npr | Although he adheres to the chimps-as-natural-born-killers theory in the book Demonic Males — finds cause for optimism when it comes to the ability of humans to change their own violent tendencies.
In observing bonobos
(the closely related but less-violent cousins of chimpanzees), Wrangham
observed peaceful communities based on a power-sharing arrangement
between males and females. Chimps, by contrast, live in patriarchal
groups where dominant males run roughshod over compliant females.
The
reason for the difference, he concludes, is sex selection. Female
chimps select aggressive males as mates; female bonobos don't.
"The
example of the bonobos reminds us that females and males can be equally
important players in a society," Wrangham is quoted in Harvard Magazine
as saying. "And by giving us a model in which female action works in
suppressing the excesses of male aggression, the bonobos show us that in
democracies like our own, women's voices should be heard more than they
are."
