Sex, as a natural act which all human are inclined to do, serves many purposes in a society. Jared Diamond in his book "Why sex is fun" has given great detail about monkey's sexual behavior and how monkeys use sex to soothe other members of their group. Monkey's language is very limited and thus they use physical touch, massage and sex as to communicate and build trust in a group. Females use is to appease males and tone down their temper, lower ranking males use this as to get favor from their chief. Sex is not limited between male and female but also in male and male. Though, in the book, their was not much said about female and female sex acts but I presume that sex is also used to keep intimacy in female close groups. Sex, here doesn't serve only as a reproduction act but it also suffices for trust building in a group. Sex's main physical reaction is that the level of intimacy it offers ease down the tensions in the mind and make a person more relax. If you don't agree to this then try masturbating. :)
Sex is used as a tool of communication. Physical touch provides a way to showing trust. In human society, this is also true. Though, in past it was more prominent than now. Presently, humans are dependent on oral communication or speaking for trust building, evolved oratory skills has replaced physical intimacy to a certain extent. Still, in few close relationships humans still use physical touch to communicate and build trust. Sex is very important part of husband-wife relationship. Some of the early towns, as I have already mentioned in my previous post, used to have particular custom to control the reproduction period. (E.g. Sumer)
So, sex has moved down the importance through out the history, but still its effect on body remains the same. We have become more accustom to speaking and expressing ourselves through words rather then our body.
Role of religions in controlling human sexual freedom has also been very important. Romans and Greeks used to have physical contact to show submission and pride. Spartans were famous for their sexual prowess & freedom. As, new religions came to existence, they tried to distance from these early practices. Christians made it a rule; virginity and chastity were highlighted as a good thing. Any other type of sex, other then the between male-female was considered unnatural. Even oral and anal sexes were considered taboo. Muslims, though they came in history very late also had hard restriction on sex. Hindus and other religion though don't put so many restriction but they still don't support sex as trust building exercise. Sex as per religion was just a reproduction act, its benefit as a mean of communication was considered redundant.
In apes and monkeys, sex is used by females to soothe other males and keep their temper down. Males are naturally more aggressive than females and sex acts as a deterrent to this aggression from harming the groups balance. Females have more control over their sexual prowess and they use it effectively to gain some advantage against macho males. Macho males due to their incontrollable appetite for sex serve better to females who can effectively keep a check on their aggression using sex.
Human society also, in its evolution, has been largely dependent on sexual preferences of females. Darwin, in one of his books explored this idea of sexual selection and has explained in great detail how current form of society and particular physical features has been controlled by female’s sexual preferences for her mate. White color of Europeans, black Africans, facial features of East Asians, all have come to prominence due to female’s preference for these features in their mates. These features, as per biology don't serve any purpose or give any advantage for their survival. But still girls love them and choose their mates according to these features, so, male with these features leave more children with the same trait and this trait become so common that become to signify that society.
Here, the question may be why the hell, girls like these features? Is there any biological reason for females to like them or just fancy? Darwin explained that this kind of preference is also common in birds. Some birds like peacock have a long tail, which doesn't give any advantage to the males but act as a burden in escaping from the hunter. Still peahens prefer males having long tails. The reason given by Darwin for this was that males having a long tail and still surviving are seen as a sign of having good skills by females. Meaning, that peacocks having this burden (tail) and are still able to escape from predators must be having other good physical skills. It can be considered as same as a person jumping from a high cliff and still surviving is considered as having extraordinary. A person living on the edge must have good skills to keep a balance or survive. No wonder, girls flocked to army soldiers and drug addict rockers.
In a way, human females led young males to dangerous tasks. Young males who were desperate to have sex, had to prove that they can survive these tasks and it was considered a guarantee of good genes. Males used show their prowess by their hunting skills, fighting wars, consuming life threatening drugs and many more ways just to show that they can live on the edge. I can agree on atleast one part of religious teachings that females can be credited for leading a society in danger. But here I should point out that not only females but some other rituals which are mostly made by males were also life threatening. Some religious rituals contained very painful practices for males. In one custom of red Indians, if mate of some male have any sexual relationship with some other male then her husband perform a painful ritual of piercing himself and standing on a pole for some days. By this practice, a male show that he can withstand pain and can live on the edge thus he is having good genes. This can be considered as an advertisement of his genes for other potential female mates. More specifically, females motivate males to take pain and prove their fitness as a mate. It can be considered as an exam or test for potential mates. Wars and battles were effective ways for males to prove their mettle. Though reasons of wars or battles were mostly product of male's imagination, females played their part as preparing other males of group to join the warring parties. So, for a war, you need just to stupid leaders (mostly males only) to ignite the fire and females will use that fire to select their mates which will act as putting oil on that fire.
Though, females propagate risk taking behavior in males, they also acted in keeping the balance and harmony in smaller groups. They bound small groups together but acted as a deterrent for the formation of larger groups. In a larger group, it was difficult for human females to keep harmony just by their sexual prowess. Also, in large groups of early humans, opportunities for males to show their skills were also limited as numbers of opponent reduced.
