Key Terms in Evolutionary Biology of Sex, Gender, and Sexuality: Just-so stories

= Definition =

Just-so stories are narrative explanations of an organism’s behavior, characteristics, or biological traits and how they came to be. In science, a developed hypothesis of who/what/when/where/why/how an animal has evolved the traits we see present today.

= History =

Just-so stories were popularized by the bookJust So Stories: For Little Children, by Rudyard Kipling, first published in 1902. This book contained twelve fantastic stories describing such events as how the leopard got his spots and how the camel got his hump. In the story, “The Elephants Child”, we are told that the extremely curious elephant’s child got his trunk by sticking his previously short, small nose into the ‘Limpopo River’ and having it bitten and stretched into a trunk by a crocodile (Kipling pgs. 69-71).

= Example(s) of use in context =

In Barash and Lipton’s book, How Women Got Their Curves and Other Just-So Stories (2009), the authors discuss many possible reasons why women have well-developed breasts even when they are not lactating, which is not the case with other mammals. “The Goldilocks Hypothesis”, also suggested (as the “nobility hypothesis”) by anthropologist Frank Marlowe, states that breasts are a predictor for men of a women’s “residual reproductive value” (Barash &amp; Lipton 2009). They go on to say, “RRV refers to an individual’s expected future breeding potential; it can be expected that males would be selected to prefer as sexual partners those females whose RRV is as high as possible-an expectation that applies especially to human beings, which frequently make long-term mating and child-rearing commitments” (Barash &amp; Lipton pg. 101). So, according to this view, a man would look for a woman with maximum RRV, which could be determined by their breast shape and development. Undeveloped breasts would designate sexual immaturity when sagging breasts would show older age, and therefore a man would look for breasts in between. As a result, breasts have evolved to provide information about age, maturity, and RRV. These are examples of Just-so Stories because they are developed hypotheses as to why human female’s breasts are the way they are- how they came to be.

= Debates =

There is much debate over the use of just-so stories. Many believe them to be unscientific, ignorant, and lacking empirical validity and legitimacy. The painter/naturalist Abbott H. Thayer, in the book, Concealing-Coloration in the Animal Kingdom (1909) stated that flamingos were red in order to blend into the sunset. "Conspicuous in most cases, when looked at from above, as man is apt to see them, they are wonderfully fitted for 'vanishment' against the flushed, rich-colored skies of early morning and evening (Thayer pg. 154)". This is a prime example of an incorrect and poorly researched just-so story that contributed to the bad name. Currently, the work of evolutionary psychologists has been accused of consisting only of modern-day just-so stories. The evolutionary psychologist David Barash, in his article for The Chronicle, “How the Scientist Got His Ideas”, discusses his strong belief in just-so stories. He sees them as leading to reputable science as well as stirring up questions and ideas to be further explored. They can and often are the beginning of a fully developed evolutionary and scientific theory. In the Epilogue of his book, How Women Got Their Curves and Other Just-So Stories (2009), he states, “Just-So Stories, of all sorts, deserve more respect than they have received, offering as they do insights into how science works and into the curious pleasure of admitting what is not known, enhanced by the thrill of acknowledging the many possibilities of what might be (Barash &amp; Lipton pg. 189)”. This statement goes against the view that just-so stories do not provide any benefits to science, that they do not serve a legitimate purpose. Barash and many other evolutionary psychologists believe they do.

= Image =

Rudyard Kipling's illustration of "The Elephants Child"



= References =

Barash, David P., and Judith Eve. Lipton. How Women Got Their Curves and Other Just-so Stories: Evolutionary Enigmas. New York: Columbia UP, 2009. Print. Barash, David P. "How the Scientist Got His Ideas".The Chronicle of Higher Education. 3 Jan. 2010. Web. &lt;http://chronicle.com/article/How-the-Scientist-Got-His/63287/&gt;. Kipling, Rudyard. Just so Stories,For Little Children. [Garden City, N.Y.]: Doubleday Page &amp;, 1912. Print.

= Author =

Erica Lupinacci