Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T08:37:50.370Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sex and Death: Gender Differences in Aggression and Motivations for Violence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2015

Rose McDermott
Get access

Abstract

Greater theoretical consensus and cohesion could offer critical insights for the broader community of international relations scholars into the role that gender plays in spawning and sustaining processes of violence. This review essay examines the role of gender in generating and perpetuating violence and aggression, both in theory and practice. I make four central claims. First, in many studies involving the role of sex and gender in violence, specific causal models tend to remain underspecified. Second, a divergence in fundamental assumptions regarding the ontological basis of sex differences implicitly permeates and shatters this literature. Third, arguments that men and women are more or less likely to fight appear too simplistic; rather, it is worth considering that men and women may possess different motivations for fighting, and fight under different circumstances and for different reasons. Finally, systematic differences in the variant psychologies of men and women regarding the relative merit of offense and defense exert predictable consequences for public opinion surrounding the conduct of war in particular.

Type
Review Essay
Information
International Organization , Volume 69 , Issue 3 , Summer 2015 , pp. 753 - 775
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ackerly, Brooke, and True, Jacqui. 2010. Doing Feminist Research in Political and Social Science. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Archer, John. 1996. Sex Differences in Social Behavior: Are the Social Role and Evolutionary Explanations Compatible? American Psychologist 51 (9):909–17.Google Scholar
Archer, John. 2004. Sex Differences in Aggression in Real-World Settings: A Meta-Analytic Review. Review of General Psychology 8 (4):291–322.Google Scholar
Archer, John, and Coyne, Sarah M.. 2005. An Integrated Review of Indirect, Relational, and Social Aggression. Personality and Social Psychology Review 9 (3):212–30.Google Scholar
Belkin, Aaron. 2012. Bring Me Men: Military Masculinity and the Benign Façade of American Empire. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Caprioli, Mary. 2000. Gendered Conflict. Journal of Peace Research 37 (1):51–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caprioli, Mary. 2003. Gender Equality and State Aggression: The Impact of Domestic Gender Equality on State First Use of Force. International Interactions 29 (3):195–214.Google Scholar
Caprioli, Mary. 2005. Primed for Violence: The Role of Gender Equality in Predicting Internal Conflict. International Studies Quarterly 49 (2):161–78.Google Scholar
Caprioli, Mary, and Douglass, Kimberly L.. 2008. Nation Building and Women: The Effect of Intervention on Women's Agency. Foreign Policy Analysis 4 (1):45–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caprioli, Mary, and Boyer, Mark A.. 2001. Gender, Violence, and International Crises. Journal of Conflict Resolution 45 (4):503–18.Google Scholar
Caprioli, Mary, Hudson, Valerie M., McDermott, Rose, Emmett, Chad, and Ballif-Spanvill, Bonnie. 2007. Putting Women in Their Place. Baker Journal of Applied Public Policy 1 (1):12–22.Google Scholar
Caprioli, Mary, and Trumbore, Peter. 2003a. Identifying “Rogue” States and Testing Their Interstate Conflict Behavior. European Journal of International Relations 9 (3):377–406.Google Scholar
Caprioli, Mary, and Trumbore, Peter. 2003b. Ethnic Discrimination and Interstate Violence: Testing the International Impact of Domestic Behavior. Journal of Peace Research 40 (1):5–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caprioli, Mary, and Trumbore, Peter. 2006. Human Rights Rogues in Interstate Dispute, 1980–2001. Journal of Peace Research 42 (2):131–48.Google Scholar
Card, Noel A., Stucky, Brian D., Sawalani, Gita M., and Little, Todd D.. 2008. Direct and Indirect Aggression During Childhood and Adolescence: A Meta-Analytic Review of Gender Differences, Intercorrelations, and Relations to Maladjustment. Child Development 79 (5):1185–229.Google Scholar
Carpenter, R. Charli. 2003. Stirring Gender into the Mainstream: Constructivism, Feminism and the Uses of IR Theory. International Studies Review 5 (2):287–302.Google Scholar
Chagnon, Napoleon A. 2011 [1968]. The Yanomamö. 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.Google Scholar
Cohen, Dara K. 2013a. Female Combatants and the Perpetration of Violence: Wartime Rape in the Sierra Leone Civil War. World Politics 65 (3):383–415.Google Scholar
