–1950. Demographic Research, 31, 119–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sear, R., & Mace, R. (2008). Who keeps children alive? A review of the effects of kin on child survival. Evolution and Human Behavior, 29(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2007.10.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuljapurkar, S. D., Puleston, C. O., & Gurven, M. D. (2007). Why men matter: Mating patterns drive evolution of human lifespan. PLoS ONE, 2(8), e785. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0000785CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Target article
Self-protection as an adaptive female strategy
Related commentaries (22)
An expanded “staying alive” theory (SAT) underplays complexity in Homo sapiens
Beyond individual sex differences: “Staying alive theory” as an adaptive complex
Biological sex, by-products, and other continuous variables
Female advantage in threat avoidance manifests in threat reaction but not threat detection
Harm or protection? Two-sided consequences of females' susceptible responses to multiple threats
Only as a last resort: Sociocultural differences between women and men explain women's heightened reaction to threat, not evolutionary principles
Pathological complexity and the evolution of sex differences
Psychological and behavioral implications of self-protection and self-enhancement
Sex differences are insufficient evidence of ecological adaptations in human females
Sex differences in longevity are relative, not independent
Sex-dependent selection, ageing, and implications for “staying alive”
Societies also prioritize female survival
Somatic maintenance/reproduction tradeoffs and human evolution
Staying alive enhances both women's and men's fitness
Staying alive includes adaptations for catalyzing cooperation
The pregnancy compensation hypothesis, not the staying alive theory, accounts for disparate autoimmune functioning of women around the world
The “staying alive” theory reinforces stereotypes and shows women's lower quality of life
Toward a more domain-specific conceptualization of female traits: A commentary on Benenson et al. (2022)
Women amid the COVID-19 pandemic: Self-protection through the behavioral immune system
Women need to stay alive and protect reproductive choice
Women take risks to help others to stay alive
“Staying alive” in the context of intimate partner abuse
Author response
Females undergo selection too