| Title | : | Why Is Sex Fun? The Evolution of Human Sexuality (Science Masters) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0465031269 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780465031269 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 176 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1997 |
| Awards | : | Prismas Casa de las Ciencias a la Divulgación Libro editado (2000) |
Why Is Sex Fun? The Evolution of Human Sexuality (Science Masters) Reviews
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چرا انسان ها از رابطه ی جنسی لذت می برند؟
چرا زنان یائستگی رو تجربه می کنند؟
چرا زنان به بچه ها شیر میدن، نه مردان؟
چرا زمان تخمک گذاری زنان توسط بدن انسان به وضوح نشان داده نمیشه؟
مردان واقعا به چه دردی می خورند؟
خیلی از این سوال ها به نظر جواب واضحی دارند، یا انقدر بدیهی اند که هیچوقت پرسیده نشدند، یا جوابشون رو از لحاظ روانشناسی می دونیم ولی به صورت علمی براشون جوابی نداریم. جرد دایموند با یک سوال اساسی وارد این کتاب میشه
چرا روابط و رفتارهای جنسی انسان ها با سایر حیوانات تا این حد متفاوته؟
بعد سوال های جزئی تری در این رابطه مطرح می کنه و سعی می کنه که به تک تک اون ها با نگاه علمی و تکاملی پاسخ بده، در حالی که تجربیات و نظریات خودش رو هم مطرح می کنه
تکامل مبحثی بود که در این کتاب من رو شیفته ی خودش کرد. اینکه نگاه انسانی، اخلاقی، فمینیستی و درست و غلط رو کنار بگذاری و انسان رو به عنوان موجودی نگاه کنی که در تلاش برای بقا و منتقل کردن ژن هاش به نسل بعد هست. انسانی که مغز تکاملی اش همچنان در اعماق تصمیماتش دیده میشه و شاید این توضیح دهنده ی عدم تطابق دانسته ها و رفتارهامون در مورد خیلی از مسائل هست. این کتاب برای من جواب به سوال های عمیقی بود که در ابتدا نداشتم ولی تک تک صفحات رو با کنجکاوی خواندم
اطلاعات زیادی در مورد زندگی حیوانات، ژنتیک، تولید مثل و صد البته تکامل در این کتاب کم حجم به صورت کپسولی آورده شده. برای فردی که مطالعه زیادی در مورد تکامل داشته شاید برخی از این موضوعات ساده یا تکراری باشند و می تونم تصور کنم که کسی ممکنه از این همه جزئیات خسته بشه، ولی برای من بی اندازه جالب بودند. بعضی از کتاب ها درهایی رو به روی فکر باز می کنند و بهت نقشه ی یک دنیای جدید رو میدن تا بعدا سر فرصت کشفشون کنی. این از اون کتاب ها بود. بی صبرانه منتظر خواندن کتاب های دیگر جرد دایموند هستم
پ.ن: ای کاش زمانی می خواندمش که وقت داشتم خلاصه اش کنم
٩٩.۶.٢٠ -
I had forgotten just how good this book actually is. I’ve read most of the popular stuff Diamond has written and enjoyed all of them. My favourite is Guns, Germs and Steel, but this one is also very good.
Although this one has a particularly fine title I have to say that it does make me want to ask another equally important question – why are there so few really good television documentaries that come out of the USA. I mean, there was Cosmos, which was mind-blowing, but there have been few that reach the heights of some of the stuff that comes out of the BBC. Connections, Life of Earth, The Ascent of Man, Civilisation, The Body in Question, The Light Fantastic, The Root of All Evil, and these just to name a few life altering documentaries from the BBC (and also just for the sheer joy of listing them).
It is not as if good pop science books don’t come out of the USA. In fact, the best pop science books and pop psychology books all come from the US. This is a discrepancy I find completely puzzling.
The book asks, and mostly answers, a series of intriguing questions about human sexuality. The questions themselves are so interesting that if I was designing the cover I would just list them there. Not just the first question – and if you ever wanted to sell a book, I’d have thought it would be hard to come up with a better title. But the book is bursting with similarly fascinating questions.
Why do we have sex even when there is no chance of pregnancy? This needs answering because most of the other mammals in the world would look at us as incredibly strange for engaging in such odd behaviour.
Why don’t men breastfeed? We have most of the equipment and men have been known to produce milk – even without scientific intervention. So, why not?
I’m only going to answer one of his questions – he asks, what are men good for? And his answer? Not a lot. Men come out of this book looking rather pathetic. We don’t do nearly as much helping out as women do, we don’t do hardly anything at all except some occasional hunting and ‘alpha’ posing. It is quite unattractive – and that does seem to conform to my understanding of what most men seem to be like.
There are lots of other questions in the book, why menopause? Why are women pretty? Why do women have large breasts? And the most surprising ‘answer’ in the book is to the question, why do men have such large penises?
The best thing about this book is that it shows that many of these questions have not been completely settled. The questions are clearly important, they are all very easy to ask, but the answers many not be nearly so easy to come by. Diamond presents some of the alternatives here and this makes for a fantastic insight into the scientific method, particularly as it applies to the evolution of various traits and behaviours.
