In other words, the male wants to maximize his reproductive success and the number of offspring that he sires, which is why extra pair copulation — meaning, cheating by mating with someone else besides his monogamous partner, then ditching her — is useful to him. The female only wants to mate with the male she chose as her mating partner, wanting her offspring to inherit the genetic benefits of that male only; thus, she doesn’t want to extra-pair copulate.
Well, yes, ducks are at the extreme of the actions that facilitate this, that’s true. “Duck Rape” is a real thing.
Ducks are mostly socially monogamous, forming a bond with a single partner per breeding season. These bonds are formed by female choice, while the males compete by giving vocal and visual ritual displays in which they show off their colorful plumage to prove their “quality.”
OK.
Sexual conflict occurs when there is a difference in the mating strategies benefitting the male and the female of a species.
The thing being that’s extant in all species. The logic is the same for all even as the expression is different. And, of course, it’s also true in humans. Trying to insist we stand out above all this is to make the same error as any other attempt to insist we’re all above evolution and game theory.
OK, now try to talk to the Salon folks about how men and women are – slightly perhaps – different because of different mating strategies……
“the male wants to maximize his reproductive success”: I don’t think I’ve ever met a male who had that conscious desire. Maybe it’s unconscious? More likely he just wants his end away and reproduction is a mere side-effect.
So the question really becomes why do males enjoy heughmagandie so much? I suppose the answer is evolution in the simplest way – it’s the males who most enjoy it who shag most and therefore (until modern times) breed most. They therefore breed more male children who will have the same enthusiasm.
So “want to maximise reproductive success” is really just a rather lame metaphor for what does matter. You can test this notion by remembering what you were like when you were eighteen: did you really want to spawn lots of nippers?
dearieme,
What we are describing is a ladder state transition system. You don’t desire the top of the ladder, which would be grandchildren, you desire the next rung. Rinse and repeat. Many biological systems work like this because it’s easy to implement.
Salon… Tackling the tough subjects.
>The female only wants to mate with the male she chose as her mating partner, wanting her offspring to inherit the genetic benefits of that male only; thus, she doesn’t want to extra-pair copulate.
This is hopelessly naive. The female wants her offspring to be supported by a male, but have the best genes possible, so she wants to copulate with the most successful male she can find, and convince any male to support her and her offspring, either by deceiving him into thinking they’re his, or by offering him some children that are his if he takes care of all of hers including the ones that aren’t.
>did you really want to spawn lots of nippers?
No, but for some reason I wanted to “copulate with” anything that resembled a woman. Nippers would have been the obvious consequence.
Remember that the female desires not only the genes of the male, but also the resources to help feed the offspring.
And it is that need that stirs males to pick a particular partner, so that his offspring by her will have adequate resources. Of course he might father some on the side, but unless he has vast resources their chances of surviving to adulthood are diminished by the lack of resources.
“…but for some reason I wanted to “copulate with” anything that resembled a woman”. Me too, and quite a few that resembled women only slightly. Ah, those were the days.
Pat is spot on the money. Jess Thomson has never heard of Territory.
We should all have had 10 kids minimum for the white race. Discuss.
O/T but the student Trots at LSE want to ban the Hayek Society, no platform free marketers and establish a David Graeber lecture series….
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/lse-students-demand-abolition-of-hayek-society
@ MC
And do they want to pay for it themselves?
So not much has changed in 35 years then….
We should all have had 10 kids minimum for the white race. Discuss.
No thanks, Adolph. You work it out with the voices in your head.
@Dennis, But nice to see that Ecks is repeating the sort of stuff that Fitzgerald parodied in Gatsby. Shows a respect for historical continuity.
Anything that involves you reproducing, Ecksy, is a very bad idea.
The sex life of sparrows would make your great aunt blush.
As opposed to a Tory mug like you Theo? At least I don’t pay voluntary fees so those trying to destroy my values can have weekends away with their scrubber of the month. How’s that “Bulwark of Marxism” –sorry “Bulwark against Marxism” cockrot working out for you these days? Got a nice wallet picked out for your vax pass? And you can take comfort from knowing that if Blojob and his gang win they will be lording it minutely over your daughters until the day said daughters die. And you paid to help it happen.
Voices in the head Denise? The odds are that you are a fat bald cunt who rides a middle-aged mugs motor cycle Den old girl. And 10 kids out of you would be just 10 more Biden fans. They might end up as his backside wiping team if they really got on in the world.
Phillip K–never read the book so I don’t know or care what you are on about. I doubt I am alone in that.