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The Caveman Mystique: Pop-Darwinism and the Debates Over Sex, Violence, and Science, by Martha McCaughey. New York, NY: Routledge, 2007. 176pp. $25.95 paper. ISBN: 9780415934756.
Over the last two decades, the image of the caveman in tattered animal pelts dragging a cavewoman across the ground by her hair with club in hand has seeped into the ever- expanding cultural marketplace of masculine identity. With caveman diets, caveman fitness programs, and even cavemen acting as mis- understood spokesmen for car insurance, the ethos of the caveman has become increasingly trendy among scientific and popular culture alike. But, how did the caveman come to be so glamorous? And, what are the conse- quences of this glamour? In The Caveman Mystique: Pop-Darwinism and the Debates Over Sex, Violence, and Science, Martha McCaughey explores the resurgence of evolutionary theory as a moral system for men by deconstructing the caveman in science and popular culture. For her, evolutionary theory offers a mythology that naturalizes male heterosexual desire, power, and aggression at a time when men have lost economic and political turf to women. In the spirit of Betty Friedan, McCaughey proposes that while the caveman mystique may alleviate male anxiety, it ultimately impedes men from creating a masculinity that contributes to the democratization of intimacy, family, work, and society.
McCaughey, who is trained both in...