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Abstract
Within the last thirty years, feminist theories investigaing the determinants of human behaviour have been challenged by the controversial development of evolutionary biology. Evolutionary biologists have proposed that human rape evolved as either an adaptive trait or a by-product of natural selection whereas feminist theories view rape as an symptom of societies' patriarchal heritage. This essay provides a comparison of evolutionary and feminist perspectives on rape and critiques Thornhill and Palmers thesis by discussing their flawed methodologies, non-representative sample populations and lack of supportive evidence to defend their theory. A biosocial theory of rape which considers the implications of male sex hormones on behaviour whilst retaining certain elements from other rape theories, is proposed as a superior alternative to evolutionary biology explanations of rape.



Does rape have an evolutionary basis?
Within the last thirty years, a notable schism......

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Approximate Word Count: 2899
Approximate Pages: 12 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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