ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the relevance of primate field studies for understanding various significant areas of sexual dimorphism: Sex differences in dominance, mating behavior, and sexual assertiveness, attachment to home range and the natal group, and the ecological and social correlates of sex differences in body size. In each of these cases, field work and species comparisons among the primates have been highly instructive in redefining early, overly simple formulations and expectations, ones that failed to recognize the important impact of evolutionary pressures on the biology and behavior of females as well as males. Females have a strong attachment to their natal group and do not take the risks of wandering in strange territories or interacting with strangers. It is clear that among the higher primates, sexual assertiveness and promiscuity are not the prerogatives of males —even "good" mothers frequently show the behavior.
