The claim that rape is a sexual adaptation is illogical and has no genetic basis. Rather, it’s explained as an abnormal behavior caused by extreme stress. If we compare the characteristics of rape with biological adaptations, we find that rape is not related to reproduction.
It’s a big fallacy to assume that just because it exists, there’s a reason for it. It provides an illogical argument that every product of human civilization is inevitable. For example, modern laptops had to be foldable, and doors had to have handles. This shows how absurd it is to claim that things simply exist for a reason. However, some intellectuals, especially adaptationists, argue that rape is a sexual adaptation because it has existed for a long time. This is illogical.
Of course, not everything that exists has a reason, so rape may have a reason. But that doesn’t mean it’s an adaptation. Let’s take a look at why rape is not a sexual adaptation. To determine if rape is a human adaptation, we need to know what an adaptation is. In biology, an adaptation is any behavior that an individual performs in order to survive or reproduce, and the result is a trait that is passed on through genes.
In this case, to know if rape is an adaptation, we need to find a genetic basis. However, even with a complete genetic map, there are no genes directly associated with rape, meaning that rape is not inherited and is not an adaptation.
Nevertheless, rape has been around for a long time. We can assume there’s a reason for this. It might be related to the mechanisms of sexuality that developed for reproduction, as adaptationists claim. However, rape is not inherited. So I believe that a system designed to ensure that individuals pass on their genes through reproduction manifests itself in the distorted form of rape in special circumstances. It is similar to how human legs are made for walking, but in certain circumstances they can be used instead of hands to open doors. The legs can be analogized to sexuality and opening doors to rape. Our sexual function and libido are not meant for rape, nor do they lead to rape, but they can be associated with rape in some situations.
Rape is not the norm in the reproductive process. Therefore, those who see rape as an adaptation explain it as a latent instinct that individuals with zero reproductive rate would choose in extreme circumstances. The problem is that their method of proof is flawed. For example, experiments in which arthropods are caged and observed for rape attempts ignore the fact that humans and arthropods have evolved in distinctly different directions. The situations they present are also unfounded because they are extremely stressful for the individuals. And even if we accept the causality that can be gained from controlling for multiple variables, it’s hard to believe that the behaviors that emerge in these stressful situations are hardwired into us. For example, if a person eats another person when trapped in a confined space and on the verge of starvation, that doesn’t mean it’s a hardwired instinct.
Rather, we can get a clue that rape is not an adaptation from the fact that adaptationists did not take into account the stresses placed on the individual in their experiments. Stress refers to the environmental, physical, and mental pressures placed on an organism, which causes abnormalities in the organism that we don’t expect. It can cause physical and mental changes in an individual that can lead to abnormal behavior. Thus, rape can be explained as an abnormal behavior that emerges from a stressful situation.
In the case of the adaptationists, they thought that extreme conditions would bring out the best in them. However, the conditions of confinement, pressure, and population limitation caused extreme stress on the individuals, and as the stress continued, some of them developed the abnormal behavior of rape. In the end, their rape behavior was not a desire to reproduce, but a stress response. The stress explanation accurately describes the results of the adaptationist model. It would be interesting to see if individuals exhibit other stressful behaviors besides rape in a re-test.
Even using the natural selection theory behind this whole debate, the stress explanation explains the phenomenon of rape better than the argument that rape is an adaptation for reproduction. In natural selection, reproduction is the process by which individuals strive to leave offspring that are biologically favored for survival. Organisms hope to pass on their genes to future generations, and to do so, they choose mates that possess traits that make them more likely to survive, and in some cases, they raise the offspring of their mates for extended periods of time. In fact, the processes of courtship and selection, which are sexually adaptive behaviors in most animals, best fit the definition of reproduction as the selection of individuals with an advantage for survival. In most animals, including humans, reproduction is characterized by courtship, followed by mate choice, and subsequent mating. The courtship and selection process varies from species to species, but it all boils down to selecting the best mate for the species’ environment. This process is considered natural selection because it allows the species to leave its genes in the form that is most favorable for survival.
However, rape is forced against the victim’s will, and it’s usually not done with a superior individual who will pass on their genes to future generations. This does not fit the description of an adaptation for reproduction at all. Rather, rape targets unspecified individuals, individuals who are close to them, and individuals who are vulnerable to coercion, which makes rape seem more like violence. This, in turn, supports the idea that rape is an abnormal behavior caused by extreme stress that is or has been inflicted on the individual. This stress can manifest itself in the form of murder or violence, but it also manifests itself in the form of rape because humans have a sexual drive system.
In addition to biology, many characteristics of actual rape suggest that procreation and rape are not related. Rape destroys its victims physically and mentally. The “rape trauma syndrome” that occurs in rape victims can be extreme, ranging from psychosis to paralysis. Ultimately, rape threatens the survival of the victim, and the chances of the rapist’s genes being passed on to future generations are very low. Last year, a woman killed herself because she couldn’t cope with the child she gave birth to through rape. This happens to even the most intelligent humans and mothers, and it is highly illogical for adaptationists to argue that it helps reproduction in the face of such horrific events.
If you look at the victims of rape, it’s not just women of childbearing age, but also postmenopausal women, children, and even people of the same sex. This clearly shows that rape is not related to reproduction.
The characteristics of rape are better explained by looking at it as a form of stress expression than as an adaptation for reproduction. Inspector Kwon Il-yong of the National Police Agency’s Scientific Investigation Center said that sex offenders often repeat behaviors that validate their pent-up self-esteem due to stresses such as oppression and disadvantaged family environments. Sexual offenses can also be interpreted as a form of this. This supports the idea that sex offenses are not a means of sexual reproduction, but rather an abnormality in which the extreme stress that has been inflicted on them is distorted and expressed in a sexual way. The link between rape and stress is highly causal, given that most rape offenders have experienced great stress due to adverse circumstances such as domestic violence.
Rats infected with toxoplasmosis are not afraid of cats. However, it doesn’t make sense to assume that their genes are hardwired to attack cats. It’s problematic to so easily link a behavior to instinct just because it’s exhibited. The same mistake has been made in discussions about rape. There are many counterexamples to the claim that rape is an adaptation. Rather than allowing adaptationists to support their theory with excuses, we should consider that rape is a side effect of stress within an individual being distorted through sexual function.
