<!-- bryant-content-generator:start --> # Even intimacy provides no exemption from nature.... > {{Even intimacy provides no exemption from nature.}} Ten years of observation of wild chimpanzees found that male aggression toward females was associated with increased mating success for the male and elevated stress hormones in the female, supporting the interpretation of aggression as sexual coercion. A later 17-year behavioral and genetic study went further: among high-ranking males, persistent aggression toward females outside their sexually receptive periods predicted a higher likelihood of paternity, consistent with **long-term intimidation** functioning as a reproductive strategy. Strip away the species label and read it as a case file. A male repeatedly beats and frightens a female over months and years, not during sex, not around sex, but in the ordinary intervals of her life, so that her future behavior is altered by fear, and the pattern rewards him with children. {{The violence is not outside the relationship. The violence is the relationship's operating system.}} {{Some creatures do not hurt their mates because the relationship has broken down. The intimidation is one of the mechanisms by which the relationship operates.}} **Source:** [[books/Chimping Out|Chimping Out]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “Even intimacy provides no exemption from nature. Ten years of observation of wild chimpanzees found that male aggression toward females was associated with increased mating success for the male and elevated stress hormones in the female, supporting the interpretation of aggression as sexual coercion. A later 17-year behavioral and genetic study went further: among high-ranking males, persistent aggression toward females outside their sexually receptive periods predicted a higher likelihood of paternity, consistent with long-term intimidation functioning as a reproductive strategy. Strip away the species label and read it as a case file. A male repeatedly beats and frightens a female over months and years, not during sex, not around sex, but in the ordinary intervals of her life, so that her future behavior is altered by fear, and the pattern rewards him with children. The violence is not outside the relationship. The violence is the relationship's operating system. Some creatures do not hurt their mates because the relationship has broken down. The intimidation is one of the mechanisms by which the relationship operates.” — Bryant McGill https://bryantmcgill.com/passages/passages-intimacy-provides-no-mechanisms-relationship-operates ``` <!-- bryant-content-generator:end -->