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<DIV>Hi paleos and Steve...I sent this this morning but I don't think it made
it. If it eventually shows up 2ce, please forgive.</DIV>
<DIV>-aa</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Steve wrote:</DIV>
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<DIV><BR><STRONG>Nothing valuable is learned from being raped.</STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I think this distorts the question. A better way to put the
question is:</DIV>
<DIV>When rape occurs, a woman (though men are raped, too, but not at such
high rate, so I will write re women) will undergo certain emotional
responses that are not within her control. Again, the EP/Nesse model that we
have emotions for <EM>a reason</EM> is one that I believe in just as well as I
believe I'm sitting here on a rainy day typing away when I should be doing
other stuff...</DIV>
<DIV>There is, as there is with all these types of questions, a proximate
cause/goal and an ultimate cause/goal.</DIV>
<DIV>When writing about the value of something in evolutionary terms there is
not an evaluative sense or normative one, either. It is not <EM>good</EM> when
a woman is raped. Nothing <EM>good</EM> is learned from rape. But a woman
through her emotional response to the terror and horror of such an
event <EM>will </EM>learn <EM>something</EM>! Her chemistry will change,
and depending on where she is developmentally (her life-history), her
personality may actually change! (Pre, say, 25 years of age). </DIV>
<DIV>She will approach people and situations in a different way. None of
this may be <EM>valuable</EM> in the sense of <EM>good</EM>--but from
mother nature's eye view (ultimate), it is valuable. </DIV>
<DIV>And, again, as Howard, Lynn and I have been discussing, there is
'value' for the group. </DIV>
<DIV>Finally, I have to say, I teach a class called "Psychology of
Women" and last night some students presented some statistics on rape....Those
statistics are also warning signs...and they have been amassed by the brave
women who report and tell their stories. (Students were quite intrigued and
glad to learn of fact that a good amount of rapes that happen 'outside',
happen in parking garages.)</DIV>
<DIV>It is not good to be raped. There is no value in being raped. But the
chemical and emotional responses women have after such an event are probably
adaptive--and 'valuable' for them and 'valuable' for the
group. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>-Alice</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>Telling the story may reduce the pain but it never<BR>goes away
completely. And our society has little<BR>interest in going to the root
cause of the anger<BR>against women that motivates rape. So we<BR>learn
nothing from it, any more than we do from<BR>the suffering of war.
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR><BR>A part of us loves suffering, and loves to inflict it <BR>on
others. Pleasure is fleeting, but pain can go<BR>on forever- a much more
reliable source of<BR>energy for those who feed on it.<BR><BR>Creative people
constantly learn from the<BR>"accidents" in their work. But although an
<BR>accident in a painting can be useful, an accident <BR>in a car is
useless.<BR><BR>Steve Hovland<BR><A
href="http://www.stevehovland.net">www.stevehovland.net</A><BR><BR><BR>-----Original
Message-----<BR>From: <A href="mailto:HowlBloom@aol.com">HowlBloom@aol.com</A>
[SMTP:HowlBloom@aol.com]<BR>Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 10:26 PM<BR>To: <A
href="mailto:andrewsa@newpaltz.edu">andrewsa@newpaltz.edu</A>; <A
href="mailto:paleopsych@paleopsych.org">paleopsych@paleopsych.org</A><BR>Cc:
<A href="mailto:gradientor@yahoo.com">gradientor@yahoo.com</A><BR>Subject: Re:
[Paleopsych] What's the survival value of post
traumaticstressdisorder?<BR><BR> << File: ATT00007.txt; charset =
UTF-8 >> << File: ATT00008.html; charset = UTF-8
>> << File: ATT00009.txt >>
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