selection is a robust theoretical framework, without ever addressing the theoretical distinction in the polarity of intersexual cooperation and conflict highlighted by Roughgarden et al. In her 2009 book The Genial Gene, Roughgarden continues to build a case against sexual selection theory and to present social selection theory as an alternative. The book is titled as a response to the popular book, The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins, which expounds what Roughgarden describes a “neo-Spencerian” view of nature “red in tooth and claw” in which competition and conflict dominate. In The Genial Gene, after an initial section defining and attacking sexual selection, followed by a definition of social selection as one based on differences in offspring-production, rather than differences in mating success. A second section is focused on the genetic basis of social selection. The first chapter addresses how sexual reproduction evolved in the first place, and makes the case for Roughgarden’s Portfolio hypothesis, which emphasizes that sexual reproduction creates genetic diversity through recombination, as opposed to the more commonly favored Muller’s Ratchet, which emphasizes that sex removes deleterious mutations through recombination. The second chapter explains the binary distribution of gamete types (sperm vs. egg) as a strategy to maximize gametic contact, rather than as a result of conflicting gametic strategies. A final chapter argues that hermaphroditism, rather than gonochorism, is the primitive state of sexuality. The third section takes a two-tier approach to developing social selection theory. A behavioral tier focuses on game theory and Nash Bargaining Solutions as outlined in her 2006 paper. A second population genetic tier is then described that operates as a result of many replays of the behavioral tier. The book concludes by listing 26 phenomena that, according to Roughgarden, are explained differently by sexual selection theory and are better explained by social selection theory. She says that sexual selection theory derives from a view of natural behavior predicated on the selfish-gene concept, competition and deception, whereas the social-selection theory derives from teamwork, honesty, and genetic equality. As of 2012 she has continued to study if social selection as opposed to sexual selection is a more important driver of evolution for colonial species such as corals or perhaps humans. Roughgarden's criticism of sexual selection has been rejected by the scientific community, and her papers on it have received few citations in scientific literature. In a 2019 interview, she stated that "Most biologists remain defensive