All of this was based on studying groups of wolves in captivity. It’s the equivalent of basing all of your knowledge of a human culture by studying their prison populations. It tells us nothing about how they live, organize, and sustain themselves when able to make these decisions themselves. Most importantly, the decision to just leave. Apparently, when wolves have the ability to leave and form their own packs, none of that “scientifically observed” wolf pack behavior happens.

Cue the sexual apocalypse. >.>

The Woman that Never Evolved
Mother Nature: A History of Mothers, Infants and Natural Selection
Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding

“It’s perfectly natural to hit people when they annoy you, yet most of humanity has made a conscious choice to curb that urge in favor of cooperation.”

Heh. My usual response to whines that one can’t fight instinct is “it’s instinctual to soil yourself the moment you feel the urge to urinate, but I outgrew that when I was a toddler. How about you?”

“The problem here is, we send men and women many conflicting messages about what sexual behavior will be punished and tolerated, and why, and by who.”

Exactly. And even in these dopey crapumentaries, you still see male privilege at work. How many times have you heard TV shows promote smug explanations of why it’s natural women should cuckold their husbands? After all, there are biological incentives for that, as well… (This is linked to the notoriously shabby standards of science reporting in general, another of my bêtes noires.)

I highly recommend Stephen Jay Gould’s The Mismeasure of Man to anybody with an interest in biology. It contains excellent examples of how easily preconceptions can shape the results of research. Peer review helps mitigate this problem, but it’s easier to overturn the false assumptions of a single scientist than of an entire culture.