The Female Turn: How Evolutionary Science Shifted Perceptions About Females

Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Figures
1: Introduction
	What is Sexual Selection?
	Sexual Selection from a Gender Perspective
	Theoretical Framework
	Epistemology of Ignorance
	Situated Knowledges
	Materials
	Relations to Interviewees and Impact on Knowledge-Making
	Outline of the Chapters
	References
2: An Early Female Turn in Primate Research
	Early Western Primatology
	Shifting Perceptions About Females
		Females Are Not Coy and Passive
		Female Dominance
		Changing Methodology
		Changing Language
		Primate Models for Human Evolution
		Female Orgasm
		Multiple Feminist Strategies
	Sarah Blaffer Hrdy: Feminist Pioneer in Primatology
		Infanticide as a Sexually Selected Reproductive Strategy
		Empathy with Females of Other Species
		A Male-Biased Field
		Male-Biased Responses
		Criticizing Ignorance of Females in Evolutionary Biology
		Challenging Assumptions About Mothers and Care
		A Feminist Pioneer
	Meredith Small: Female Primates and Their Power Relations
		The Influence of the Study Species
		Questioning Prevailing Assumptions About Choosy Females
		Experiences of Resistance
		Small’s Situated Knowledges
	Overlooked Females in Anthropology: Man the Hunter and Woman the Gatherer
	Japanese Primatology: Early Recognition of Female Power
		A Sociological Perspective on Primates and the Human-Animal Continuum
		Influence on International Primatology
	Anthropomorphism and Empathy
	Primatology Politics
	Influence of Women, Feminism and Gender-Reflective Approaches on Primatology
	Chapter Conclusions
	References
3: Turning Appreciation of Female Choice
	A Contextual Gender History of Charles Darwin’s Sexual Selection
	The Darwin-Wallace Debate over Female Choice
	The Scientific Community’s Response to Sexual Selection
	Early Feminist Appreciation and Critique of Sexual Selection
	The Eclipse of Sexual Selection
		Marginalized Sexual Selection
		Bateman’s Experiment
		Disciplinary Boundaries Affect Knowledge Transfer
		Different Versions of Eclipse Narratives
	1970s’ Forceful Revival of Sexual Selection
		Shifting from Group to Individual Selection
		Parental Investment Theory
		Sociobiology
	Malte Andersson—Pioneering Female Choice Studies in Birds
		Ending the Female Choice Controversy
		State-of-the-Art in Sexual Selection in 1994
		Subsequent Research on Female Ornaments
		Lack of Resistance to Female Choice
	The Modern Development of Sexual Selection
		An Expanding Field of Study
	Zuleyma Tang-Martínez—Criticizing the Darwin-Bateman Paradigm
	Chapter Conclusions
	References
4: A Female Turn in Bird Research
	“The Polyandry Revolution”
	Classical Study Species
	Assumptions of Monogamous Females
	Technical Innovations
	Assumptions of Passive Females
		Casting Doubt upon Early Interpretations of Active Females
	Shifting Perceptions toward Active Females
	Patricia Gowaty—Feminist Pioneer on Polyandry, Female Aggression and Female Agency
		Reporting Polyandry in a Socially Monogamous Bird
		Surrounded by Parentage Detectives
		Aggressive Females
		Feminist Influences and Interventions
		Pushing Boundaries
	Simon Griffith—From Extra-Pair Paternity to Pair-Bonds
		Studying Sexual Selection in European Model Species
		Studying Australian Birds
		Experiences of Shifting Perceptions
		Controversy over Interpretations of Female Agency in Extra-Pair Copulations
		Cryptic Female Choice in Birds
	The Influence of Study Species
	Chapter Conclusions
	References
5: Shifting Perceptions about Female Insects, Snakes, Frogs, Lizards, Fishes and Spiders
	Insect Research—Early Knowledge about Female Multiple Mating
	Darryl Gwynne—Experimenting with “Gender Fluid” Insects
		Flexibility in “Sex Roles”
		Gwynne’s View of Sex Differences
		Gwynne’s Situated Knowledges
	Snake Research: Rick Shine—Benefits of Female Multiple Mating and Ecological Causes of Sex Differences
