1. Some Women That Never Evolved 2. An Initial Inequality 3. Monogamous Primates: A Special Case 4. A Climate for Dominant Females 5. The Pros and Cons of Males 6. Competition and Bonding among Females 7. The Primate Origins of Female Sexuality 8. A Disputed Legacy.

Anorexia nervosa remains an enigma among Western cultures. Various causal explanations have been offered, encompassing biological, psychological, and sociocultural models. These explanations, however, focus on the immediate or proximal mechanisms of causation. A more thorough understanding of anorexia nervosa can be achieved by understanding the relationship between these factors and ultimate causation, the level of explanation which deals with individual reproductive fitness. This paper reviews the biological, psychological, sociocultural, and evolutionary models and indicates a necessary synthesis between proximate and ultimate (...) levels of causation in examining the anorexia nervosa puzzle. (shrink)