Why is the Human Primitive Warrior Virtually Always the Male of the Species? by J.M.G. van der Dennen

Cultural and/or historical analyses of male and female gender role-bound phenomena, such as the male roles of warrior and soldier, may provide some insight into the complex interactions between culture, society, the military, and the respective sex differences in gender roles. Such analyses, however, are likely to be restricted to what in the language of evolutionary biology is called a proximate explanation. The high degree of pan-cultural similarity (i.e. the universality) of these sexually differentiated roles, role stereotypes and role demands, suggests the possibility of an ultimate evolutionary rationale behind them. It is highly relevant in this context that in chimpanzee ‘wars ’ (Goodall, 1986; Goodall et al., 1979), it is exclusively the males who do the raiding. In this paper, I shall briefly discuss three theories which attempt to explain why in ‘primitive’ societies the role of the warrior is virtually confined to the male of the species