One common thing about early large society was that their unity was not dependent on sex or physical intimacy. For a large human group, ideology or common things are better binder than sex. Thus, the need to keep a large society united, limited the role of females in the group as a binder. Evolution of language also provided a better communication medium to share common ideas and build trust. All the larger groups tried to limit sexual freedom as it might led to formation of smaller distinct groups which may lead to disintegration of the larger unity. Females were regarded as trouble maker and threat to the unity of society, their social standing took this hit and fell considerably. Their role in the society was limited to just reproduction. All the religions thus formed as to provide a common cause to formation of a larger group, diminished females role and regarded them as secondary to males.
Sex is used as a tool of communication. Physical touch provides a way to showing trust. In human society, this is also true. Though, in past it was more prominent than now. Presently, humans are dependent on oral communication or speaking for trust building, evolved oratory skills has replaced physical intimacy to a certain extent. Still, in few close relationships humans still use physical touch to communicate and build trust. Sex is very important part of husband-wife relationship. Some of the early towns, as I have already mentioned in my previous post, used to have particular custom to control the reproduction period. (E.g. Sumer)
So, sex has moved down the importance through out the history, but still its effect on body remains the same. We have become more accustom to speaking and expressing ourselves through words rather then our body.
Role of religions in controlling human sexual freedom has also been very important. Romans and Greeks used to have physical contact to show submission and pride. Spartans were famous for their sexual prowess & freedom. As, new religions came to existence, they tried to distance from these early practices. Christians made it a rule; virginity and chastity were highlighted as a good thing. Any other type of sex, other then the between male-female was considered unnatural. Even oral and anal sexes were considered taboo. Muslims, though they came in history very late also had hard restriction on sex. Hindus and other religion though don't put so many restriction but they still don't support sex as trust building exercise. Sex as per religion was just a reproduction act, its benefit as a mean of communication was considered redundant.
In apes and monkeys, sex is used by females to soothe other males and keep their temper down. Males are naturally more aggressive than females and sex acts as a deterrent to this aggression from harming the groups balance. Females have more control over their sexual prowess and they use it effectively to gain some advantage against macho males. Macho males due to their incontrollable appetite for sex serve better to females who can effectively keep a check on their aggression using sex.
Human society also, in its evolution, has been largely dependent on sexual preferences of females. Darwin, in one of his books explored this idea of sexual selection and has explained in great detail how current form of society and particular physical features has been controlled by female’s sexual preferences for her mate. White color of Europeans, black Africans, facial features of East Asians, all have come to prominence due to female’s preference for these features in their mates. These features, as per biology don't serve any purpose or give any advantage for their survival. But still girls love them and choose their mates according to these features, so, male with these features leave more children with the same trait and this trait become so common that become to signify that society.
Here, the question may be why the hell, girls like these features? Is there any biological reason for females to like them or just fancy? Darwin explained that this kind of preference is also common in birds. Some birds like peacock have a long tail, which doesn't give any advantage to the males but act as a burden in escaping from the hunter. Still peahens prefer males having long tails. The reason given by Darwin for this was that males having a long tail and still surviving are seen as a sign of having good skills by females. Meaning, that peacocks having this burden (tail) and are still able to escape from predators must be having other good physical skills. It can be considered as same as a person jumping from a high cliff and still surviving is considered as having extraordinary. A person living on the edge must have good skills to keep a balance or survive. No wonder, girls flocked to army soldiers and drug addict rockers.
In a way, human females led young males to dangerous tasks. Young males who were desperate to have sex, had to prove that they can survive these tasks and it was considered a guarantee of good genes. Males used show their prowess by their hunting skills, fighting wars, consuming life threatening drugs and many more ways just to show that they can live on the edge. I can agree on atleast one part of religious teachings that females can be credited for leading a society in danger. But here I should point out that not only females but some other rituals which are mostly made by males were also life threatening. Some religious rituals contained very painful practices for males. In one custom of red Indians, if mate of some male have any sexual relationship with some other male then her husband perform a painful ritual of piercing himself and standing on a pole for some days. By this practice, a male show that he can withstand pain and can live on the edge thus he is having good genes. This can be considered as an advertisement of his genes for other potential female mates. More specifically, females motivate males to take pain and prove their fitness as a mate. It can be considered as an exam or test for potential mates. Wars and battles were effective ways for males to prove their mettle. Though reasons of wars or battles were mostly product of male's imagination, females played their part as preparing other males of group to join the warring parties. So, for a war, you need just to stupid leaders (mostly males only) to ignite the fire and females will use that fire to select their mates which will act as putting oil on that fire.
Though, females propagate risk taking behavior in males, they also acted in keeping the balance and harmony in smaller groups. They bound small groups together but acted as a deterrent for the formation of larger groups. In a larger group, it was difficult for human females to keep harmony just by their sexual prowess. Also, in large groups of early humans, opportunities for males to show their skills were also limited as numbers of opponent reduced.
One common thing about early large society was that their unity was not dependent on sex or physical intimacy. For a large human group, ideology or common things are better binder than sex. Thus, the need to keep a large society united, limited the role of females in the group as a binder. Evolution of language also provided a better communication medium to share common ideas and build trust. All the larger groups tried to limit sexual freedom as it might led to formation of smaller distinct groups which may lead to disintegration of the larger unity. Females were regarded as trouble maker and threat to the unity of society, their social standing took this hit and fell considerably. Their role in the society was limited to just reproduction. All the religions thus formed as to provide a common cause to formation of a larger group, diminished females role and regarded them as secondary to males.
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