ABSTRACT
Such skepticism is especially timely in the current climate of enthusi astic and occasionally overly credulous acceptance of any theory with a logical evolutionary ring to it. Hence, cases of infant killing that range from isolated instances among captive animals to contemporary child abuse are being attributed, uncritically, to the killer’s quest for reproductive advantage. Whether or not these proposed explanations are valid remains to be demonstrated. At present, the sexual selection hypothesis remains just that, a hypothesis (see Alcock 1979:12-14, for admirable treatment of this point).
