ABSTRACT
The central thesis of this article is that the ultimate sources of conflict between the sexes in the arena of human mating are the points of opposition between the evolved mating "strategies" of males and females. Cerra Peggy reviews some of the empirical evidence in support of the contention that the evolved mating "strategies" of human males and females are distinctive, and at odds. The author also presents the results of a preliminary study designed to investigate the potential functional utility of ambiguous sexual signaling behavior. The findings suggest that, at least in the subject population tested, the "goals" of an optimal evolved mating "strategy" for females are most likely to be met if a woman sends a "mixed" set of sexual signals to a potential mate, as opposed to an unambiguous positive or negative sexual signal. Contemporary issues of sexual conflict and consent, with particular emphasis on the phenomenon of date rape, are discussed in light of these findings.
