21 June 2024 – Dr Sophie Louisa Bennett, PhD Conservation Biology (Lincoln 2016)
Much as I subscribe to Darwinian evolutionary ‘theory’ (some still do not accept natural selection as described by Darwin as an entirely plausible explanation of how ‘we’ and other life forms arose), I cannot condone his abominable comments regarding the fairer sex.
I remember during my Conservation Biology studies being fascinated by the derivation, descent and epistemology of evolutionary thinking and came across Lamarck for the first time. He is widely ridiculed for having believed that characteristics were acquired during the lifespan of individuals and then passed on to the next generation: the Giraffe’s neck length is one example of his speculations, i.e. that Giraffe’s necks stretched to reach up to the Acacia crowns … and that, my friends, is how the Giraffe got a long neck. How the mechanism worked he could not explain, but then neither could Darwin in any detail (we’d have to wait for the 20th century for that) – although he did famously observe the ‘changing’ of beak shapes in Finch species in the Galapagos over very few generations.
Lamarck was influenced by someone called Buffon (not a bouffon but an aristocrat who had time to muse on such matters), but his ideas were hardly laughable since Darwin himself is said to have admired Lamarck’s work and is even quoted as having advised women to marry early before their hands became rough and their complexions ruined so that these features would not be passed down to their offspring (Fernandez-Armesto, 2015 – see other blogposts relating to A Foot in the River). In its sheer hurtfulness, directness, and possible ill-foundedness, comparable with some of Jane Austen’s published and private pronouncements. And much as I admire Austen’s novels, I was surprised at Darwin! Perhaps I had gone selectively blind…
Today, Darwin would be no-platformed or even cancelled at any University (or in Society at large) for his possibly misogynistic views: in his day (mid-19th century), this was seen as an entirely reputable and scientifically valid observation (and actually perhaps not entirely impractical advice – forget that “it’s the personality that counts not how you look” crap, “get married before you lose your looks” – physical attractiveness being a significant driver of selection). How fashions change – I mean with regard to tolerance for perhaps distasteful views, not natural selection, obviously! Descent with modification – or protestation.
Dr Sophie Louisa Bennett, with some experience of being a female, being revolted by male attitudes, being a student of evolutionary theory, being mocked for liking Lamarck and not giving an F. Nor even having been given an F (as far as I know).
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