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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/14/feminists-end-distrust-science-killer-whales
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| Feminists should end their distrust of science | Feminists should end their distrust of science |
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| Scientists at the universities of Exeter and York have revealed new details about the menopause in killer whales. Studying orcas in the wild has shown that females live unusually far beyond their fertile years because of the benefits their accumulated knowledge bring to the group, as well as the lifelong support they give their sons. | Scientists at the universities of Exeter and York have revealed new details about the menopause in killer whales. Studying orcas in the wild has shown that females live unusually far beyond their fertile years because of the benefits their accumulated knowledge bring to the group, as well as the lifelong support they give their sons. |
| Related: The Guardian view on granny orcas: nothing to do with humans | Editorial | Related: The Guardian view on granny orcas: nothing to do with humans | Editorial |
| Evolutionary researchers have been quick to draw comparisons between orcas and humans. Could early human societies also have evolved to rely on the invaluable wisdom and help of female elders? | Evolutionary researchers have been quick to draw comparisons between orcas and humans. Could early human societies also have evolved to rely on the invaluable wisdom and help of female elders? |
| These comparisons, though, have been a little too quick for some. A Guardian leader column, for example, concluded that scientific conundrums like these are “irrelevant” to feminist theory. Human values have nothing to do with what science tells us about how we evolved. And whale research tells us only about whales. | These comparisons, though, have been a little too quick for some. A Guardian leader column, for example, concluded that scientific conundrums like these are “irrelevant” to feminist theory. Human values have nothing to do with what science tells us about how we evolved. And whale research tells us only about whales. |
| Feminism and science have long had an uneasy relationship. That’s hardly surprising. Charles Darwin expressed as scientific theory his opinion that women are the less evolved sex, and other Victorian biologists claimed women could never catch up to men in the evolutionary race to higher intelligence and creativity. Likewise, through the 20th century, male scientists suggested that women had tiny sex drives, that the orgasm was an evolutionary vestige of male anatomy, and that women had smaller brains corresponding to smaller intellects. | Feminism and science have long had an uneasy relationship. That’s hardly surprising. Charles Darwin expressed as scientific theory his opinion that women are the less evolved sex, and other Victorian biologists claimed women could never catch up to men in the evolutionary race to higher intelligence and creativity. Likewise, through the 20th century, male scientists suggested that women had tiny sex drives, that the orgasm was an evolutionary vestige of male anatomy, and that women had smaller brains corresponding to smaller intellects. |
| Scientists have often looked at women as the inferior sex (some still do), threatening the cause of women’s rights with biological determinism. So it makes sense that feminists have returned their gaze with suspicion. | Scientists have often looked at women as the inferior sex (some still do), threatening the cause of women’s rights with biological determinism. So it makes sense that feminists have returned their gaze with suspicion. |
| The problem is that dismissing science as a body of knowledge means ignoring the best means we have of understanding ourselves. Like all sets of ideas, we need to see science for what it is: an imperfect but promising road to the facts. Correcting itself along the way – and there’s no doubt that corrections are needed – it explains our bodies, minds and place in the universe. | The problem is that dismissing science as a body of knowledge means ignoring the best means we have of understanding ourselves. Like all sets of ideas, we need to see science for what it is: an imperfect but promising road to the facts. Correcting itself along the way – and there’s no doubt that corrections are needed – it explains our bodies, minds and place in the universe. |
| Far from irrelevant, then, science should be a useful resource for feminists. When we are told that women are natural homemakers, it can tell us what “natural” really means. When people claim women are intellectually less able, science can expose this as nonsense. The more research, the more we learn just how much the gaps we see are rooted in society and culture, not in biology. | |
| Scientists have often looked at women as inferior, threatening the cause of women’s rights with biological determinism | Scientists have often looked at women as inferior, threatening the cause of women’s rights with biological determinism |
| Evolutionary biology offers us the long view. Animal data is important because humans didn’t evolve independently. We share common ancestors with other species. When the menopause – practically unknown among other species – happens to orcas as well as to us, we must pay attention. They provide clues that may help explain how we adapted to our ancient environments. They are part of our history. Very distant history, maybe, but history nonetheless. | Evolutionary biology offers us the long view. Animal data is important because humans didn’t evolve independently. We share common ancestors with other species. When the menopause – practically unknown among other species – happens to orcas as well as to us, we must pay attention. They provide clues that may help explain how we adapted to our ancient environments. They are part of our history. Very distant history, maybe, but history nonetheless. |
| Being as far removed as we are now from how our earliest ancestors lived, we may assume our evolutionary story doesn’t matter. The societies we’ve constructed, which bear testament to humankind’s mastery over nature, have nothing to do with hunting, gathering, or cavewomen crouched over fires. But the story does have the power to answer that dark, niggling question that is still asked: is the sexual inequality we see today rooted in something biological? Is it an essential difference, dating back to the dawn of human life? | Being as far removed as we are now from how our earliest ancestors lived, we may assume our evolutionary story doesn’t matter. The societies we’ve constructed, which bear testament to humankind’s mastery over nature, have nothing to do with hunting, gathering, or cavewomen crouched over fires. But the story does have the power to answer that dark, niggling question that is still asked: is the sexual inequality we see today rooted in something biological? Is it an essential difference, dating back to the dawn of human life? |
| The old ideas of Darwin’s time are already giving way to more accurate accounts of our evolutionary history. The menopause represents one of the most exciting areas of research about women. Here, we see cruel notions about older women being useless to society, or sexually unwanted, are being superseded by compelling new theories. According to anthropologist Kristen Hawkes at the University of Utah, who has done the most work on this, women evolved to survive so far past menopausal age because, in our past, they were crucial to our survival – much like female orcas. The evidence so far backs her up. | The old ideas of Darwin’s time are already giving way to more accurate accounts of our evolutionary history. The menopause represents one of the most exciting areas of research about women. Here, we see cruel notions about older women being useless to society, or sexually unwanted, are being superseded by compelling new theories. According to anthropologist Kristen Hawkes at the University of Utah, who has done the most work on this, women evolved to survive so far past menopausal age because, in our past, they were crucial to our survival – much like female orcas. The evidence so far backs her up. |
| Science can help rewrite the story of woman. This is where the final frontier of feminism really lies. As Hawkes says: “If you’re really paying attention to biology, how can you not be a feminist?” | Science can help rewrite the story of woman. This is where the final frontier of feminism really lies. As Hawkes says: “If you’re really paying attention to biology, how can you not be a feminist?” |