A Blow to the Patriarchy

Gosh, I thought the days of patriarchy were largely behind us.  But here come the forces who are trying to bring them back.

Our current Secretary of Defense appears to be a prime advocate of male dominance.  According to respected journalists, he has downgraded highly-esteemed women officers in the ranks of our military.  For example, he intervened to stop the promotions of several high-ranking service members, including two women on track to become one-star generals.  (This interference in the regular promotion process is viewed as a highly unusual move.)  He also fired Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to hold the Navy’s top uniformed job, with no explanation.  And in a country founded on the separation of church and state, he may have adopted the extreme ideas of his closest spiritual adviser. The Guardian has described this adviser as a staunch advocate of “biblical patriarchy,” openly advocating that wives submit to their husbands, and, by the way, opposing women’s right to vote.

I refuse to let those regressive forces take us back.  That’s why I’m glad to learn about the enlightening research by Professor Martin Surbeck, a professor in Harvard’s department of human evolutionary biology.

For over 20 years, Surbeck has studied the behavior of bonobos in the wild.  Bonobos?  Yes, bonobos.

Bonobos are a highly intelligent, socially sophisticated species of primates who, along with chimpanzees, are our closest living relatives.  They form social groups of about 10 to 25 adults and engage in complex forms of communication, including the use of symbols, gestures, and vocalizations.

A detailed review of Surbeck’s research, by writer Annie Roth, appears in the March-April issue of Harvard Magazine.  Surbeck told Roth that data gathered over two decades have changed how we should view these primates. They were previously viewed as peace-loving, but that needs to change

Surbeck finds the new data “exciting,” and so do I.  They show that females “reign supreme” in bonobo communities.

Female bonobos dominate in a number of ways.  One way is by creating sometimes-violent coalitions against males.  How? 

If a male is causing problems, females join forces to attack or intimidate him.  Males who back down lose social status, while their female adversaries gain it. On the other hand, males who fight back can risk injury and even (though rarely) death.

Surbeck and his team have also discovered that the higher certain females rank socially, the better access they have to food—and to quality mates for their sons.  This means that the male offspring of powerful mothers can more easily attract females because of their mothers’ status within the community.

Male bonobos, he notes, “are in the shadows of their moms…. [They] have a key player…to whom they can always go.”  And mothers and sons stay together for life.

Roth’s article notes that Surbeck’s research has documented many instances of female dominance.  When he observed nearly 2,000 conflicts between single males and single females over two decades, females won the majority of them.  He’s also pointed out that although females can prevail alone, their rate of success is much higher when they band together with other females (or at least know they will have back-up support if needed). 

Currently he’s focused on exploring less violent, more socially interventionistic approach to disputes, along with cooperative behavior among individual bonobos.

Here’s what’s important:  Surbeck points out that contrasting behaviors of different primate species can help us evaluate how humans think about our own societies—and identify alternative ways of relating. 

As he explains, some people may look at human warfare hostility, male sexual violence, and strictly patriarchal social structures, and believe that those behaviors are part of our DNA.  But bonobo communities prove that these aspects of society are not evolutionarily inevitable. 

Humans have “extremely flexible behavior and a strong capacity for social learning.”  Our patterns are “not rigidly fixed by biology.”  In other words, humans can change.  There is “a wide range of possible ways for human societies to be organized,” and “cooperation” is the key.

My conclusion?  This research by Martin Surbeck, illuminated by Annie Roth, strikes a powerful blow against the benighted individuals in our culture who promote the return of patriarchal dominance.

Matriarchy, anyone?