《“她”的力量》内容简介

　　达尔文的自然选择演化论中有一个巨大的漏洞：像雄鹿的鹿角或孔雀的尾巴这样的复杂特征似乎是奢侈品，对一般的生存过程而言没有任何好处，甚至可能变成日常生活的障碍。在很长一段时间里，这一点一直折磨着达尔文。达尔文最终意识到，一定有另一种进化机制在起作用，那是对性的追求，所以他将其命名为性选择。我们也可以称之为“美的进化/演化”。

　　《物种起源》问世10多年后，达尔文发表了他的第二部杰作《人类的由来》。这本著作概述了他关于性选择的新理论，解释了他观察到的两性之间的深刻差异。如果自然选择是为了生存而战，那么性选择本质上就是为了争夺配偶。然而，在达尔文看来，这种竞争主要是雄性的事情。受限于其所处时代根深蒂固的文化影响，达尔文认为雌性的力量是通过“相对被动”和不具威胁性的方式实现的，她们“作为旁观者站在一边”，观看雄性虚张声势的表演。

　　真的是这样吗？

　　事实上，科学家逐渐发现雌性动物会和雄性一样滥交、竞争、好斗、占主导地位和充满活力。就驾驶变革的巴士这件事而言，雌性双方权利平等。只是达尔文和支持他论点的一群绅士动物学家，不会从平等的角度看待问题。生物学中最大的一次飞跃（进化论）是由一群维多利亚时代的男人在19世纪中期的环境中创造出来的，它本身就带着一些关于性别和性本质的假设。

　　在这本书中，露西·库克的目标是揭穿动物王国关于性和性别的过时叙事，她打破了学界一直以来以男性为中心的科学偏见，将各种雌性动物的真实行为展现在我们面前，从交配后蜘蛛的同类相食到狐獴女王的血腥统治，我们将发现“她”并不像我们印象中那样温柔、被动、温顺和充满母性，也将重新认识包括人类在内的所有“她”的力量。

　　作者简介

　　露西·库克（LucyCooke）

　　动物学家,《国家地理》探险家，绰号“新一代的大卫·爱登堡”，获得《国家地理》新兴探险家奖

　　在牛津大学师从理查德·道金斯获得动物学硕士学位

　　获奖电视制片人和主持人，英国和美国自然历史广播和电视节目中的熟面孔,担任美国公共广播公司(PBS)、英国广播公司(BBC)、第四频道(Channel4)和探索频道(Discovery)黄金时段电视纪录片系列的编剧、制片人和导演，也是一位经验丰富的现场直播主持人，在BBC多档节目中出镜

　　受欢迎的TED演讲者，畅销书作家，著有《树懒是节能，不是懒！》等

　　

The Power of "Her"

There is a gaping hole in Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection: complex features such as stag antlers or peacock tails seem to be luxuries, of no benefit to the general process of survival, and may even become obstacles to everyday life. This tormented Darwin for a long time. Darwin eventually realized that there must be another evolutionary mechanism at work, the pursuit of sex, so he named it sexual selection. We can also call it the evolution of beauty.

More than 10 years after the Origin of Species, Darwin published his second masterpiece, The Descent of Man. This work outlined his new theory of sexual selection, explaining the profound differences he observed between the sexes. If natural selection is a fight for survival, then sexual selection is essentially a fight for mates. In Darwin's view, however, this competition was primarily a male affair. Constrained by the deeply ingrained culture of their time, Darwin believed that females exercised their power in a "relatively passive" and non-threatening way, "standing by as onlookers" watching the bravado of males.

Is that really the case?

In fact, scientists are increasingly discovering that female animals can be just as promiscuous, competitive, aggressive, dominant, and energetic as males. When it comes to driving the bus of change, both women have equal rights. It's just that Darwin and the group of gentleman zoologists who supported his argument didn't see things from an equal perspective. One of the biggest leaps in biology (evolution) was created by a group of Victorian men in mid-19th century conditions, and it carried with it some assumptions about the nature of gender and sexuality.

In this book, Lucy Cook aims to debunk outdated narratives about sex and gender in the animal kingdom, breaking down the scientific bias that has always been male-centric, and bringing us to the real behavior of all kinds of female animals, from post-mating spider cannibalism to the bloody reign of meerkat queens, We will discover that "she" is not as gentle, passive, docile, and maternal as we remember, and we will rediscover the power of "she" in all of us, including humans.

About the author

LucyCooke

Zoologist and National Geographic explorer, nicknamed "the new David Attenborough," won the National Geographic Emerging Explorer Award

He received a Master's degree in Zoology from Richard Dawkins at Oxford University

Award-winning television producer and presenter, a familiar face in natural history radio and television programmes in the UK and the US, writer, producer and director of prime time television documentary series for PBS, BBC, Channel4 and Discovery, He is also an experienced live presenter who has appeared on a number of BBC programmes

Popular TED speaker, best-selling author and author of "Sloths Are Energy Efficient, Not Lazy!" Etc.