Because an evolutionary approach promises a perspective of rape and related behavior different from any other view, it may significantly improve understanding of this behavior. Human rape may be an evolved, facultative behavior that is dependent on the social and biological conditions, impacting certain males. Rape may be used by men who are relatively unsuccessful in competition for the resources and status necessary to attract and reproduce successfully with desirable mates. This hypothesis is based on the comparative biology of forced copulation, the evolution of intra-specific phenotypic variation, and the general sex difference across organisms in reproductive strategies. An alternative evolutionary hypothesis may help explain rape behavior: human rape may be a maladaptive effect of the general adaptive male mating strategy, which includes persistence in copulation attempts. Neglect of these evolutionary explanations for human rape will leave a knowledge gap regarding rape behavior.