We all know the stereotypes - Women infight, Men work together. But a little understanding of WHY, of the primal driving forces behind this is a great thing to have. And as most things, its not really any more complicated than basic primate group dynamics.

Why do men work together? Because as a group we are stronger. Remember our instincts. We aren't after a specific woman. We're after ALL the women. A powerful group is instant social proof of the best kind. I.E. Posse culture in the rap scene. Individually they're a bunch of guys. Together, they're an entourage.

This works because of the male abundance mentality. They are competing for mates yes, but not THE SAME ONE. Men are a shotgun. They're competing for mates, but there is no specific focus of competition. The competition is quantitative, who gets the most wins, but even if one clearly wins, the others don't specifically, explicitly lose and in fact, may even reap some rewards scrounging off the winner.

Shift to Women. Have you ever hung out with a group of women? I have. Its not that fun, wouldn't recommend it. In male groups the dominance struggles are overt and blatant, when 2 butt heads, they generally fight in some form and then its over, hierarchy established, problem solved and both stop wasting time as adversaries because even if you don't particularly love the guy you're still better off with him in your group. True fact: through the years a good few of my best friends were guys I couldn't stand at first, then we fought, one of us got knocked down and we never mentioned it again. Some of those fights I won, several I most surely didn't, but the thing is that ALL of them were one time things. We had a conflict, we took a run at each other, hierarchy was established and then we were friends. The winner knows he won, the loser knows he lost, but the winner also knows the loser is a fighter and thus worthy of respect. From the perspective of a guy who didn't get his growth spurts till junior year I want to point out that this applies to bullies as well. Fight them once, do as much damage as possible, never worry about them again because they go after easier targets. Predators focus attention on the weak and sick for a reason, hunting is energy intensive and dangerous as fuck. Wolf takes on a healthy caribou and gets its leg broke now its the one dieing.

But its exactly the opposite with the fairer sex and the reasons, I believe, stem from our conflicting sexual strategies. This one-and-done thing is something that women simply don't do. They simply CAN'T.

Remember men want all the women. Women want just the best man. They are in direct, unending conflict over the optimal mate. 6 men walk into a bar, they hit on every single woman in there, 6 women walk into a bar, they all want the same highroller. This constant competition leads to the bickering and subtle powerplays. Afterall, the best way to edge someone out from your perfect guy is for them to not think they have a chance in the first place.

The only time I have observed even temporary peace within female groups is when there is a very clearly dominant alpha. The 9 hanging out with 6's. They know they can't compete with her and she's their bait for guys. They won't get the best one, but quality guys hang out together. Invariably though, even if no one is challenging the herd matriarch, the lower rank still fights amongst themselves because they are still going after #2.