Bitch: On the Female of the Species

by Lucy Cooke

How female sexuality has been transformed in the intervening 4–5 million years is open to speculation. Humans are a socially monogamous species today, but then so is the superb fairy wren. Evolutionary biologists like David M.Buss may relish the idea that all women are ultimately seeking monogamy in order to provide the best support for their kids, but if women were so naturally inclined towards fidelity then why, wonders Hrdy, is their sexuality so culturally controlled? Whether the restraining tool is slanderous language, divorce or, worse, genital mutilation there is a near universal suspicion that women will engage in promiscuous sex if left unchecked. An alternative perspective, endorsed by Hrdy, sees the potency of female sexuality being such that patriarchal social systems evolved in order to curb and confine it