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Women After All: Sex, Evolution, and the End of Male Supremacy Reprint Edition

by Melvin Konner MD (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 119 ratings
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“A sparkling, thought-provoking account of sexual differences. Whether you’re a man or a woman, you’ll find his conclusions gripping.”―Jared Diamond

There is a human genetic fluke that is surprisingly common, due to a change in a key pair of chromosomes. In the normal condition the two look the same, but in this disorder one is malformed and shrunken beyond recognition. The result is a shortened life span, higher mortality at all ages, an inability to reproduce, premature hair loss, and brain defects variously resulting in attention deficit, hyperactivity, conduct disorder, hypersexuality, and an enormous excess of both outward and self-directed aggression.

It is called maleness.

Melvin Konner traces the arc of evolution to explain the relationships between women and men. With patience and wit he explores the knotty question of whether men are necessary in the biological destiny of the human race. He draws on multiple, colorful examples from the natural world―such as the mating habits of the octopus, black widow, angler fish, and jacana―and argues that maleness in humans is hardly necessary to the survival of the species.

In characteristically humorous and engaging prose, Konner sheds light on our biologically different identities, while noting the poignant exceptions that challenge the male/female divide. We meet hunter-gatherers such as those in Botswana, whose culture gave women a prominent place, invented the working mother, and respected women’s voices around the fire. Recent human history has upset this balance, as a dense world of war fostered extreme male dominance. But our species has been recovering over the past two centuries, and an unstoppable move toward equality is afoot. It will not be the end of men, but it will be the end of male supremacy and a better, wiser world for women and men alike.

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  1. ISBN-10
    0393352315
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0393352313
  3. Edition
    Reprint
  4. Publisher
    W. W. Norton & Company
  5. Publication date
    March 14, 2016
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    5.6 x 1.1 x 8.3 inches
  8. Print length
    416 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Engagingly written and persuasively argued…shows how an acknowledgment of human nature combined with a long view of history can advance the human condition."
― Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, & author of The Better Angels of Our Nature.

"A fluent, provocative, well-argued engagement with a lively mind."
― Sherry Turkle, Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"Astonishingly insightful…A richly informed, up-to-the-minute and sensible exploration of a highly charged topic. It is the best available examination of how and why men and women differ and how twenty-first-century humans can use this knowledge to forge a better world."
― Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, author of Mother Nature and Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding.

"Mines evolution and anthropology to probe gender identities in the light of biology, sexual conflict across species and more."
― Barbara Kiser, Nature

"Sweeping, ambitious and eminently readable…A compelling and thought-provoking read for men and women alike."
― Lisa Sanders, M.D., Associate Professor, Yale School of Medicine

"Konner makes a powerful case for a provocative thesis…he ranges from evolutionary biology through ethology, neurobiology, embryology, anthropology and history, with digressions into economics and politics. Not many people could pull this off―but Dr. Konner does."
― David Barash, Wall Street Journal

"[Konner's] conclusions give me, well, hope."
― Louise Erdrich, The Millions

About the Author

Melvin Konner, MD, is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Program in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology at Emory University. He is the author of Believers, Women After All, Becoming a Doctor, and The Tangled Wing, among other books.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (March 14, 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393352315
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393352313
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.5 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.6 x 1.1 x 8.3 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 119 ratings

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Melvin Konner

Melvin Konner

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
119 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Anon
5.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting and Optimistic Read
Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2015
Verified Purchase
"Women After All" is an incredibly fascinating book. Konner presents an extreme and controversial thesis for the sake of grabbing people's attention, and then peddles backward in what becomes a rational and far-reaching discussion of gender differences across species (with eventual emphasis on humans, of course). I enjoyed the way he walked the reader through animal and human history with light humor and many references to research studies. His critique of men is more nuanced than the title of the book would suggest, and although he spends a few paragraphs here and there on what a world completely run (or even occupied solely) by women might be like, it is obvious that these are thought experiments--intended to extend one line of thinking to an unlikely, if interesting, conclusion--and not suggestions or predictions. He argues that gender equality (the end of male supremacy, but not the start of female supremacy) is necessary for a free, peaceful, and thriving world, and makes a good case for why an equal world is better for both genders. It actually seems like a pretty moderate stance to me.

