Dear HCN,
As an anthropologist with
an active interest in primatology, I find Stephen Gies’ letter of
response (HCN, 10/26/98) to Ken Wright’s review of David Petersen’s
hunting book Elkheart interesting (HCN, 9/28/98). Gies suspects
that Petersen’s psychological need to hunt is based on “primordial
revitalized manhood.” This is a pretty good intuitive
generalization. A more precise view of what Gies is searching for
is revealed in evolutionary psychology – which would regard
Petersen’s book as a textbook example of displaced primate
male-to-male aggression for females.
We know from
recent research of extant and extinct great apes by scientists J.
Goodall, R. Wrangham and R. Russel that both chimpanzees and humans
share a common origin for violent behavior. This began about 15
million years ago, when the females of our ancestors developed
increasingly frequent cycles of estrus (time of sexual
receptivity), resulting in a proliferation of intersocietal
male-to-male competition for the rights of fertilization. All the
great apes evolved different systems of dealing with these
seemingly unacceptable chaotic pressures, and the chimpanzees
(including humans) developed two methods to displace the violence
outside the societal group.
First is the process
of warfare, in which young, testosterone-laden males go out and
slaughter males from other groups. During periods of peacetime,
processes of ritualized war become all the rage. We know some of
these activities as competition sports exemplified by soccer,
hockey and football. The second method revealed by primate behavior
studies for dealing with male-to-male aggression is hunting.
Hunters make all kinds of excuses for killing animals, such as for
food and animal control. Science can demonstrate that they are, in
fact, subconsciously killing other male humans because of
competition for females.
So why do Petersen and
his ilk kill when most other males can simply watch football, and
why is he compelled to publicly present it? Either he is
uncomfortable with his social position, which would restrict his
access to desired hierarchical females, or this is a question his
close female companions can
answer.
Marc
Gaede
Pasadena,
California
Marc Gaede is a
photographer and adjunct professor of physical anthropology at the
Art Center College of Design.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Hunting? Call it competition.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
