Women faced greater sexual assault threat from out-group than in-group males prehistorically

Evidence

It is, therefore, a conflict of interest among males and females that characterizes gender relations in intergroup contexts. As a function of females’ high investment in offspring, reproductive choice is of crucial importance to females. In light of this, selection may have favored females who were particularly vigilant in the protection of their reproductive choice. Because intergroup conflict seems to have been much more common in prehistoric societies than in historic societies (Bamforth, 1994; Ember, Daly, & Wilson, 1978; Keeley, 1996; Wrangham & Peterson, 1996), women most likely faced considerably greater threat of sexual assault from out-group than from in-group males, if one corrects for the amount of time spent in the proximity of both categories of males. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1193

Categorization

• QUESTION: The ‘correcting for time spent in proximity’ caveat is doing heavy lifting — worth chasing the actual evidence comparing out-group vs in-group assault rates.
• XREF: Relates to evolutionary psychology debates on female mate choice and intergroup conflict (Thornhill & Palmer, Wrangham & Peterson).