Gender, Sexuality and Reproduction in Evolutionary Narratives

193 Pages·2013·1.05 MB·English

by  Venla Oikkonen

Gender, Sexuality and Reproduction
in Evolutionary Narratives
Since the early 1990s, evolutionary psychology has produced widely popular
visions of modern men and women as driven by their prehistoric genes. In
Gender,SexualityandReproductioninEvolutionaryNarratives,VenlaOikkonen
explores the rhetorical appeal of evolutionary psychology by viewing it as
part of the Darwinian narrative tradition.
Refusing to start from the position of dismissing evolutionary psychology
as reactionary or scientifically invalid, the book examines evolutionary psy-
chologists’ investments in such contested concepts as teleology and variation.
The book traces the emergence of evolutionary psychological narratives of
gender, sexuality and reproduction, encompassing:
(cid:1) Charles Darwin’s understanding of transformation and sexual difference;
(cid:1) Edward O. Wilson’s evolutionary mythology and the evolution–creationism
controversy;
(cid:1) Richard Dawkins’ molecular agency and new imaging technologies;
(cid:1) the connections between adultery, infertility and homosexuality in adapta-
tionistthought.
Through popular, literary and scientific texts, the book identifies both the
imaginative potential and the structural weaknesses in evolutionary narratives,
opening themupfor feminist and queer revision. This book will be ofinterest
to students and scholars of the humanities and social sciences, particularly in
genderstudies,culturalstudies,literature,sexualities,andscienceandtechnology
studies.
Venla Oikkonen is an Academyof Finland Postdoctoral Researcher in Gender
Studies at the University of Helsinki. Her research interests include literature
andscience,evolutionarytheory,population genomics,andscientificdiscourses
of gender, sexuality, race and nation.
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Gender, Sexuality and
Reproduction in Evolutionary
Narratives
Venla Oikkonen
Firstpublished2013
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©2013VenlaOikkonen
TherightofVenlaOikkonentobeidentifiedasauthorofthisworkhas
beenassertedbyherinaccordancewithsections77and78ofthe
Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproduced
orutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,
nowknownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,
orinanyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissionin
writingfromthepublishers.
Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksor
registeredtrademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationand
explanationwithoutintenttoinfringe.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Oikkonen,Venla.
Gender,sexualityandreproductioninevolutionary
narratives/VenlaOikkonen.
p.cm.--(Transformations:thinkingthroughfeminism)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1.Evolutionarypsychology.2.Humanevolution.3.Humanreproduction.
4.Sexdifferences.I.Title.
BF698.95.O552013
155.3--dc23
2012043934
ISBN:978-0-415-63599-8(hbk)
ISBN:978-0-203-08580-6(ebk)
TypesetinTimesNewRoman
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
Contents
Acknowledgments viii
Introduction 1
1 Foundational trajectories in Darwin and sociobiology 17
2 Narrative variation and the changing meanings of movement 41
3 The gendered politics of genetic discourse 66
4 The narrative attraction of adulterous desires 96
5 Reproductive failure and narrative continuity 127
Conclusion 154
Bibliography 161
Index 171
Acknowledgments
Thisbookwouldnothavebeenpossiblewithoutthegeneroussupportofseveral
individuals, communities, and institutions. I thank the Universityof Helsinki,
the Finnish Research School in Women’s and Gender Studies, the Kone
Foundation, and the Academy of Finland for providing the financial means
that enabled me to give my full attention to this project over several years.
The research for this book was conducted at the University of Helsinki in
2004–12. I have been very fortunate to be a member of the gender studies
community in Helsinki, first as a doctoral student, then as a lecturer, and
most recently as an Academyof Finland postdoctoral researcher. I thank my
PhD advisors Kirsi Saarikangas, Leena-Maija Rossi, and Nely Keinänen,
who provided invaluablesuggestions and encouragement especially in the early
stages of theproject. Mycolleaguesin gender studiesin Helsinkihavecreated
a generous, supportive, ambitious, unconventional, and truly interdisciplinary
academic home. I thank especially Maija Urponen, Anne Soronen, and Eeva
Urrio for sharing their thoughts and comments on issues that turned out to
beformative for thebook,NinaJärviöand OutiPajala forpractical assistance
on numerous occasions, and Aino-Maija Hiltunen, Eva Maria Korsisaari,
and Hanna Johansson for solidarity and support. I thank Johanna Kantola
and Marjaana Jauhola for practical advice and comradeship in the final
stages of the book project, Tuija Pulkkinen for her encouragement, and my
wonderful officemates Anna Moring, Minna Seikkula, Mervi Patosalmi and
Anna Elomäki for cheering me through the last hectic weeks of revisions.
I wish to thank Maureen McNeil at Lancaster University and Priscilla
Wald at Duke University, whose comments and encouragement have helped
me situate my work within the larger context of feminist cultural studies of
science. I thank Sabine Sielke for the opportunity to present and discuss the
book project at the University of Bonn in February 2012. In Finland, my
collaboration with Sari Irni and Mianna Meskus has provided an inspiring
dialogue that has pushed me to rethink my theoretical premises and metho-
dological choices. I also wish to thank my colleagues in the Academy of
Finland project Representing and Sensing Nature, Landscape and Gender, in
which I participated in 2007–10, aswell as the other members of the national
gender studies doctoral program, in which I participated in 2005–6.
Acknowledgments ix
On a morepersonal note,I wantto thank my familyand friends, who have
providedallthosethingsinlifethat make aprojectlike thispossibleinthefirst
place. Particularly heartfelt thanks go to Joseph Flanagan, on whose unfail-
ing support I could always count. Our myriad conversations on an endless
range of topics—cultural, political, academic—have kept me thinking. Our
son Liam was born halfway through this project. Liam has showed me the
wonderful richness of life and the importance of everyday events, experiences,
and emotions.
Two chapters of this book are based on previously published articles. An
earlier and shorter version of Chapter 3, entitled “Narrating descent: popular
science, evolutionary theory and gender politics,” was published in Science as
Culture,volume18,issue1(2009).IthankTaylorandFrancisforthepermission
toincludearevisedversionofthearticlehere.AshorterversionofChapter4,
entitled “Mutations of romance: evolution, infidelity, and narrative,” was
publishedinModernFictionStudies,volume56,issue3(2010).IthanktheJohns
Hopkins University Pressfor thepermissionto include theworkinthisbook.