Sex, Time, and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution
by Leonard Shlain
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Book Summary Information
Author: Leonard ShlainEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2004-08-03
ISBN: 0142004677
Number of pages: 448
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Book Reviews of Sex, Time, and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution
Book Review: Unsubstantiated Core Thesis!
Summary: 1 Stars
Based on this rating, it is obvious that I was not impressed by this book. However, unlike the other negative raters that I've read here, my biggest qualm was that he never actually substantiated his CENTRAL thesis! He asserts that "African Eve", the "mother" of all modern humans 150,000 years ago had an epiphany in which she connected sex to the dangers of childbirth. So thus, unlike her predecessors, she began to REFUSE sex! What about that choice would have made her a SUPERIOR breeder compared to her "ignorant" sisters? If anything, she would have been at an evolutionary loss. Yes, her sisters experienced an increased risk of dying in childbirth. But they also enjoyed the possibility that they might survive and/or that at least that their child/genes would! I mean, despite its dangers, it can be assumed that a significant number of women DID actually survive childbirth right? Otherwise there would be NO mothers at all!
I think this guy really believed what he was writing. And in fact, I'll admit that his female iron deficiency point WAS interesting. But his biases are clearly evident throughout the book. He pays lip service to the assertions of experts (i.e. people who have actually devoted their full time professions to collecting EVIDENCE about their hypotheses), but he clearly has his own agenda. I recommend that for his next book, Shlain should try to partner up with one of these experts to prevent the risk of sounding completely ignorant and delusional in some parts. Otherwise, he might do well to stick to medicine/physiology. After all, his brilliant point about iron deficiency clearly arose from his training as a doctor. This is a good indication that interdisciplinary idea exchange has real potential in furthering human evolutionary hypothesis-generation. But the idea would have been better applied had Shlain not so jealously hoarded it and instead, shared it with actual human evolutionary biologists who could have more appropriately integrated it into the extant body of evidence. I'm very surprised that scientists of the caliber of Donald Johanson (the discoverer of "Lucy") agreed to positively review this book! Talk about putting one's reputation on the line! Must be a remnant of the "good old boys club". After all, if nothing else, this book serves to reinforce/justify the status quo with regards to gender relations (in a very thinly veiled Eurocentric way might I add)! Disappointing...:-(
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