What drives a man to rape a woman? Domination, violence and power are often thought of as motives for rape, but recently a biologist and an anthropologist have proposed another theory.Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palmer, authors of the controversial book "A Natural History of Rape," write that rape has evolved from man's natural inclination to reproduce. The evolutionary theorists further speculate that it is no coincidence that most women who are raped are of childbearing age. "[Rape] represents just another seed-spreading technique favored by natural selection," Barbara Ehrenreich said in her analysis of the duo's theory titled "How 'Natural' is Rape?" in the Jan. 31 issue of Time magazine. "Sure it's nasty, brutish and short on foreplay. But it gets the job done," summarizes Ehrenreich. Thornhill and Palmer want it made clear that they do not endorse rape; instead, their goal is to correct the widely-held belief that "rape is not about sex." Because it is about sex, the authors want women to realize that wearing low-cut blouses and short skirts does encourage men to fulfill their "natural" tendency. Ehrenreich is quick to point out that of the thousands of women who were raped in Bosnia recently, "few if any of them were wearing bikinis or bustiers." Other scientists take issue with Thornhill and Palmer's theory that rape is a way for males to "spread their seed." In "A Fight over the Evolution of Rape" in the Feb. 7 issue of U.S. News and World Report, Josh Fischman reports that Cornell University anthropologist Meredith Small says there is no evidence that "raped women bear their rapists' children" and she concludes that rape is a "reproductive failure." Thornhill and Palmer also minimize the violence associated with rape, asserting that less than a quarter of victims suffer any "gratuitous" violence beyond that necessary to subdue them. Critics of the theory are quick to point out that the real damage from rape is the emotional repercussions, not the physical. Bear Creek AP history teacher Bonnie Cassel says that prior to the 1970s a woman would often be deemed at fault for rape because society thought the woman was asking for rape by the way she dressed or where she was that night and what she was doing with whom. "A woman would have to prove that she wasn't dressed inappropriately, that she wasn't out in some dark place in the middle of the night and that her sexual history was legitimate," Cassel said. "She had to prove that she was clean as the snow." Because of society's narrow view on the men being at fault for rape, very few men were convicted for rape before the 1970s. Thus, few women were ever willing to testify and bring themselves to court because there may be the chance that the judge or attorney may turn around and accuse the woman for bringing it onto herself. "Guys can say she asked for it by her actions and clothing, but what matters most is if a woman says 'No,' it means no," Cassel said. A self-proclaimed feminist, Cassel proudly points out that the laws today protect women and give them the same rights as men. She has no doubt that Thornhill and Palmer's theory of man's "natural" tendency to rape is nonsense and should not be seen as an explanation for a man's violent criminal act. "It's absolutely hogwash," Cassel said. "It's as if men have no self-control and zero respect for women."