A Problematic Test of the Kin Selection Hypothesis Among the Urak-Lawoi of Ko Lipe, Thailand: Commentary on Camperio Ciani, Battaglia, and Liotta (2015)

Authors

Paul L. Vasey, University of LethbridgeFollow
Doug P. VanderLaan, University of Toronto, MississaugaFollow
Raymond Hames, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Amornthep Jaidee, Chai Prakan, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2016

Citation

Published in Journal of Sex Research, 53(2), 149–152, 2016. doi: 10.1080/00224499.2015.1115808

Comments

Copyright © 2016 The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality; published by Routledge/Taylor & Francis. Used by permission.

Abstract

Camperio Ciani et al. argued that the Urak-Lawoi people of Ko Lipe island live in a ‘‘traditional,’’ ‘‘subsistence primitive society’’ reminiscent of the ‘‘ancestral’’ human past and that their socio-cultural situation is ‘‘remarkably similar’’ to Samoa. On this basis, they asserted that the Ko Lipe Urak-Lawoi are an appropriate population for determining the role that kin selection played in the evolution of male androphilia. The purpose of this commentary is to outline some of our concerns with this characterization and with the statistical analyses conducted by Camperio Ciani et al. in their study of the Urak-Lawoi.