
I’m not here to try to argue that men and women aren’t biologically different and have as a result differing behaviours, I’m simply trying to pose an alternative viewpoint on what @MrOracle views as “innate” human behaviour.
One of the first things you’ve got to get your head around when studying psychology or anthropology especially is the immense diversity of human culture. Many anthropologists believe that ‘human universals’ do not exist. Stuff that we take for granted, death, marriage, birth, marriage, time even colour can be viewed and experienced entirely differently by groups of people.
Surviving and Reproducing is a critical aspect of our existence. When we view human behaviour through this lens it gives us great insight into why certain things occur, particularly pertaining to our relationship with the environment. However, my main issue with the original post is that this perception is ultimately flawed. Humans are not perfectly rational, we are heavily influenced by society and do things that do not contribute to our survival or actually inhibit it. We also need to look more at meaning.
When looking at what roles women and men take on within society you generally do see differences, but they aren’t always black and white. In early human societies virtually all work was ‘heavy’ and dangerous, regardless of your gender. The author creates this weird mix of modern, agricultural and hunter-gatherer roles when giving examples and fails to actually compare the jobs of a single society. In early humanity, basic skills like hunting, fishing, sewing, cooking, medicine would have had to be learnt by everyone for the individual to survive, not to mention child rearing was done more as a collective, not by individuals. You do find places in the world where women take on the physically more demanding work, so it’s not really something that is truly universal in nature.
The whole reproduction argument really falls down when you look at basic human biology, tribe structure and sex’s role in society. Women are just as built for multiple partner sex as men.
Sperm competition from multiple different men is just as a valid part of ‘natural selection’, it allows for a) a greater likelihood of getting pregnant and b) only the best sperm candidate to actually fertilise the egg. We know this occurred since men’s ejaculate contains a form of spermicide and penises are shaped like a ’scoop’ to remove as much of the previous man’s semen as possible. Indicating that female promiscuity is an inbuilt part of our biology. Some anthropologists have explored why there are sexually so many differences between the desires of men and women. One conclusion found was that women generally had more than one partner in a sex session. It allowed for this sperm competition to occur and the woman had a higher likelihood of orgasm, since she didn’t have to rely on a single partner.
Women do have the issue of being pregnant for 9 months which is a massive threat to their survival; however in early human society we did not live as monogamous pairs, but in a tribe structure. Women would have needed the protection and support of men (and other women) but this would have been provided by a group, not a singular individual. The search for stability and security probably evolved later as a response to monogamous and smaller family structures.
It’s kind of interesting that you ignore entirely the social aspect of sex, which in a way is kind of what makes us human. Female enjoyment of sex and orgasm is also entirely ignored. Sex is probably primarily a social mechanism. Unlike animals (and our closest relative) we don’t really go into a proper period of ‘heat’. We have sex all the time, even when it’s impossible to get pregnant (eg. Whilst already pregnant, on period, prior to first menarche or after menopause) and for a multitude of non-reproductive related reasons. Homosexual sex is coded into our biology and has existed since the dawn of time, despite not having a reproductive purpose. Oral and anal sex is also practiced. Sex for us is to bond with one another, reduce contempt and
create a greater cohesiveness amongst the group, it’s not solely a reproductive activity.
In your second last paragraph you kind of proved my point that a lot of what your saying is societal, NOT Biological. Monogamy and the restriction of female sexuality is a result of patrilineal inheritance and exchange, it’s not really a natural state of affairs. It is not shown in every human society and not universal in nature. There are places in the world where sex and pregnancy have no correlation, there is no such thing as a biological father, only a man who can take on the role of a parent. In this situation, promiscuity from both genders is not looked down upon, but openly encouraged.
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