In this blog post, we explore the scientific evidence behind the question of whether rape is an instinct that has evolved as a sexual adaptation or an abnormal behavior that occurs in extreme stress situations.
It is a big mistake to assume that if something exists, there must be a reason for it. This provides an illogical argument that all the products of human civilization are inevitable. For example, the notebooks used in modern times had to be foldable, and the doors had to have handles. This shows how ridiculous it is to claim that there is a reason for something simply existing. However, some intellectuals, especially adaptationists, claim 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’s not because of adaptation. Let’s find out why rape is not sexual adaptation. To determine whether rape is a human adaptation, we need to know what adaptation is. Adaptation refers to all behaviors that an individual performs for the purpose of survival or reproduction, and the results become traits that are passed on through genes.
At this point, we need to find a genetic basis to know whether rape is an adaptation. However, even with the genetic map fully revealed, there are no genes directly related to rape. In other words, rape is not inherited and is not the result of adaptation.
Nevertheless, rape has existed for a long time. This may be for a reason. It seems to be related to the mechanism of sexual desire developed for reproduction, as adaptationists claim. However, rape is not inherited. Therefore, I believe that the system that individuals are created to leave their genes through reproduction is a distorted form of rape that appears in special circumstances. It is similar to the way a human leg is made for walking, but in certain situations it can be used instead of the hands to open a door. The leg can be associated with sexual desire, and opening a door can be associated with rape. Our sexual function and sexual desire are not for rape, and they do not induce rape, but they can be associated with rape in certain situations.
Rape is not common in the process of reproduction. Therefore, those who view rape as an adaptation explain rape as a latent instinct that is selected by individuals with a zero reproduction rate in extreme situations. The problem is that the methods of proof they choose contain too many errors. A typical example is an experiment in which arthropods are locked up and observed to see if they attempt to rape. This overlooks the fact that humans and arthropods have clearly evolved in different directions during the course of evolution. The situations they present are also stressful to the individual, so there is no basis for them. And even if we accept the causality that can be obtained through the control of various variables, it is difficult to see that the behavior that appears in such a stressful situation is a systemized instinct within us. For example, we cannot say that eating other people is a systemized instinct within us just because we eat other people in a situation where we are trapped in an enclosed space and are at risk of starving to death.
On the contrary, we can get a clue that rape is not an adaptation from the fact that the adaptivists did not consider the stress applied to the individual in their experiments. Stress refers to the environmental, physical, and mental pressure applied to the individual, which causes the individual to experience abnormal phenomena that we have not thought of. It can cause physical and mental changes in the individual, which can lead to abnormal behavior. Therefore, rape can be explained as an abnormal behavior that occurs under stress.
Looking at the case of the adaptationists, they thought that extreme situations would bring out the instinctive part of the individual. However, the situation of being enclosed, pressured, and having the population limited caused extreme stress to the individual, and as this situation continued, some of the individuals showed the abnormal symptom of rape. Ultimately, their rape behavior was not a desire to reproduce, but a manifestation of stress. The stress-based explanation accurately describes the results of the model proposed by the adaptationists. It will be more convincing if we conduct a re-experiment to see if the individuals show signs of stress other than rape.
Even if we use the theory of natural selection, which is the basis for all this controversy, it is more difficult to explain rape through stress than to argue that rape is an adaptation for reproduction. In natural selection, reproduction is the process by which individuals constantly strive to leave behind offspring that are biologically advantageous for survival. Animals hope to pass on their genes to future generations, and to do so, they choose mates with highly viable traits, and some even raise their offspring over a long period of time. In fact, courtship and selection, which are sexual adaptive behaviors that occur in most animals, best fit the meaning of reproduction, which is to select individuals that are favorable for survival. In most animals, including humans, reproduction is a process in which individuals court and mate with their chosen partner. The process of courtship and choice varies from species to species, but they all have one thing in common: they are all processes that help the species choose the most suitable partner for the environment in which they live. This process can be seen as natural selection because it allows the genes to be passed on in the most advantageous form for survival.
However, rape is committed against the will of the victim, and superior individuals who will leave their genes to future generations are not targeted for rape. This does not fit with the explanation that it is an adaptation for reproduction. Rather, rape targets unspecified targets, close individuals, and individuals vulnerable to coercion, which makes rape seem like something close to violence. This ultimately supports the idea that rape is an abnormal behavior that is caused by the extreme stress inflicted on or inflicted on an individual. The stress inflicted on an individual can take the form of murder or violence, but because humans have a system of sexual desire, it is also expressed in the form of rape.
Not only from a biological perspective, but also the various characteristics of actual rape suggest that reproduction and rape are not related. Rape destroys its victims physically and mentally. The “rape trauma syndrome” that appears in rape victims is extremely severe, ranging from mental disorders to physical paralysis. After all, rape is an act that threatens the survival of the victim, and the probability that the genes of the rapist will be passed on to future generations is very low. Last year, there was even a case of a woman killing her child after giving birth through rape. This is happening even with the most intelligent human beings and mothers, and it is highly illogical for adaptationists to argue that this is beneficial for reproduction in the face of such a horrific event.
The victims of rape include not only women of childbearing age but also women in postmenopausal, children, and even same-sex individuals. This clearly shows that rape is not related to reproduction.
The characteristics of rape are better explained as a form of stress expression than as an adaptation for reproduction. “Sexual offenders repeat behaviors that confirm their suppressed self-esteem due to stress from oppression and an adverse family environment,” said Kwon Il-yong, a police inspector at the National Police Agency’s Forensic Science Center. Sexual crimes can be interpreted as one such type of behavior. This supports the idea that sexual crimes are not a means of sexual reproduction, but rather an abnormal manifestation of the extreme stress that they have been subjected to, which has been distorted and expressed in a sexual direction. Considering that most rapists have experienced great stress due to unfortunate circumstances such as domestic violence, the link between rape and stress is very causal.
It is said that mice infected with Toxoplasma gondii are not afraid of cats. However, it does not make sense to say that the mice’s genes are programmed to attack cats. As such, it is problematic to too easily connect any behavior to instinct. The discussion of rape has also made the same mistake. There are many counterexamples to the claim that rape is an adaptation. Rather than supporting their theory with excuses, adaptationists should consider that rape is a side effect of individual stress distorted through sexual function.
