Tolerance and Sexual Attraction in Despotic Societies: A Replication and Analysis

Most primate societies are characterised by hierarchical dominance structures. Males are usually dominant over females, but in periods of sexual attraction (during females period of tumescence) male ‘tolerance’ towards females rises. (Hemelrijk, 2002) shows in a model that this ‘tolerance’ is created as a side effect due to the rise of female dominance during periods of sexual attraction. This rise is in turn the consequence of the more frequent approaches of males towards females during these periods. In Hemelrijk’s model the males gain no benefit from ‘tolerating’ females and they only do so at high aggression levels as a kind of ‘respectful timidity’, because some of the females have become dominant over them. This paper replicates and examines the results of Hemelrijk’s study. We have found that some of Hemelrijk’s results are highly reliant on aspects of the model that are not well supported by the current primate literature. We analyse the mechanisms underlying her results, and suggest data that should be sought from observation logs of real primate colonies that would support or overturn the model.