Tables below show inverse relationship between empirical fact and speculation: The fields studying basic mechanisms accumulate far greater number of confirmed facts with few hypotheses, while higher-level behavioral fields like evolutionary psychology rely on numerous speculative explanations for relatively fewer established facts.

Big Picture Comparison

Approximate Number of Confirmed Facts

Field	Approx. Confirmed Facts
Evolutionary Psychology	~50–200 (hundred)
Evolutionary Biology	~5–20 thousand
Genetics	~50–500 thousand
Molecular Biology	~500 thousand–2 million
Cell Biology	~1–5 million

Approximate Number of Major Speculative Hypotheses

Discipline	Approx. Speculative Hypotheses
Evolutionary Psychology	200–500+
Evolutionary Biology	~10–20
Genetics	~10–15
Molecular Biology	~5–10
Cell Biology	~3–5

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*Approximate numbers confirmed by Chat GPT, Grok, and Claude.

The following excerpts are from ‘Guinevere as Lord’ – an essay by Anne P. Longley, in Arthuriana  Vol. 12, No. 3, Essays on the “Lancelot–Grail Cycle” (FALL 2002), pp. 49-62.

 

The table below compares the approximate number of major speculative hypotheses across several biology-based research fields, including evolutionary psychology, evolutionary biology, genetics, molecular biology, and cell biology. All of these disciplines are grounded in biological science, rather than sociology or cultural theory.

The numbers are comparative estimates derived from analyses using multiple AI systems. In this context, “major speculative hypotheses” refers to distinct, named hypotheses concerning specific traits, behaviors, or biological mechanisms that are actively discussed in the scientific literature. The purpose of the table is to highlight the substantial differences in both the number and specificity of such hypotheses across these biological disciplines.

The dramatically higher number of major speculative hypotheses in evolutionary psychology has fueled one of the field’s most persistent criticisms: that many of its explanations amount to ‘just-so stories.’ Coined by critics like Stephen Jay Gould, the term refers to plausible but potentially untestable or post-hoc adaptive narratives that can be crafted for nearly any human trait or behavior. While evolutionary psychologists argue that these hypotheses generate testable predictions (unlike Kipling’s whimsical tales), the sheer volume invites scrutiny about whether some prioritize storytelling over rigorous falsification.

1. Original use in anthropology (late 1800s–mid 1900s)

• The term hypergamy first appears in sociological and anthropological studies of marriage systems.

• It described marrying up in caste or class, particularly in South Asian kinship structures (e.g., anuloma marriages).

• The term was strictly confined to marriage, not mating or sexual choice.

2. Mid-20th century sociology

• Sociologists expanded the term to marital patterns such as:

  • educational hypergamy

  • income hypergamy

• Still exclusively about marital unions, not dating or sex.

3. Evolutionary psychology (1980s–2000s)

• EP researchers discussed female preferences for resources, status, or dominance.

• But they did not originally use the term “hypergamy”—they spoke of mate preference, mate choice, or resource-acquisition preferences.

4. Misappropriation begins (2000s)

• Online writers and early Manosphere blogs began borrowing “hypergamy” from sociology, often incorrectly assuming it meant any form of women choosing the highest-status male.

• The nuance that the term is marriage-specific in origin was lost.

5. Pop-EP amplification (2010s–2020s)

• Popular accounts of EP (e.g., YouTubers, bloggers, “red-pill” forums) adopted “hypergamy” as a catch-all for non-marital female mating behavior.

• This created a disconnect between:

  • the literal etymology (marriage),

  • the academic use (marriage),

  • and the new pop-EP usage (sexual or romantic preference in any context).

• The result is a large-scale catachresis: a word misapplied to a domain to which it does not belong.

6. Why the mistake persists

• “Hypergamy” sounds more scientific than “preference for higher-status partners.”

• Very few people check etymology.

• The term gained memetic traction in online male-strategy communities.

7. Consequence

• A whole generation of EP enthusiasts now uses a marriage-only word to describe non-marital mating behavior, undermining clarity.

How the Misuse Spread: A Brief Historical Outline

Anthropology (late 19th–early 20th century)

• The term hypergamy originally emerges in anthropological research on marriage systems.

• It describes marrying upward in caste or class hierarchies, especially in South Asian kinship structures.

