Fruit Flies Are Not Femmes Fatales

While William Jordan may feel some behavioral identity with a fruit fly, he has made a gross overgeneralization for the rest of Homo sapiens with “The Mystery of the Lek” (May 10). Attributing the same evolutionary forces to mate selection in flies and humans is bad science. It is even worse, however, to misapply biological principles to promote a particular ideological stance concerning social roles and behavior.

Martha S. Witter

UCLA Department of Biology

Los Angeles