The Battle of the Sexes

[Teep]

Once upon a time, the reproductive cells of any one species of animals were all the same size. There was no gender. Just eggs, merging. Over time, variation caused some eggs to be slightly bigger than others. These eggs contained more food, and thus provided a better head start for the individuals they'd become. Being successful, individuals producing these eggs spread, and the eggs grew until one single egg contained enough nourishment for the entire embryo. This gave rise to a new type of individual. The opportunist. Creating smaller reproductive cells, that actively seek out the big eggs and take advantage of their nutrition store, the opportunist was able to create far more reproductive cells. Being successful, the opportunists spread as well, and their reproductive cells became smaller and more mobile. The opportunists didn't spread indefinately, though. A natural balance emerged, between the two types of individuals.



Every individual's biological purpose in life is to spread as many of his or her genes, with as little cost as possible. Spreading genes does not merely mean producing children, but producing healthy children that have a good chance of producing healthy children themselves when they grow up. The best way to achieve this is to mate as often as possible and let the other take care of rearing the children. The first individual to leave a relationship has the upper hand. That individual forces upon the other parent the difficult choice of abandoning the child and leaving it to die, or try and bring it up by him or herself. As the female invests more in the child from the start, producing the bigger reproductive cell, the female is less likely to abandon the child. It will, quite simply, cost her more to have another go with some other man. Thus, the male is more likely to screw around.

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[Teep]

The female, however, does have one ace up her sleeve. She can refuse to mate. Her valuable treasure, the big and nutritious egg, gives her the upper hand in any pre-mating negotiations. The female's job is to judge whether the male wooing her, is likely to stick with her after mating with her. The more time the male spends wooing the female, the more likely he is to stick around, as by the time they have mated, his investment in the child has increased significantly as well. He could leave, but he'd have to start wooing another female all over again. Going even further, the female can demand additional investments of the male as well, like building a nest, thus increasing his investment even further. There is an advantage in a long period of courtship for the male as well. If he can keep other males away from the female he is courting, he is sure that the child she brings forth is his, and not the kid of some other male that left her on a previous occasion.



Ofcourse, if the male does grow tired of the female's demands, he can break the courtship and go and find a less demanding female. He might stumble upon a female that is a much easier lay. She will be quite successful, as she'll have no trouble finding males and most males she mates with will be used to sticking around anyway as this is what most females demand. Her type will spread, which will in turn cause a spread of 'playa' type males, taking advantage of these promiscuous females. As the players turn out to make lousy dads, the females playing hard-to-get will again have an advantage, as they are able to pick out the loyal males. Once again, a natural balance between these four types of individuals will emerge.



One last consideration: as females put in a bigger investment, they have to take more care that the children they produce are healthy and fertile. A tendency to be picky, to choose a partner that's not too closely related (as this will increase the chances of genetic disorders) or too remotely related (as is the case with a horse breeding with a donkey, producing a sterile mule), brings advantages to a female. Putting in a much smaller investment, the male has less reason to be picky. Therefore, incest and bestiality is more commonly instigated by males.

Based upon "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins

[idbeholda]

Very well written. It certainly puts humans into perspective, though.

[kweejee]

Interesting way to think about it.

[Teep]

*grin* Well, of course there are a few exceptions :P

No, seriously... everything I stated is a gross generalization... it's just interesting to see how closely some biological motives resemble behavior we see in everyday life.