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Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told

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Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the General Endowment Fund of the University of California Press Foundation. Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You Busting Myths about Human Nature Agustín Fuentes UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley • Los Angeles • London University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu. University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England © 2012 by The Regents of the University of California Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fuentes, Agustín. Race, monogamy, and other lies they told you : Busting myths about human nature / Agustín Fuentes. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-520-26971-2 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Behavioral evolution. 2. Human behavior. 3. Human evolution. 4. Social evolution. 5. Physical anthropology. I. Title. BF 698.95. F85 2012 155.7—dc23 2011049949 Manufactured in the United States of America 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 In keeping with a commitment to support environmentally responsible and sustainable printing practices, UC Press has printed this book on Rolland Enviro100, a 100% post-consumer fi ber paper that is FSC certifi ed, deinked, processed chlorine-free, and manufactured with renewable biogas energy. It is acid-free and EcoLogo certifi ed. Contents List of Illustrations vii Preface ix Acknowledgments xv PART 1. MYTH-BUSTING TOOL KIT 1. Myths about Human Nature Are Powerful—and Misleading 3 2. Culture—Problems with What We Believe about Being Human 27 3. Evolution Is Important—but May Not Be What We Think 42 PART 2. BUSTING THREE MYTHS ABOUT BEING HUMAN Prelude: Human ≠ Nature + Nurture 65 4. The Myth of Race 70 5. Myths about Aggression 114 6. Myths about Sex 156 7. Beyond the Myths: Now What? 207 Appendix: Getting the Information Yourself 217 Notes 221 Bibliography 251 Index 265 Illustrations 1. Types of relationships between genes and traits / 48 2. Geographical distribution and frequencies of the blood types A and B / 77 3. Venn diagram of human genetic diversity / 84 4. Geographical distribution of skin color patterns and UV light / 89 5. West Papuan children with author / 93 6. Size comparison of human male and female / 161 7. Range of overlap for differences in male and female heights / 162 8. Comparison of overlap in male and female heights versus overlap in male-female psychological gender differences / 178 Preface Three major myths—about race, aggression, and sex—have a negative impact on our society and inhibit an accurate understanding of what it means to be human. These myths create a false set of societally accepted “truths” that in turn cause a range of problems for us. The myth that humans are divided into biological races—that black, white, Asian, etc. are natural categories—helps generate and maintain intolerance and inequality, and leads to diffi culties in creating and sustaining communities in our increasingly diverse society. The myth that removing the constraints of culture and civilization reveals the innate, violent beast within us (especially in men) restricts how we can relate to one another, encourages fear, and enables an acceptance of certain kinds of abuse and violence as natural or inevitable. The myth that men and women are dramatically different in behavior, desires, and perspectives due to natural differences in “internal wiring” facilitates poor intersexual relations, creates and maintains sexual inequality, and causes a range of problems for individual men and women laboring under a preconception about who and how they are supposed to be. Busting myths of human nature is not like busting the myth that a tooth left in Coca-Cola overnight will dissolve or that humans only use 10 percent of their brains. Most false beliefs are clearly refutable with a single, usually simple, test. There is not going to be one, or even a few, simple tests that will destroy every piece of the myths about race, aggression, and sex, but we can still show that they are wrong. There ix x | Preface are information, data, and concepts out there that will demonstrate that these myths are false. Busting myths about human nature requires some effort. It means breaking the stranglehold of simplicity in our view of what is natural and forcing ourselves to realize that being human is very complicated. It means challenging common sense and our reliance on generalities and popular perception, and actually delving into the gritty details of what we know humans actually do. This is the goal of the book and, hopefully, by the time you get to the last page, you will agree that the major myths about race, aggression, and sex are neither correct nor do they explain core parts of human nature. To get you to that place I have a plan. At some points in the book it might not seem like it, but rest assured, I do. It turns out that to be able to bust these myths we need to have a shared baseline of understanding, a starting point of knowledge from which to tackle the myths them- selves. This baseline includes what we mean by “myth” and “human nature” and why these two things are so important in our society. It also includes what culture, evolution, and genes are and how they infl uence you and me and everyone else on the planet. The biggest challenge is to present this information in a way that covers enough concepts and details and yet boils them down into a few salient points: a basic myth-busting tool kit. The fi rst three chapters of the book are this tool kit and the set-up for the real work of busting myths about human nature that occurs in chapters 4–6. The fi nal chapter provides a set of take-home points and some concluding thoughts. There is also an appendix that serves as a quick primer on how to bust myths about human nature yourself. WHY SHOULD YOU BELIEVE WHAT I HAVE TO SAY? Actually, I don’t want you to believe me, but I do expect that after reading this book you’ll be in a better position to make up your mind for yourself on the main themes it covers. Understanding who is making statements about human nature and how to assess where they derive their expertise is critically important. Because I am writing this book, selecting the information, presenting it in a certain way, and trying to lead you to a set of conclusions, you need to know a bit about me to be able to judge the validity of my perspective. I am a scientist, a specifi c kind of social scientist called an anthro- pologist, a specialist in human and primate behavior and evolution. I Preface | xi am also a teacher, an active researcher, and was trained in anthropol- ogy, biology, and evolutionary theory by some of the most respected professors and researchers in those fi elds. Having a bit of background on who I am and where I come from provides context for how I con- ceived this book and, hopefully, will make you feel more secure that the information here is reliable, that I am well qualifi ed to review this information, and that my conclusions as to what it might mean are reasonable. I was born in the United States to a Spanish father and American mother, both educators (university and primary school). Although the majority of my schooling has been in the United States, I have also lived in Spain and Indonesia. I speak English, Indonesian, and Spanish well, and a few other languages passably. In the United States I have lived primarily in California, Indiana, Texas, and Washington, and I have close relatives in California and New York as well as in Madrid (Spain). I have conducted research in the United States, Southern Spain (Gibraltar), Singapore, and many locations in Indonesia. I’ve traveled in Morocco, Micronesia, Thailand, Malaysia, China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Central America, Venezuela, Mexico, Canada, and most of Western Europe. I mention these pieces of biographical information because they are relevant to understanding my personal view of humanity: I come from a family of educators and I travel a lot. This means that I am lucky enough to be able to see how people look, live, and think across much of the globe, and as an anthropolo- gist I am always considering how their lives and mine intersect and differ. I am truly amazed at how many similarities, and differences, go into making us all human. This experience has led me to have an open mind to opinions and beliefs as I realize that my personal experience is only the tiniest fraction of all the experiences that humans have and that I have to be ready to listen to others as they might know much that I do not. I received all of my university degrees from the University of Cali- fornia at Berkeley. My bachelor’s degree is a double major (fi ve years) in anthropology and zoology, and my master’s and PhD degrees are in anthropology. I was lucky enough to be able to take a wide range of classes at Berkeley with many amazing professors. As an undergraduate I was in the last graduating class of the Department of Zoology (now part of Integrative Biology) where I benefi ted from an amazing focus on natural history, the idea that you need to see organisms, watch them in their daily lives, and get a strong idea of what things they actually xii | Preface do before you make a series of assumptions about why they do what they do.
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