Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, France.
C R Biol. 2010 Feb;333(2):157-65. doi: 10.1016/j.crvi.2009.12.003. Epub 2010 Feb 11.
In his 1871 book The Descent of Man, Darwin exposed the idea of sexual selection as a major principle of human evolution. His main hypothesis, which was already briefly presented in The Origin of Species, is that there exists, besides "natural selection", another form of selection, milder in its effect, but no less efficient. This selection is operated by females to mate and reproduce with some partners that are gifted with more qualities than others, and more to their taste. At more evolved stages, sexual selection was exerted by men who became able to choose the women most attractive to their taste. However, Darwin insists, sexual selection in the human species is limited by a certain number of cultural practices. If Darwin's demonstration sometimes carried the prejudices of his times regarding gender differences he was the first who took into account the importance of sexual choices in his view on evolution, and who insisted on the evolutionary role of women at the dawn of humanity. Thus, he opened the space for a rich reflection, which after him was widely developed and discussed in anthropological and gender studies.
在他 1871 年出版的著作《人类的由来》中，达尔文揭示了性选择的思想，认为它是人类进化的主要原则之一。他的主要假说，在《物种起源》中已有简略阐述，即在“自然选择”之外，还存在另一种选择形式，其作用较为温和，但效率不低。这种选择是由雌性进行的，它们与具有更多特质、更符合自己喜好的一些伴侣交配和繁殖。在更进化的阶段，性选择则由男性施加，他们变得能够选择最符合自己喜好的女性。然而，达尔文坚持认为，人类物种的性选择受到某些文化实践的限制。尽管达尔文的论证有时带有他那个时代对性别差异的偏见，但他是第一个在进化观点中考虑性选择重要性的人，也是第一个坚持在人类起源之初女性具有进化作用的人。因此，他为后来在人类学和性别研究中广泛发展和讨论的丰富反思开辟了空间。
