The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Part 2

Description

The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex is a book of science written by the English naturalist Charles Darwin, which was first printed in 1871, applying the evolutionary theory to human evolution, and discusses his theory of sexual selection, a concept of biological adaptation dissimilar yet related with natural selection. The text includes several matters, such as evolutionary psychology, evolutionary ethics, distinctions between human races, distinctions between sexes, the vital role of women in mate selection, and the relevance of the evolutionary theory to the community.

The second part of the book outlines the sexual selection in human evolution with substantial information of the Animal Kingdom which details on many classes like mollusks, and crustaceans. Chapters on insects, such as butterflies and moths, are discussed, also on vertebrates from the cold blooded vertebrates such as fishes, amphibians and reptiles to the classification on birds, as well as the mammals. Darwin underlines the sexual selection as choices of women and direct competition among men.

The theory of evolution by natural selection was an attempt to explicate the role of women in the community as a natural consequence. Antoinette Brown Blackwell commented Darwin with her work, The Sexes Throughout Nature. She knew that she was audacious for commenting on the evolutionary theory and noted that “disadvantages under which we [women] are placed … will never be lessened by waiting”. Her work was a response to Darwin and Herbert Spencer, whom she regarded as the two highly influential men. She wrote on defrauded womanhood and her fears that “the human race, forever retarding its own advancement…could not recognize and promote a genuine, broad, and healthful equilibrium of the sexes”.
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