
Macken
@MackenMurphy • 24,190 subscribers
Oxford grad studying mating. "Macken Murphy is able to condense vast chunks of information into engaging and digestible episodes." — The New York Times
Videos

How does exclusive homosexuality persist, despite evolution? An evolutionary biology professor of mine during undergrad suggested that a hint might be found in the cultural trope of the "rich gay uncle." It's true that gay men tend to have somewhat more financial success than straight men, and it's also true that gay men tend to have more brothers (i.e., gay men are actually more likely to become rich uncles). Further, since the 1970s, evolutionary biologists have hypothesized that maybe homosexuality could persist via kin selection: instead of investing in a child with 50% of your genes, you invest more in your siblings' children, who have 25% of your genes. So, perhaps, in some cases, men might benefit from forgoing their own reproduction and obtaining resources to maximize investment in nieces and nephews. An unusual strategy sure, but, in principle, feasible...
Macken343,604 次观看 • 3 个月前

I suspect a lot of modern mating anxiety is downstream of this fact: generally, men lower their standards for casual mating, but women do not. This leads to men worrying about their partner’s past hookups (“was he hotter?”) and women wondering why men have “commitment issues.”
Macken235,716 次观看 • 6 个月前

There's widespread concern that gender equality will leave successful women struggling to find partners. It makes sense: Women mostly want to "mate up" financially, and as women get richer, there are fewer men who are "up." But our experiment suggests we may not need to worry.
Macken32,014 次观看 • 2 个月前
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