Some of my views were challenged, some were sustained, and other ideas were introduced that I had never known or thought about before. Women's rights has always been an interest of mine, but few books on the subject leave me with a feeling of good will and the belief that we are inevitably heading in the right direction. After finishing this book, I am left with a sense of optimism that I haven't felt for a long, long time.
17 people found this helpful
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Mary G. Dabbs
5.0 out of 5 stars Conner Explains a Lot
Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2015
Verified Purchase
Anyone, whose powers of observation haven’t been clouded by religious dogma or political ideology, knows that the average man is bigger, stronger, more preoccupied with sex, and more aggressive than the average woman, and that male aggression can turn into irrational violence under the influence of all male groups or with rejection by a lover.
I suspect that many of us who have noticed all this wonder how women have survived male domination and aggression throughout the centuries and have been so successful at it that women in the United States now outnumber men and outlive them by an average of five years. Melvin Konner, with 68 pages of historical and academic references, does an excellent job of explaining how this happened and defending his observations in his well-written, attention-absorbing book. He approaches his subject matter from multiple viewpoints of medicine, neuroscience, anthropology, and history, and is never dull. He makes the point that it is the characteristics that set women as a group apart from men that makes women’s leadership so important now. It’s hard to watch the evening news without agreeing with him.
For those of us who have read a lot about sex differences, Women After All reminds us again that sex differences, while statistically significant, are individually variable and subject to cultural influences. Konner’s book, a masterpiece of web thinking, proves that at least one man has a working corpus callosum that he is able to put to good use. As an old woman with mostly male descendants, I find that encouraging.
12 people found this helpful
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Dreamspinner
4.0 out of 5 stars Don't be stopped by ignorant, ill-informed bias. You need to read this book and others like it.
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2015
Verified Purchase
I strongly disagree with the very ill-informed reviews posted here which ironically are completely unsupported by data—unlike this book. I find that the book is reasonably well presented and fairly reports conclusions that I have seen now in several years of well documented and widely publicized data from scores of reputable sources that have shown that women make better leaders than men specifically due to biologically different approaches to risk management and decision analysis. The results of such differences have been well documented e.g. here’s just one that indicates corporate boards would be better run with more women as directors http://esciencenews.com/articles/2013/03/26/women.make.better.decisions.men. Harvard University, for example, has published numerous studies with similar conclusions such as this one: https://hbr.org/2012/03/a-study-in-leadership-women-do/. Numerous more data are easy to find. Rather than just shoot down this topic because of some knee-jerk bias, which incidentally is part of the problem with civilization today that this book and these studies try to address, I would recommend this book and readings of similar scope as part of a very constructive and sorely needed personal and public evaluation of what changes we really can and should do to alter the increasingly destructive path of civilization today. It’s not feminist to acknowledge that men have unilaterally created and continue to rule every government, every religion, every military force, and every financial and corporate system that has ever existed and continues to exist--not by merit but via brute power created and retained. And yet after 10,000 years of evolution all paths of human conflict still lead to war and violence at all points of globe, even in supposedly highly civilized societies like the U.S. and Europe. We have become populations that no longer can politely disagree even on the most inane subject, much less solve severely critical problems together. Surely even the most rigid-minded can agree that it’s time to at least listen to another point of view of potential solutions if it means getting us all off this road to increasing ruin.
45 people found this helpful
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John Khoury
5.0 out of 5 stars Don't listen to the bad reviews, this book is a gem
Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2015
Verified Purchase
Maybe I would only give this a 4.6 or something but I’m rounding up. This book is excellent. Well written, well structured, engaging, and thorough. I don’t agree with everything he says, but then I don’t agree with anything anyone says, including myself. The bad reviews are really unfounded in my opinion and many are just obvious angry responses to a touchy subject. And I’m sure Konner saw these bad reviews coming but it doesn’t make it OK. I would encourage him to post some excepts on his site to show how well written and well thought out this book is. Anyway, I would like to write a proper review but have not yet found the time, but I wanted to get this message out there as soon as possible.
19 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Ray137
5.0 out of 5 stars As a man I think I always new we were living on borrowed time!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 13, 2015
Verified Purchase
Briliantly written and argued; excellent for anyone interested in gender differences, which should be all of us! The essential arguement is that humans are not just blank sheets upon which the environment writes, but like all other species on the planet we have a significant degree of biological pre-programming, (like it or not). This is particularly obvious with gender differences which are not just physical but emotional and interlectual... and forever. 'Femaleness' is much more relevant and useful to the modern world as compared to 'Maleness' with its endless violence and aggression, and sexual obsession and exploitation. In the modern world the only real advantage males have over females is the amount muscle tissue they possess, which is becoming more and more irrelevant. He does not dissmiss the environment, far from it, but environment only explanations of human behaviour are inadequate. The book has lots of good evidence and lots of good arguments. I strongly recommend this work. Though do not buy it on amazon until they pay there taxes.
3 people found this helpful
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