A bullshit concept from the incel world has been leaking into mainstream culture, so its time we explain.
These greek-letter categories are supposed to describe a place in a hierarchy as well as a personality key in.
That should already clue you in to the fact that they dont make any sense.
The positions in hierarchies are jobs, not inbuilt biological traits.
We often like to believe that a persons character destines them for greatness.
Cinderella gets to marry the prince because shes just good and sweet and pretty.
The trope is appealing because we can imagine ourselves as the chosen one.
So if none of this makes sense, where did it come from?
In 1947, Rudolph Schenkel wrote apaper about wolf behaviorbased on observations at a Swiss zoo.
He wrote that there seemed to be a hierarchy, with the alpha pair at the top.
Actual wolf packs dont have that kind of multi-tiered hierarchy at all.
This post on Gizmodogoes into the history of the alpha wolf idea and why its wrong.
In short: wolf packs are families, with parents and children.
The parents hunt, and they feed their pups.
Some packs have a more complex structure, but theyre all family-based and not the result of cutthroat competition.
This didnt turn out to be a useful metaphor for dog training, either.
Instead, in wolf packs, the younger or submissive animal rollsthemselvesover.
Like wolves, humans do have a sense of status, but also like wolves, its complicated.
You also dont need to be acutely aware ofeverygradation in social status.
Where sigma comes in
The idea of sigma males is newer than the alpha trope.
This isnt even what chimpanzees, our closest wild relatives, do.
Basically, alpha male for them is a bully.
So, time to throw out the trope, right?
Well, you would think.
Time for an alternative to the alpha: a guy who standsoutsidethe hierarchy but is stillbetterthan everybody in it.
Sigma is, well, another Greek letter.)
Do yourself a favor and extract yourself all the way.
