Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Rhode Island, South Kingstown, Rhode Island, USA.
Evol Anthropol. 2020 May;29(3):108-116. doi: 10.1002/evan.21834. Epub 2020 May 2.
While the anatomy and physiology of human reproduction differ between the sexes, the effects of hormones on skeletal growth do not. Human bone growth depends on estrogen. Greater estrogen produced by ovaries causes bones in female bodies to fuse before males' resulting in sex differences in adult height and mass. Female pelves expand more than males' due to estrogen and relaxin produced and employed by the tissues of the pelvic region and potentially also due to greater internal space occupied by female gonads and genitals. Evolutionary explanations for skeletal sex differences (aka sexual dimorphism) that focus too narrowly on big competitive men and broad birthing women must account for the adaptive biology of skeletal growth and its dependence on the developmental physiology of reproduction. In this case, dichotomizing evolution into proximate-ultimate categories may be impeding the progress of human evolutionary science, as well as enabling the popular misunderstanding and abuse of it.
虽然人类生殖的解剖结构和生理机能在两性之间存在差异，但激素对骨骼生长的影响并无不同。人类骨骼的生长依赖于雌激素。女性卵巢产生的大量雌激素会导致女性身体的骨骼在男性之前融合，从而导致成年身高和体重的性别差异。由于骨盆区域组织产生和使用的雌激素和松弛素，女性骨盆比男性更扩张，并且可能还由于女性性腺和生殖器占据的内部空间更大。过于狭隘地关注大竞争男性和宽阔分娩女性的骨骼性别差异（又称性二态性）的进化解释，必须考虑到骨骼生长的适应生物学及其对生殖发育生理学的依赖。在这种情况下，将进化分为近因-终极类别可能会阻碍人类进化科学的发展，同时也会导致人们对其的误解和滥用。