Cohen, Dara K. 2013b. Explaining Rape During Civil War: Cross-National Evidence (1980–2009). American Political Science Review 107 (3):461–77.Google Scholar
Cohn, Carol. 1987. Sex and Death in the Rational World of Defense Intellectuals. Signs 12 (4):687–718.Google Scholar
Daly, Margo, and Wilson, Martin. 1990. Killing the Competition: Female/Female and Male/Male Homicide. Human Nature 1 (1):81–107.Google Scholar
De Beauvoir, Simone. 2012 [1949]. The Second Sex. New York: Random House Digital.Google Scholar
DeWall, C. Nathan, MacDonald, Geoff, Webster, Gregory D., Masten, Carrie L., Baumeister, Roy F., Powell, Caitlin, Combs, David, Schurtz, David R., Stillman, Tyler F., Tice, Dianne M., and Eisenberger, Naomi I.. 2010. Acetaminophen Reduces Social Pain: Behavioral and Neural Evidence. Psychological Science 21 (7):931–37.Google Scholar
Eagly, Alice H. 1987. Sex Differences in Social Behavior: A Social-Role Interpretation. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum.Google Scholar
Eagly, Alice H., and Wood, Wendy. 1991. Explaining Sex Differences in Social Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Perspective. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 17 (3):306–15.Google Scholar
Eagly, Alice H., Johannesen-Schmidt, Mary C., and van Engen, Marloes L.. 2003. Transformational, Transactional and Laissez-Faire Leadership Styles: A Meta-Analysis Comparing Women and Men. Psychological Bulletin 129 (4):569–91.Google Scholar
Elshtain, Jean B. 1987. Women and War. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Elshtain, Jean B. 1995. Democracy on Trial. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Enloe, Cynthia H. 1989. Bananas, Beaches, and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Enloe, Cynthia H. 1998. All the Men Are in the Militias, All the Women Are Victims. In The Women and War Reader, edited by Lorentzen, Lois A. and Turpin, Jennifer E., 207–20. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Enloe, Cynthia H. 2000. Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Womens' Lives. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Evangelista, Matthew. 2011. Gender, Nationalism, and War: Conflict on the Movie Screen. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Finnemore, Martha. 1996. National Interests in International Society. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Friedan, Betty. 2010 [1963]. The Feminine Mystique. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Fukuyama, Francis. 1998. Women and the Evolution of World Politics. Foreign Affairs 77 (5):24–40.Google Scholar
Goldstein, Joshua S. 2001. War and Gender: How Gender Shapes the War System and Vice Versa. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hartz, Louis. 1955. The Liberal Tradition in America: An Interpretation of American Political Thought Since the Revolution. New York: Harcourt Brace.Google Scholar
Hausmann, Richardo, Tyson, Laura D., and Zahidi, Saadia. 2007. The Global Gender Gap Report. Geneva: World Economic Forum. Available at <http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GenderGap_Report_2007.pdf >. Accessed 1 June 2012..+Accessed+1+June+2012.>Google Scholar
Hudson, Valerie M., and den Boer, Andrea M.. 2004. Bare Branches: The Security Implications of Asia's Surplus Male Population. Boston: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Hudson, Valerie M., Baliff-Spannvill, Bonnie, Caprioli, Mary, and Emmett, Chad F.. 2012. Sex and World Peace. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Hudson, Valerie, Carpenter, R. Charli, and Caprioli, Mary. 2010. Gender and Global Security. In The International Studies Association Encyclopedia (International Studies Compendium Project), edited by Robert Denemark, 2651–65. Oxford, UK: Wiley–Blackwell.Google Scholar
Huntington, Samuel P. 1996. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Inglehart, Ronald, and Norris, Pippa. 2003a. The True Clash of Civilizations. Foreign Policy 135:63–70.Google Scholar
Inglehart, Ronald, and Norris, Pippa. 2003b. Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change Around the World. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kellermann, Arthur L., and Mercy, James A.. 1992. Men, Women, and Murder: Gender-Specific Differences in Rates of Fatal Violence and Victimization. Journal of Trauma 33 (1):1–5.Google Scholar
Keohane, Robert O. 1989. International Relations Theory: Contributions of a Feminist Standpoint. Millennium: Journal of International Studies 18 (2):245–53.Google Scholar