• It applies exclusively to marriage, not sexual behavior, not dating, not mate preference.

Sociology (mid-20th century)

• The term expands to describe marital unions such as:

  • educational hypergamy

  • income hypergamy

• Again: strictly marital.

Early Evolutionary Psychology (1980s–2000s)

• Researchers studied female mate preferences for resources, status, dominance, and protection, but:

• They did not use the word “hypergamy.”
  Instead, they described mate choice or resource-acquisition preferences.

Online Manosphere and Pop-EP (2000s–2010s)

• Bloggers and early “red-pill” communities encountered the word hypergamy in sociological texts and misinterpreted it as meaning:

  “Women always prefer the highest-status man.”

• The marriage-specific nature of the term was lost.

• The term spread memetically through:

  • blogs

  • forums

  • YouTube commentary

  • popular EP explainers

The Result

A term that had always meant “marrying upward” was suddenly being used to describe non-marital mating and sexual behavior, creating a large-scale conceptual mistake.

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Why This Is a Linguistic Error: The Catachresis Problem

This widespread misuse is an example of catachresis—using a word in a way that contradicts its actual meaning or domain.

The root problem is etymological:

• Hypergamy derives from Greek gamos = marriage.

• It does not refer to sexual choice.

• It does not refer to attraction.

• It does not refer to dating, hookups, or general mate preference.

Using a marriage-specific term to describe general sexual or romantic behavior is a category mistake. It is like trying to describe casual sex with the word “matrimony” ; the semantic field simply does not match.

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What Hypergamy Actually Means

Hypergamy = hyper + gamos

• hyper- = upward

• gamos = marriage

The literal meaning is:

“Upward marriage.”

Historically, academically, and etymologically, this term belongs to:

• caste-marriage systems

• class-based marital mobility

• formal marital unions

• sociological studies of marriage patterns

It does not belong to:

• dating

• short-term mating

• hookups

• sexual attraction

• romantic preference

• evolutionary mate choice contexts

The modern evolutionary-psychology usage is therefore incorrect.

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What Evolutionary Psychology Actually Describes

Evolutionary psychology does not focus primarily on marriage, but on mating strategies:

• short-term mating

• long-term mating

• sexual preferences

• romantic attraction

• mate competition

• extra-pair mating

• resource-based selection

These behaviors are much older than marriage, which is a relatively recent cultural institution.

So EP is fundamentally describing mate choice, not marriage choices.

The everyday statement:

“Women prefer the highest-status man available.”

…describes a mating preference, not a marriage rule.

Thus the term “hypergamy” is inappropriate for EP’s purposes.

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The Correct Word: Hypergyny

If we need a term to describe female upward mate preferences across all relational contexts—sexual, romantic, or marital—then we need a term built from the correct root.

That term already exists: hypergyny.

Hyper– + gyne (woman)

• gyne = woman

• NOT marriage

• Unlike gamos, it has no marital connotation.

Literal meaning:

“A woman moving upward.”

Hypergyny therefore correctly refers to:

• any upward-directed female mate preference

• attraction to higher-status or higher-resource males

• upward selection in dating, mating, romance, or sex

It describes the very thing EP commentators mean without importing the erroneous assumption of marriage.

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Comparison Table

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Conclusion

The modern discourse on female mating strategies has been built on a linguistic mistake.

• Hypergamy has always meant upward marriage.

• Evolutionary psychology is about mate choice, not marriage systems.

• The popular EP usage of “hypergamy” is therefore a misuse, a category error, and a clear case of catachresis.

The scientifically and linguistically correct term is:

Hypergyny

—female upward mate preference across all sexual and romantic contexts.

Correcting this terminology not only improves clarity but also prevents the confusion that occurs when marriage-specific words are used to describe non-marital mating behavior.

The following excerpt is from the book Marriage and love in England: Modes of reproduction 1300-1840, by Alan Macfarlane (1986).

• See also: Family in Asia, versus family in the West – by Shu Ye

Several human populations show little to no evidence of the classic ~2:1 female-to-male reproductive skew (i.e., female Ne = 2× male Ne), and in a few cases, the pattern is reversed (male Ne > female Ne). These exceptions are crucial because they prove the skew is not a universal biological law of human mating (e.g., inevitable female hypergamy or male disposability), but a cultural and historical contingency.