How does David Geary explain the difference between male and female competition?

David Geary says male competition is closer to zero-sum: in hunter-gatherer groups reproductive variation among men is about three times that among women, and in early empires it reached roughly a hundredfold. Women compete too, but through social networks and relational aggression rather than lethal fights, because a pregnant or nursing woman risks far more by escalating.

• Geary notes that in many Old World primates females stay home and form kin coalitions to defend food such as fruit trees.
• Geary describes rivalry inside imperial harems, where mothers maneuvered to place their sons in power.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on Modern Wisdom (2026-11-05). Read the whole episode summary →

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