Tarzanist

comparative more Tarzanist · superlative most Tarzanist

1. In the style of, or exhibiting, Tarzanism.

   But if he finds a niche in the Hardy theory, he surely throws a pretty hefty wrench into the Tarzanist works. If the hominid became bipedal in order to run after his prey, where did this bipedal plant-eater come from?

   1972, Elaine Morgan, The Descent of Woman, New York: Stein and Day, page 156

   2 more examples

   The Nigerian writes in English, although he has urged the adoption of Kiswahili as a single language for Africa. "I find no contradiction, no sense of guilt, in the fact that I write and communicate in English," he said several years ago, dismissing as "neo-Tarzanist" the criticism that he was too "Europhile" in outlook.

   1986 October 17, The New York Times, Late Edition, page 1

   How insightful her diagnosis of male tarzanism! How useful her words "tarzanist" and "tarzanism" and the concepts they embrace, for those of us who have to describe contemporary Australian political life. How commonplace our political leaders' overt displays of baboon-like "brute virility".

   2021 June 15, The Canberra Times, page 37

plural Tarzanists

1. An anthropologist who depicts early human evolution in terms of aggressive male hunters and passive baby-carrying women.

   [T]his is still the case for extant gatherer—hunter groups, the Tarzanist fantasies of certain pop anthropologists notwithstanding..

   1990, David Kritchevsky and Charles Bonfield, editors, Dietary Fiber: Chemistry, Physiology, and Health Effects, New York: Plenum Press, page 432

   3 more examples

   The Tarzanists suggest that bipedalism enabled this ape to race after game while carrying weapons — in the first instance, presumably pebbles.

   1972, Elaine Morgan, The Descent of Woman, New York: Stein and Day, page 156

   As for social structure, Morgan argues, the “Tarzanists,” as she calls them, conveniently overlook studies of primates that do not fit their model.

   1974, Clarice Stasz Stoll, Female and Male, Dubuque, Iowa: Wm C. Brown Co., page 28

   Pouring gentle, good-humoured scorn on what she calls the ‘Tarzanist-type’ theories of ‘Man the Hunter’, she nonetheless makes some firm points about the origin and development of the human family.

   1988, Ronald Fletcher, The Abolitionists: The Family and Marriage under Attack, London: Routledge, page 191