AnthroCurrents – March 20, 2015

A biweekly look at recent stories on anthropology and practicing anthropologists in the popular media

• If you enjoy telling people they’re wrong, you’re going to love this article, which contradicts popular wisdom regarding hip width and locomotion. This research calls into question all kinds of thoughts we have had about infant skull size and bipedalism as well.
• We’re used to the accusations of sensationalism thrown at the Discovery Channel, and now National Geographic gets its turn as reported in the Washington Post. “The Lost City of the Monkey God” sounds like something out of a movie and ignores the knowledge of both local people and academics who have already conducted research on the site.
• The New Yorker reviews Satin Island, a new novel whose narrator is an anthropologist.
• The Wall Street Journal posted an essay by anthropologist Melvin Konner that makes some pretty bold statements, including the assertion that “women are superior to men in most ways that will count in the future.” The essay was derived from his new book “Women After All: Sex, Evolution and the End of Male Supremacy.” He covers a completely different topic—casual sex—over at Salon.com.