Ep. 41 - Randy Thornhill: Beauty & Health, Politics & Disease, & The Evolutionary Truth About Rape

The Bigger Picture

In today's episode, I spoke with Randy Thornhill, about the biological basis of beauty, how diseases influence political views and values, and the evolutionary history of rape and sexual coercion.

We spoke about how hormonal health influences sexual attraction, how developmental health influences our facial symmetry, and how improving our health can have a direct effect on our beauty and attractiveness.

We also discussed Randy’s groundbreaking theory called the Parasite-Stress Theory - which has shown that authoritarian and liberal views are often driven by the extent to which we’re exposed to infectious diseases. The more infectious diseases there are in an area, the more suspicious of outsiders we become, and vice versa. These mechanisms are part of our 'behavioral immune system'. This theory has really important implications for understanding how we construct our values and how certain factors of our environment, that we’re mostly unaware of, can completely shape our perception.

We then went on to speak about another one of Randy’s important books - 'The Natural History of Rape'. This is obviously a difficult subject to cover, and we did our best to do it justice, and to lay out Randy’s findings on the evolutionary roots of sexual coercion and why it exists. Not a pretty truth, for sure, but it is an important truth nonetheless, and I hope you find it useful.

I am very interested in hearing your thoughts on the ideas raised here. Do they make sense? Do you agree? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Randy Thornhill is a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of New Mexico. His parasite-stress theory, or pathogen-stress theory, is a theory of human evolution proposing that parasites and diseases encountered by a species shape the development of the values and qualities of that species. This theory has revolutionized evolutionary psychology and has been highly replicated since its conception.

00:00 Evolutionary & Biological Basis of Beauty

2:10 Hormonal Health & The Effects of Estrogen & Testosterone

10:25 Developmental Health & Bilateral Symmetry

19:10 We Can Look More Beautiful by Being Healthier

25:17 Parasite-Stress Theory: How Diseases Influence Political Views

28:35 Xenophobia is a Behavioral Immune System Response

52:11 "The Natural History of Rape"

58:55 Age of Rape Victims

1:02:28 Is Rape About Power?

1:09:53 Rape is a Low-Cost Strategy

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