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| | THE VIRTUES OF PROMISCUITY
Jun 30, 2007
Slutty behavior is good for the
species. That's the conclusion of a new wave of research on the
evolutionary drives behind sexuality...more
Dita Von Teese to pen erotic book
Jun 29, 2007
Goth star DITA VON TEESE is reportedly planning to release a book of erotic dance tips and sex advice especially...more
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| | In each other's arms this Christmas!
Jun 26, 2005
by Zehta
Met Pietro on here a year ago (he has put his success story on too). He kept asking for a... more
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THE VIRTUES OF PROMISCUITY
Jun 30, 2007
Slutty behavior is good for the
species. That's the conclusion of a new wave of research on the
evolutionary drives behind sexuality and parenting.
Women
everywhere have been selflessly engaging in trysts outside of matrimony
for a good long time and for excellent reasons. Anthropologists say
female promiscuity binds communities closer together and improves the
gene pool.
More than 20 tribal societies accept the principle
that a child could, and ideally ought to, have more than one father,
according to Pennsylvania anthropologist Stephen Beckerman. It begins
to crop up in a lot of places, says Beckerman, who has reviewed dozens
of reports on tribes from South America, New Guinea, Polynesia and
India as co-editor of the newly released book, Cultures of Multiple
Fathers.
Less than 50 years ago, Canela women, who live in
Amazonian Brazil, enjoyed the delights of as many as 40 men one after
another in festive rituals. When it was time to have a child, they'd
select their favorite dozen or so lovers to help their husband with the
all-important task. Even today, when the dalliances of married Bar
ladies in Columbia and Venezuela result in a child, they proudly
announce the long list of probable fathers. The much-touted
evolutionary bargain of female fidelity for food -- trotted out by
evolutionary psychologists with maddening regularity -- just doesn't
hold up.
This model of the death-do-us-part, missionary-position
couple is just a tiny part of human history, says anthropologist
Kristen Hawkes, who has spent years studying the Ach, a Paraguayan
people, and the North Tanzanian tribe Hadza. The patterns of human
sexuality are so much more variable. American college students still
learn that human society is based on the age-old economic contract
between the sexes: Men hunt and women raise children.
Fathers
provide meat for the family; in exchange, moms offer fidelity and the
guarantee of paternity. Although men -- who produce millions of sperm
-- are inveterate philanderers, gals, stuck with relatively few eggs
that require a significant investment, tend to be choosy and coy.
This
evidence is a real thumb in the eye for that view, says Beckerman.
Anthropologists claim, good judgment aside, evolution has nudged women
a bit toward promiscuity and sexual adventure. In all well-studied
primates, females exhibit a polyandrous tendency when given the
opportunity to stray. Some who cheat appear to be more fertile, and the
offspring of most are more likely to survive. Fooling around appears to
have helped our ancestral mothers equip their little ones for success
-- the sexual equivalent of reading to them every night or enrolling in
the after-school chess club. Hawkes says females likely hook up with
multiple males for safety -- a mother's strong emotional bonds with
more than one fellow provide an extra- protective hand in times of
danger. An economic incentive promotes female infidelity in Bar
society. All of the Bar children who had more than one father were more
likely to survive into adulthood, fortified by small gifts of fish and
game in times of scarcity.
Even evolutionary psychologists,
stout defenders of the meat-for-fidelity model, are beginning to
acknowledge the benefits of women's slutty behavior. University of
Texas psychologist David Buss gives most credit to mate insurance, a
backup replacement in case the male partner doesn't survive. Social
approval of infidelity does not, however, imply a corresponding
devaluation of marriage. They're very, very faithful, says Beckerman's
co-author Paul Valentine about the Curripaco, who live on the border
between Columbia and Venezuela. The tribe believes that conception is a
process that requires a lot of work, and the men are quick to take
credit for their joint labors. They say, 'Hey, this is really hard work
having a baby,' Valentine says. And they really put on a smug look.
Physiological
data supports the theory that women have been sleeping around for
centuries. For starters, men have evolved to compete in their partner's
reproductive tract. Human males have large testicles that manufacture
plenty of semen, especially when they reunite with their wives after
separation. Their sperm includes coil-tailed versions that block
instead of carry the ball.
Females cooperate when they want to
-- more often with their lovers than with their mates, according to one
study. Women retain slightly more sperm after orgasm, and in the throes
of excitement may even draw the virgin swimmers up through the cervix
and into the uterus, according to British sexologist R. Robin Baker.
Still,
David Buss places most of the blame for all this wanderlust on the
guys. Bottom line, sperm are cheap and eggs are expensive, he says. He
cites his own 1993 studies of college undergraduates. Women said they'd
like maybe up to five partners in a lifetime. Men in various surveys
ranged from 18 up to 1,000. Sure, both sexes have one-night stands.
Both also can mate for life. But men tend toward variety and women will
most often stay true to the stable, dependable provider, Buss claims.
Anthropologists
are not so sure. Some say today's emphasis on female monogamy may have
more to do with socioeconomic trends than evolutionary instincts.
Extramarital trysts were a way of life for the Canela -- until the
encroachment of outsiders.
Multiple lovers, that's just part of
the life. It's recreation, just like races and running. It's all done
in the spirit of joy and fun, says William Crocker of the Smithsonian
Institution, who has studied the Brazilian tribe since 1957. When a
woman got pregnant with her husband, she would go out to find as many
as five more fathers for her fetus. Because every bit of semen was
believed to contribute to the baby, a dedicated mom looked for a
variety of desirable traits in her lovers: sexual skills, good looks,
oratory talents, top-notch singing abilities -- and naturally, a good
provider.
Crocker says the Canela's sexual customs began to
disappear after the arrival of traders, who brought in material goods
such as machetes, axes, pots and pans, introducing the idea of
exclusive ownership. The missionaries came next. The evangelists, who
arrived in the early 1970s, translated the Bible into Canelan and did
their part to discourage the tribe's sexual intimacy.
Beckerman
says, I suppose it doesn't mean there's any less fooling around, it's
just that the fathers don't take responsibility for it and the mothers
don't admit it.
Modern relationships are not all that different.
High infidelity, remarriage and divorce rates may have less to do with
modernity than with our collective sexual past.
It makes the
variation we're seeing in modern society so much more understandable,
Hawkes says. If the anthropologists are right, monogamy may well be
counter-evolutionary or an adaptation to modern life. Or perhaps the
nuclear family has always been more of an ideal than a reality.
Sally Lehrman writes frequently on health issues. This article first appeared on alternet.org.
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