Nov 26 2008
RP) There is Reproduction, and There is Sex
[T]wo studies have found that women going to a singles bar wear more jewelry and makeup when near ovulation. These adornments, it seems, have the advertising value of a chimpanzee’s pink genital swelling, attracting a number of men for the woman to choose from.
- Robin Wright (11)
Why is there so much talk of sex, sex, sex in the Bible? Thou shalt not “stick it” in another man (Deuteronomy 23:17); thou shalt not do it with livestock (Exodus 22:19); thou shalt not do it with your father’s concubine (Genesis 35:22) . . . etc, etc. The reason: human beings are one hyper-sexed bunch. Males have huge penises (relative to other species); females are sexually receptive pretty much all the time.
Among the other primates we see a transition to human hyper-sexuality. That females experience sexual pleasure, and even experience orgasm, was first documented and verified among female macaques. (12) Most like humans, “female bonobos [are] almost continually receptive; [with] pink swellings for most of their cycle.” (13) And, sacre bleu, “The French kiss is the bonobo’s most recognizable, humanlike erotic act.” (14)
As for males, they attempt to impress the more selective females. In fact, in Geoffry Miller’s book, The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature, and other books and articles like it, the motive behind a whole host of human behaviors is chalked up to the male drive to impress females.(15)
What impresses females? Well, traits and behavior related to virility. For baboons, a robust “wahoo” call is one such trait. As Cheney and Seyfarth explain: “Because natural selection favors the skeptical observer and acts against any individual who allows himself to be duped by traits unrelated to fighting ability, the only displays that persist over time are ‘honest’ indicators of a male’s condition. The displays are honest because they are too costly for males in poor condition to produce and maintain . . . . Male baboons’ competitive displays take the form of violent chases and loud “wahoo” calls. Wahoos satisfy all of the criteria for a classic competitive display.” (15)
Certainly, human males engage in no “wahoo” displays. And yet, as researchers have recently discovered, males with deeper pitched voices do have greater reproductive success. At least among extant hunter-gatherer societies. (16)
Finally, consider the common, yet perhaps diminishing, tendency for males to entice females into having sex by buying them dinner and/or a box of chocolates. This, too, is primate behavior. “Among common chimpanzees, the food-for-sex swap is less explicit but is evident; male chimps are more likely to give meat to a female when she exhibits the red vaginal swelling that signifies ovulation.” (17)
Among human females on a date with a new male, which would you guess is more likely to attract the passionate interest of the male: dressing like a dedicated mother or dressing and behaving like an individual eager to engage in the act that leads to motherhood?
It is clear that the human being is a naked primate clothed in fabric and language and anthropocentric ideology. Strip away the clothing, culture and language and you are left with an animal. And a sexy animal at that. (18)
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(11) Wright, R., The Moral Animal: Evolutionary Psychology and Everyday Life, Vintage, NY, 1995, p.70
(12) de Waal, F., Peacemaking Among Primates, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1989.
(13) de Waal, F., 1989
(14) de Waal, F. Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are, New York, Riverhead Books, 2005, p. 86
(15) Cheney, D. L., & Seyfarth, R. M. Baboon Metaphysics: The Evolution of a Social Mind, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2007, p.52
(16) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070924122805.htm
(17) Wright, R., 1995, p. 68
(18) It seems to me that many believers are threatened by the theory of evolution because it causes them to glance in the mirror and see their naked self — sure looks like you’ve got all the parts of an animal. If DNA encoded a soul into the human genome, and the human alone – that would be a different story.
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[Post first appeared here.]
