The Origins and Maintenance of Female Genital Modification across Africa : Bayesian Phylogenetic Modeling of Cultural Evolution under the Influence of Selection

We present formal evolutionary models for the origins and persistence of the practice of Female Genital Modification (FGMo). We then test the implications of these models using normative cross-cultural data on FGMo in Africa and Bayesian phylogenetic methods that explicitly model adaptive evolution. Empirical evidence provides some support for the findings of our evolutionary models that the de novo origins of the FGMo practice should be associated with social stratification, and that social stratification should place selective pressures on the adoption of FGMo; these results, however, are tempered by the finding that FGMo has arisen in many cultures that have no social stratification, and that forces operating orthogonally to stratification appear to play a more important role in the cross-cultural distribution of FGMo. To explain these cases, one must consider cultural evolutionary explanations in conjunction with behavioral ecological ones. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our study for policies designed to end the practice of FGMo.

"Blood Feuds": Cross-Cultural Variations in Kin Group Vengeance

Despite the considerable research that has been carried out on cross-cultural pat terns of political conflict, little empirical attention has been devoted to the study of blood feuds. In this study, coding categories were developed to measure the legitimacy of kin group vengeance, self-redress, and formal adjudication mechanisms among societies in the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (Murdock and White 1969). The empirical results strongly suggest that blood feuds occur within the context of marriage bargains and that they are most characteristic of societies studied prior to World WarI. When historical time penod and other potential external influences were considered, feuding was found to be associated primarily with premarital chastity concerns and mode of marriage. Individual self-redress and formal adjudication, however, depend on characteristics of the political economy-economic resource base, stratification, diverging devolution, and hospitable climate. It is suggested here that future analyses of political conflict should distinguish feuds from other forms and take into account the historical effects of Western incursions on the internal politics of traditional communities.

Female circumcision among Egyptian women

Although a remarkable degree of consensus has been reached among international agencies, policymakers, and women's health advocates that the practice of female circumcision should be eliminated, such consensus is not necessarily shared by those who perform the operation or the families responsible for having girls excised. The surgical procedure is nested in a complex set of beliefs about identity, moral behavior, and the working of the female body. This article describes the dominant themes produced in 85 extensive interviews with mother and operators representing the broad spectrum of Egyptian society. The interviews detailed the operation itself, women's emotional response to the operation, and the rationales put forth in support of the practice. Although institutional efforts to eliminate the practice will meet with resistance, significant demographic shifts already taking place are producing changes in family systems and the opportunity structure that coincide with the abandonment of excision in key sectors of the urban population.

Sex, alcohol and sexually transmitted diseases: a national survey

The analysis of a representative national survey of households provides strong evidence that alcohol overshadows illicit drug use as a risk factor for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Men and women who report a history of STDs are significantly more likely to have a history of problem drinking, independent of high-risk sexual activities and demographic characteristics. However, a high rate of change in sexual partners over the past five years also increases the chance of STD infection. Sexual orientation is a major STD risk factor among men but not among women. Although both black men and black women are at greater risk of STDs than are those in other racial or ethnic groups, results indicate that black women's greater likelihood of having sex with men who have multiple partners, rather than their own rates of partner change, makes the crucial difference between their risk and that of white women.

Behavioral risk factors for sexually transmitted diseases in American households

The analysis of a representative survey of households (n = 968) in a San Francisco Bay Area county provides strong evidence for the role of problem drinking as a risk factor for sexually transmitted diseases independent of drinking patterns and drug use. Among women, age, race, early age at first intercourse, history of multiple partners, drinking patterns, as well as current symptoms of problem drinking were all associated with reported STD rates. Stepwise logistic regression analysis showed, however, that female problem drinkers are nearly four and a half times more likely (adjusted O.R. = 4.65, 95% C.I. = 1.30, 16.70) than other women to have had STDs independent of all these potential risk factors. Problem drinking puts women at a greater risk for STDs than a history of multiple sex partners (adjusted O.R. = 2.75, 95% C.I. = 0.98, 7.75). This finding is also observed among men, among whom STDs were associated with a history of multiple sex partners (adjusted O.R. = 4.12, 95% C.I. = 1.90, 8.94) and the lifetime prevalence of drinking problems (adjusted O.R. = 4.95, 95% C.I. = 2.13, 11.50). Frequent bar-going, drunkenness episodes, high volume drinking, feeling disinhibited while drinking and drug use increase the risk for STDs via their effects on the rate of sex partner change. Problem drinking determines STD rates independent of these factors. The implications of these findings for future research and health policy are discussed.