IN MOST PRIMATE SPECIES, COMPETITION AMONG FEMALES IS MORE INTENSE THAN COMPETITION AMONG MALES: Why Do Women Bully Each Other At Work? “One psychologist, Joyce Benenson, thinks women are evolutionarily predestined not to collaborate with women they are not related to. Her research suggests that women and girls are less willing than men and boys to cooperate with lower-status individuals of the same gender; more likely to dissolve same-gender friendships; and more willing to socially exclude one another. She points to a similar pattern in apes. Male chimpanzees groom one another more than females do, and frequently work together to hunt or patrol borders. Female chimps are much less likely to form coalitions, and have even been spotted forcing themselves between a female rival and her mate in the throes of copulation.”

“Perhaps not surprisingly, Benenson’s theory is controversial—so much so that she says she feels sidelined and ‘very isolated’ in academia.” I suspect the isolation comes mostly from female academics, proving — or at least illustrating — her point. . . .