Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution

The book explains female human evolution through a feminist lens. While the book acknowledges that male humans and male hominins have many physical strengths that female humans and female hominins do not, it establishes that female humans and female hominins are still strong, durable, and willing to do what they can to survive and protect their babies. Bohannon also covers the harmful effects of sexism-constructed girlhood on female individuals, showing that they learn quickly that they are “being watched” and that their bodies are “a thing that’s seen” (286). This description reflects the terrifying reality that female individuals in sexist, male-dominated spaces endure and the common feeling of danger, dread, frustration, and exhaustion that these environments cause. Bohannon also later covers how the compromise of sexism to protect children has been something agreed to by both male and female hominins. She uses internalized misogyny that female individuals, including her, struggle with as an example of how deep sexism runs in human societies. She also establishes that sexism is causing severe patriarchal double standards that are hurting female individuals, reducing their and their communities’ prosperity, and limiting brain growth by starving them, both physically and intellectually.

Bohannon hopes that with work, humans can put an end to widespread sexism and reminds her female audience that “every power men have ever had over women is something we gave them” and that “[w]e forgot we can stop” (437). In feminist theory, patriarchy is not only a male or father-led institution but also a system that favors male individuals and places male individuals as a sex class over female individuals. Bohannon argues that female individuals also play a role in misogyny, sometimes choosing to participate in their fellow female individuals’ subjugation. Many feminists also believe that female individuals sometimes suffer from internalized misogyny and choose to serve the patriarchy for survival and security reasons. However, Bohannon encourages female individuals to stand in solidarity with each other and stop giving male individuals power by uniting together and taking their power back.