Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You: Busting Myths about Human Nature

291 Pages·2012·1.25 MB·English

by  Agustín Fuentes

Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies
They Told You
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support
of the General Endowment Fund of the University of
California Press Foundation.
Race, Monogamy, and
Other Lies They Told You
Busting Myths about Human Nature
Agustín Fuentes
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley • Los Angeles • London
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University of California Press
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University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2012 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fuentes, Agustín.
Race, monogamy, and other lies they told you :
Busting myths about human nature / Agustín Fuentes.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-520-26971-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Behavioral evolution. 2. Human behavior.
3. Human evolution. 4. Social evolution. 5. Physical
anthropology. I. Title.
BF 698.95. F85 2012
155.7—dc23
2011049949
Manufactured in the United States of America
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In keeping with a commitment to support
environmentally responsible and sustainable printing
practices, UC Press has printed this book on Rolland
Enviro100, a 100% post-consumer fi ber paper that
is FSC certifi ed, deinked, processed chlorine-free,
and manufactured with renewable biogas energy.
It is acid-free and EcoLogo certifi ed.
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xv
PART 1. MYTH-BUSTING TOOL KIT
1. Myths about Human Nature Are Powerful—and Misleading 3
2. Culture—Problems with What We Believe about Being Human 27
3. Evolution Is Important—but May Not Be What We Think 42
PART 2. BUSTING THREE MYTHS ABOUT BEING HUMAN
Prelude: Human ≠ Nature + Nurture 65
4. The Myth of Race 70
5. Myths about Aggression 114
6. Myths about Sex 156
7. Beyond the Myths: Now What? 207
Appendix: Getting the Information Yourself 217
Notes 221
Bibliography 251
Index 265

Illustrations
1. Types of relationships between genes and traits / 48
2. Geographical distribution and frequencies of the blood types A
and B / 77
3. Venn diagram of human genetic diversity / 84
4. Geographical distribution of skin color patterns and UV
light / 89
5. West Papuan children with author / 93
6. Size comparison of human male and female / 161
7. Range of overlap for differences in male and female heights / 162
8. Comparison of overlap in male and female heights versus overlap
in male-female psychological gender differences / 178

Preface
Three major myths—about race, aggression, and sex—have a negative
impact on our society and inhibit an accurate understanding of what
it means to be human. These myths create a false set of societally
accepted “truths” that in turn cause a range of problems for us.
The myth that humans are divided into biological races—that black,
white, Asian, etc. are natural categories—helps generate and maintain
intolerance and inequality, and leads to diffi culties in creating and
sustaining communities in our increasingly diverse society. The myth
that removing the constraints of culture and civilization reveals the
innate, violent beast within us (especially in men) restricts how we can
relate to one another, encourages fear, and enables an acceptance of
certain kinds of abuse and violence as natural or inevitable. The myth
that men and women are dramatically different in behavior, desires, and
perspectives due to natural differences in “internal wiring” facilitates
poor intersexual relations, creates and maintains sexual inequality, and
causes a range of problems for individual men and women laboring
under a preconception about who and how they are supposed to be.
Busting myths of human nature is not like busting the myth that a
tooth left in Coca-Cola overnight will dissolve or that humans only use
10 percent of their brains. Most false beliefs are clearly refutable with
a single, usually simple, test. There is not going to be one, or even a
few, simple tests that will destroy every piece of the myths about race,
aggression, and sex, but we can still show that they are wrong. There
ix