Kinsella, Helen M. 2005. Discourses of Difference: Civilians, Combatants, and Compliance with the Laws of War. Review of International Studies 31 (S1):163–85.Google Scholar
Kinsella, Helen M. 2006. Gendering Grotius Sex and Sex Difference in the Laws of War. Political Theory 34 (2):161–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kwang, Tracy, Crockett, Erin E., Sanchez, Diana T., and Swann, William B.. 2013. Men Seek Social Standing, Women Seek Companionship: Sex Differences in Deriving Self-Worth from Relationships. Psychological Science 24 (7):1142–50.Google Scholar
Lopez, Anthony C., and McDermott, Rose. 2012. Adaptation, Heritability, and the Emergence of Evolutionary Political Science. Political Psychology 33 (3):343–62.Google Scholar
Marshall, Monty G., and Ramsey, Donna R.. 1999. Gender Empowerment and the Willingness of States to Use Force. Paper presented at the International Studies Association Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, February 19–22.Google Scholar
Mason, Andrew D., and King, Elizabeth M.. 2001. Engendering Development Through Gender Equality in Rights, Resources, and Voice. World Bank Policy Research Report 21776. Washington, DC: World Bank/Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Melander, Erik. 2005. Gender Equality and Intrastate Armed Conflict. International Studies Quarterly 49 (4):695–714.Google Scholar
Moon, Katharine H. S. 1997. Sex Among Allies: Military Prostitution in US-Korea Relations. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Muller, Martin N., Kahlenberg, Sonya M., Thompson, Melissa E., and Wrangham, Richard W.. 2007. Male Coercion and the Costs of Promiscuous Mating for Female Chimpanzees. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 274 (1612):1009–14.Google Scholar
Peterson, V. Spike. 1998. Gendered Nationalism: Reproducing “Us” Versus “Them.” In The Women and War Reader, edited by Lorentzen, Lois A. and Turpin, Jennifer, 41–49. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Peterson, V. Spike. ed. 1992. Gendered States: Feminist (Re)Visions of International Relations Theory. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Regan, Patrick M., and Paskeviciute, Aida. 2003. Women's Access to Politics and Peaceful States. Journal of Peace Research 40 (3):287–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosin, Hanna. 2010. The End of Men. The Atlantic 306 (1):56–73.Google Scholar
Sandberg, Sheryl. 2013. Lean in: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Sen, Amartya. 1989. Women's Survival as a Development Problem. Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 43 (2):14–29.Google Scholar
Slaughter, Anne-Marie. 2012. Why Women Still Can't Have It All. The Atlantic 310 (1):84–102.Google Scholar
Sylvester, Christine. 1994. Feminist Theory and International Relations in a Postmodern Era. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sylvester, Christine. 2001. Feminist International Relations: An Unfinished Journey. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sylvester, Christine. 2002. “Progress” as Feminist International Relations. In Critical Perspectives in International Studies, edited by Harvey, Frank P. and Brecher, Michael, 150–67. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Tessler, Mark A., and Warriner, Ina. 1997. Gender, Feminism and Attitudes Toward International Conflict. World Politics 49 (2):250–81.Google Scholar
Tickner, J. Ann. 1988. Hans Morgenthau's Principles of Political Realism: A Feminist Reformulation. Millennium: Journal of International Studies 17 (3):429–40.Google Scholar
Tickner, J. Ann. 1993. Gender in International Relations: Feminist Perspectives on Achieving Global Security. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Tickner, J. Ann. 2001. Gendering World Politics: Issues and Approaches in the Post–Cold War Era. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Tickner, J. Ann. 2005. What Is Your Research Program? Some Feminist Answers to IR's Methodological Questions. International Studies Quarterly 49 (1):1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Townes, Ann E. 2010. Women and States: Norms and Hierarchies in International Society. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wood, Elisabeth J. 2006. Variation in Sexual Violence During War. Politics and Society 34 (3):307–42.Google Scholar
Wood, Elisabeth J. 2009. Armed Groups and Sexual Violence: When Is Wartime Rape Rare? Politics and Society 37 (1):131–61.Google Scholar
Woolf, Virginia. 1966 [1938] Three Guineas. San Diego, CA: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Wrangham, Richard W., and Peterson, Dale. 1996. Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.Google Scholar