Depression as a counter for women against men who renege on the sex contract

Abstract

Humans have some unique qualities for a primate, if not a mammal. For example, men systematically align themselves and are aligned with a woman-child dyad. In the Sex Contract , Fisher has proffered a synopsis of behavioral traits which facilitated, if not caused, the alignment. For any contract to be effective, penalties or threats of penalties for violations must be available. Available sanctions by a man toward Aviolating' woman are manifest: no food, no protection, physical punishment. These sanctions have been well documented in the literature. Available sanctions by a woman toward Aviolating' man are argued to be just as real, but more indirect and subtle. One example of these putative sanctions is argued to be an increased vulnerability to a psycho-emotional ¤ shut-down', i.e. depression. Accordingly, the consistent over representation of women in recorded incidences of depression (28 of 29 countries) may be better understood when also viewed through this biocultural filter. A complementary, if not...