		Female Adders Benefit from Multiple Mating
		Feminist Influences
		New Findings on Female Reproduction
		Ecological Causes of Sex Differences
		Shine’s Contribution
	Jesús Rivas—Disclosing Widespread Female Multiple Mating among Snakes
		Human Bias against Other Species
	Frog Research—No Controversy over Female Multiple Mating
	Mike Ryan—Understanding Frog Mate Choice “through the brain of the female”
		Sensory Exploitation and Female Agency
		Ryan’s Approach
	Lizard Research—A Late Shift toward Acknowledging Female Multiple Mating and Active Females
	Fish Research—Feminists Highlight the Role of Females
		Shifting Perceptions of Females in Fish Research
		Feminist Interventions
		Currently Understudied Issues
	Spider Research—An Idiosyncratic History of Sexual Selection
		A Natural Historian’s Perspective on Spider Sexual Selection
		Discovering Cryptic Female Choice in Spiders
		Taxonomic Resistance
	Taxonomic Bias
	Chapter Conclusions
	References
6: Sexual Selection After Mating: Turning Perceptions of Female Agency
	Geoff Parker: Founding Sperm Competition
		Pioneering Sexual Selection Studies
		Female Perspectives
		Being in a Male Phenotype
		The Reception of Sperm Competition
		Response to Cryptic Female Choice
		Parker’s Situated Knowledges
	Randy Thornhill: Coining Cryptic Female Choice and a Career Ripe with Controversies
		Developing the Idea of Crypic Female Choice
		Reception of Thornhill’s Research
		Coining Cryptic Female Choice
		Development of Cryptic Female Choice Research
	William Eberhard: Developing the Big Picture of Cryptic Female Choice
		Interest in the Diversity of Animal Genitals
		Ignorance of Cryptic Female Choice
	Controversy Over Cryptic Female Choice
		Initial Response: Reviews of Female Control
		Recognition and Skepticism of Cryptic Female Choice
		Eberhard’s Response to the Skepticism
		Debate About Female Sperm Choice
		Problematizing the Dichotomy Between Sperm Competition and Cryptic Female Choice
		Reformulating the Definition of Cryptic Female Choice
		Continued Underestimation of Cryptic Female Choice
		Current State of Cryptic Female Choice in the Scientific Community
		Are Females Harder to Study?
	Leigh Simmons: Female Choice and Sperm Competition in Insects
		Controversy Over Cryptic Female Choice in Yellow Dung Flies
		Variability in Female Genitals
		New Technology Enables Looking into Female-Male Genital Interactions
	Postcopulatory Sexual Selection in Birds
		Initial Neglect of Cryptic Female Choice in Bird Research
		Ignorance of the Fertility Assurance Hypothesis
		Evidence of Cryptic Female Choice in Gouldian Finches
		Production of Ignorance About Cryptic Female Choice in Birds
	Sexual Conflict: Another Example of Male Precedence
	Chapter Conclusions
	References
7: Conclusions: An Epistemology of Ignorance in Sexual Selection
	The Turn Metaphor
	Situated Knowledges and Ignorance Production in Sexual Selection
		Formulation of the Theory
		Reception of the Theory
		Forming the Sexual Selection Field
		Early Female Turn in Primatology
		Bird Research
		Insect Research
		Snake Research
		Frog Research
		Fish Research
		Spider Research
		Not a Uniform Shift
		The Study Species’ Influences
	Mechanisms of Ignorance Production in Sexual Selection
		A Repeated Pattern of Male Precedence
		Loss of Acquired Knowledge
		Undermining Authority of Certain Knowers
		Cultivating Ignorance by Not Citing
	Continued Male Bias
		Contrasting Sexual Selection in Males and Females
	Why Is Sexual Selection in Females Still Understudied?
		An Alternative Female Turn
		Sexual Selection Definitions
		Sexual Selection Is Assumed to Be Lesser or Non-existent in Females
		The Overlooked Issue of Social Selection
		Harder to Study Females
	Gender and Science
	My Situated Knowledges About the Female Turn
	References
Appendix 1
	Selection of Interviewees
	List of Interviewees
	Additional Researchers Contacted by E-mail
Index