naa a22 4500 510780555 CHVBK 20180411083245.0 cr unu---uuuuu 180411e20131201xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s11692-013-9226-7 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s11692-013-9226-7 The "Sex Role” Concept: An Overview and Evaluation [Elektronische Daten] [Malin Ah-King, Ingrid Ahnesjö] "Sex roles” are intuitively associated to stereotypic female and male sexual strategies and in biology, the term "sex role” often relates to mating competition, mate choice or parental care. "Sex role reversals” imply that the usual typological pattern for a population or species is deviates from a norm, and the meaning of "sex role reversal” thus varies depending upon whatever is the usual pattern of sex-typical behavior in a given taxon. We identify several problems with the current use of the "sex role” concept. (1) It is typological and reflects stereotypic expectations of the sexes. (2) The term "sex role” parses continuous variation into only two categories, often obscuring overlap, between the sexes in behavior and morphology, and variability in relation to ecological circumstances. (3) Common generalizations such as "sex role as seen in nature” mask variation upon which selection may act. (4) The general meaning of "sex roles” in society (i.e. "socially and culturally defined prescriptions and beliefs about the behavior and emotions of men and women”) is contrary to biological "sex role” concepts, so that confusing the two obscure science communication in society. We end by questioning the validity of the "sex role” concept in evolutionary biology and recommend replacing the term "sex role” with operational descriptions. Springer Science+Business Media New York, 2013 Mate choice nationallicence Mating competition nationallicence Sex roles nationallicence Sexual selection nationallicence Sex role reversal nationallicence Ah-King Malin Centre for Gender Research, Uppsala University, Box 527, 751 20, Uppsala, Sweden aut Ahnesjö Ingrid Department of Ecology and Genetics/Animal Ecology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18 D, 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden aut Evolutionary Biology Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 40/4(2013-12-01), 461-470 0071-3260 40:4<461 2013 40 11692 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-013-9226-7 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-013-9226-7 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Ah-King Malin Centre for Gender Research, Uppsala University, Box 527, 751 20, Uppsala, Sweden aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Ahnesjö Ingrid Department of Ecology and Genetics/Animal Ecology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18 D, 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Evolutionary Biology Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 40/4(2013-12-01), 461-470 0071-3260 40:4<461 2013 40 11692 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer