Rape and Acting Offensively are Natural Male Urges?

Dilbert creator, Scott Adams, musing on natural male urges?

Dilbert creator, Scott Adams, musing on natural male urges?

Natural male urges like raping, cheating, tweeting crotch shots and general offensiveness are made shameful and criminal by society, says Dilbert creator, Scott Adams. Yet the natural urges of women are mostly legal and accepted, the cartoonist gripes in a blog post called “Pegs and Holes.”

Adams can’t imagine why rape and general offensiveness are not approved of? Women just made up the rules, willy-nilly? Like they’re the ones who’ve been in charge all these years?

Actually, none of the above is naturally male.

Men sometimes ask me why some men rape, because they don’t get it.

And rape is not found in every culture. The more that equality and respect marks a society, the less women are assaulted. Before contact with Europeans, rape was virtually unknown in egalitarian American Indian cultures like the Cherokee and Iroquois.

Since Adams is a hetero male, he likely has few worries of being attacked, although men sometimes are. If his chances shot up as high as women’s, I wonder if he’d feel differently.

Rape survivors typically become anxious and depressed. They lose interest in sex. Many develop eating disorders that threaten their health and lives. Some undergo post traumatic stress disorder. Some attempt suicide.

The damage doesn’t matter? On balance, Adams thinks men unabashedly raping is preferable?

On the topic of cheating, evolutionary psychology says men are more promiscuous in order to more widely spread their genes. But mathematicians can’t figure out how men can have more sex partners than women. Evolutionary psychology could be wrong.

Other research suggests that fidelity is actually good for us, with long-term romantic relationships yielding greater happiness, life satisfaction and longer, healthier lives.

Meanwhile, do men really feel sexually repressed because society disapproves flashers and tweeted crotch shots? As noted earlier, some evolutionary psychologists believe flashing is natural male behavior, since male apes routinely display erect penises to females. But then, it actually works for female apes while women just get turned off, leaving the behavior unlikely to “spread men’s seed.”

And do men really enjoy being personally offended any more than women do? Doubt it.

Adams doesn’t think much of men, does he?

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About BroadBlogs

I have a Ph.D. from UCLA in sociology (emphasis: gender, social psych). I currently teach sociology and women's studies at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, CA. I have also lectured at San Jose State. And I have blogged for Feminispire, Ms. Magazine, The Good Men Project and Daily Kos. Also been picked up by The Alternet.

Posted on June 24, 2011, in feminism, gender, men, psychology, rape and sexual assault, relationships, sex and sexuality, sexism, violence against women, women and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.

  1. It’s funny how Adams treats these violent and hurtful behaviors as though they’d be experienced emotionlessly for humans, as well as animals, without the influence of society. If an animal hurts another animal, the animal being hurt obviously will not respond well, and that reaction will not be based on social conditioning and societal norms. Animals can also be very territorial. If an animal invades another animal’s space or body in a way that makes the invaded animal feel threatened, there will most likely be consequences. These consequences, again, will not be a result of what society tells the animals is okay and not okay. If the actions of another being cause one pain or fear, it is natural for that behavior to be considered unacceptable. There’s a reason our brains can interpret pain signals; it means, “stop whatever you’re doing or whatever someone else is doing to you!”

  2. In reading some of Scott Adams other blog postings, I think he is used to tossing subjects out there that invoke controversy. He uses humor and satire on many different subjects. Rape is something that cannot be looked at humorously at all. Obviously no one closely related to Mr. Adams has been involved with rape or he would not look at it so lightly. He must be one of the fortunate few.
    I know several people that have been victims of rape, two of which are very close to me. The feelings they have experienced range from terror, extreme helplessness, and rage, just to name a few. Rape is a subject that knows no humor.

  3. Men are more known to yes, rape and be offensive to girls and all of that. but i dont necessarily think it’s in their nature. because of the fact that there are plenty of men who are actually decent and who have families who have no history of offense harrasment towards women or rape. Some people just problems or have weird ideas for things that get them sexually turned on. it might also depend on the culture and area where women are most likely to be raped or assaulted. Most apparenly get raped in africa or in the middle east because they have different rules and beliefs.

  1. Pingback: Guest Post: Educating Families on Domestic Violence – Jane Sandwood | Don't Label My Kid!

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