Richard Dawkins is an internationally renowned scientist whose work in the field of genetic evolution changed the way we think. His brilliant first book, The Selfish Gene, forever changed popular notions of evolution and forced us to look at it from another perspective: the perspective of a gene. So what does getting girls have to do with Richard Dawkins? Well, everything, if you consider the workings of the female mind: why she wants a high-status man and ruthlessly rejects a low-status man, and also why she insists on a lengthy courtship before having sex with a man.

A brief look at the sexual evolution of the female mind –

The female member of each species has been genetically programmed to choose as a mating partner a male who is the healthiest and strongest of all those available to her. By doing this, she is following the most basic rule of sexual evolution: he is ensuring the survival of his genes. If the father of her children is the strongest and healthiest male in existence, it naturally follows that he will have the first choice of available food and shelter. Therefore, he can better ensure the children’s safety through his resources and strength. If the children survive, it means that through her survival, the female has a higher chance that her genes will survive and reproduce successfully.

This order is true for the animal kingdom, but it was more true for human beings who lived in the age of caves because they had to survive in an environment plagued by highly dangerous elements such as wild animals, diseases and the vagaries of unfavorable weather. . It made perfect sense for a female to mate and produce babies with the male best equipped to ensure her safety: a mentally and physically strong male.

Although all of these dangers are no longer applicable to modern human life, sexual and genetic evolution have made it necessary for the female brain to continue to evaluate a potential sexual partner in terms of the resources or ‘survival value’ they can provide. Therefore, if a woman wants a rich and sexy man as a sexual partner, it is not because she is simply materialistic. It’s just her genes that make her do it.

Richard Dawkins, in his book The Selfish Gene, has also categorically explained why a woman insists on a long period of courtship and, compared to men, does not tend to get into bed with the man on the first date. This phenomenon is also decreed by his ‘selfish’ genes. According to Dawkins, to ensure the survival of his genes, each individual wants as many surviving offspring as possible, regardless of whether that individual is male or female. A male can impregnate as many females as he wants thanks to the unlimited supply of sperm he has. Aside from his sperm, he is not required to spend much of his resources on any children he has with those females.

A woman, on the other hand, can have a child only once a year and has to invest many of her resources in caring for that baby, such as carrying it in her womb for 9 months, breastfeeding it for a year after birth. and then take care of it for some time. It makes sense for the female to involve the male in the care so that she, too, is free to have more offspring. A lengthy courtship process helps her select and discard the males most likely to impregnate her, and then split off in search of greener pastures. A male who will hold out during the long courtship shows his fidelity and perseverance in doing so. That is why a female usually has intercourse with a male only after a long courtship.

Another phenomenon, apparently contradictory to the previous one, is the distinction between ‘lover’ and ‘provider’. At certain points in their monthly cycle, women are more attracted to pure, unadulterated masculinity, at the same time their “biological clock” is more likely to conceive. The lover/provider theory states that, ideally, if a woman’s selfish genes can’t get a high-status male to stay, she could simply have sex with him, while also bonding with another male, who will think that the baby is his! This poor sucker is known as the ‘provider’, and it makes sense, if you think about it: genes of high status (high survival value), not just those of high reproductive value (e.g. looks) will be passed on to the Next Generation. , thus benefiting the woman’s genes. If the lover (the most attractive masculine man) is unwilling to commit, the woman can only do the best she can to take care of her child. This, in the real world, is what happens, much more often than one would think: about 10% of newborns have fathers who are not the man on their birth certificate!

Richard Dawkins has thus cracked the key to the female sexual genetic code and provided very useful explanations for the idiosyncrasies to which women are prone and which make men tear their hair out in frustration. His book The Selfish Gene is a must read for all those people who want to understand the crux of human relationships, selfishness and altruism in general, as well as for guys who just want to have girls. In fact, it’s one of the first books on the budding PUA’s reading list.