This is either a short book or a long essay, take you’re pick, either way, it is a quick read and very interesting. -
While sort of dating somebody that was very, very ill suited for me...so much that I was absolutely certain that we had no future, he would never be introduced to my family, et cetera et cetera, I really started being interested in the subject of sex. Attraction. The difference between women and men's approaches to it, the difference between pure physical attraction and what people call "chemistry." Pure, simple sexual attraction and then the kind of attraction that develops. While ultimately I didn't place much stock in the relationship, the undercurrent of sexual tension that buzzed between us was undeniable. I would find myself gazing at him in total awe, body abuzz. And then I'd wonder... why? Sure, I'd found him gorgeous at first sight but it was being in each others company that had done it, now my feelings/opinions had multiplied and it seemed like there had never been anybody MORE gorgeous. the first time he reached for my hand I was buzzin. And I couldn't make sense of it, it was totally out of my hands. Whether or not I wished to be attracted to him this way, I was. Of course I am a human being and with my evolved brain am able to grasp the weight of my choices and their consequences so I am not a slave to my body, but it was my body's reaction that piqued my interest. Like why this person? I'd been around beautiful men plenty, men technically more beautiful than he, why so enamored with this one? And so I've picked up a few books on sex, this one being the 2nd I've read, Bonk by Mary Roach the 1st. So, the fact that I had been looking to learn about something that was kind of specific, this book was a little bit of a let down. But only in the sense that there wasn't enough info on what I wanted to know. Sure, there was a brief mentioning of pheromones and how they are potentially responsible for the "chemistry" thing. I guess I wanted them to be a little more specific, like explain what's happening.. draw me a diagram of the route these pheromones take thru me, the synapses and nerves, the brain waves and activity. Maybe I'm just crazy for wanting an explanation for my attractions! There was a lot of random educational info, stuff I am less inclined to care about like the sex lives of animals and the anomalies and rarities that exist in them. An entire one out of the 6 chapters in the book is devoted to animal sex actually, including gems like listing other animals that enjoy sex, others that partake in same sex sex, others that have sex in private like humans instead of out in the open. There was a chapter on menopause (which according to this book is something that happens only to human females.) A chapter on breast feeding and the supposed non-evolution of male lactation, A chapter on gender roles in sex, yadda yadda. It's all interesting enough to read about, but that's because SEX in general is interesting to read about. I still prefer this book to Mary Roach's Bonk because it reported facts in an interesting and witty way without laying on the lame jokes so heavily and "breaking the fourth wall" constantly the way Roach does. Also Mary Roach isn't a Dr. or professor on the subject, or any subject, which causes me to mistrust a little more. Jared Diamond (who also wrote Guns, Germs, and Steel) is both a Dr. and Professor of human sexuality. That lends him a little more credibility in my eyes, and it shows in his writing which isn't amateurish the way Roach's is.
SO. For anyone looking for a quick and interesting read, sort of random facts about sex/human sexuality this shouldn't disappoint. It's short, and mostly interesting... and written in a manner that an average person can enjoy it. You don't have to be a dr or a scientist to understand it, is what I mean. Tho, it won't explain to you why you just can't seem to get enough of your new gf/bf, or why the sex with your plain jane neighbor is soo much more amazing than with your smoking hot ex. Or why you aren't attracted to Mr. Perfect with the body like a greek god, and yet you are borderline obsessive about the cute cater waiter from last night's dinner. I have two more books on the subject but something tells me that searching for an explanation of my attraction to a man is like searching for the meaning in life...destined to be fruitless forever... but at least reading about sex is never dull ;) -
Nature sure knows how to have fun:
- the battle of the sexes,
- sexual cannibalism,
- fascinating stuff about the intricacies of lactation,
- a lot of other anthropological discourse. -
(review in English below)
Mais um livro que tenho há anos e no qual peguei agora, mais uma vez à conta duma conversa com o meu filho, esta sobre as diferenças na forma como a sociedade julga os comportamentos sexuais dos homens e das mulheres.
Embora por vezes um pouco repetitivo (uma queixa que já tinha feito relativamente a outra obra deste autor - Armas, Germes e Aço), gostei bastante de ler este livro sobre a evolução da sexualidade humana.
Este livro baseia-se essencialmente no facto de a sexualidade humana apresentar aspectos praticamente únicos como a prática do sexo em privado e não relacionada com a reprodução e a existência da menopausa, entre outros (a menopausa apenas é conhecida numa outra espécie, a baleia-piloto), mas aborda também outros temas igualmente intrigantes.
Longe de nos dar respostas absolutas, o autor apresenta várias teorias sobre diversos aspectos da sexualidade humana e prossegue defendendo a sua opinião, muitas vezes com base nos conhecimentos adquiridos em primeira mão durante os seus estudos sobre a avifauna da Nova Guiné, onde contactou com tribos que ainda praticam um modo de vida caçador-recolector.
É um exercício particularmente interessante tentar pôr de parte muitas das concepções que temos sobre o que é "normal".
Recomendado a toda a gente que queira saber mais sobre "porque somos como somos"!
This is another one of those books I've had for years. I picked it up now, once again because of a discussion with my son, this time about the different ways society judges the sexual behaviour of men versus women.
Although sometimes a bit repetitive (a complaint I also had about Guns, Germs and Steel, from the same author), I really enjoyed reading this book about the evolution of human sexuality.
The basic premise of this book is the fact that human sexuality presents some almost exclusive characteristics, such as the practice of intercourse in private and unrelated to reproduction, and menopause (menopause is only known to one other species, the pilot whale), but it also addresses other equally interesting subjects.
Far from giving definitive answers, the author presents several theories about different aspects of human sexuality and goes on advocating his opinion, often based on the first hand knowledge he's obtained during his studies on the birds of New Guinea, where he contacted with hunter-gatherer societies.
It's a rather stimulating exercise, trying to put aside many of the ideas we have about what's "normal".
I recommend it to everyone who wants to know more about "why we are the way we are"! -
Writing as a Jared Diamond fan, I am sorry to report that Why is Sex Fun? is a letdown. His central hypothesis is that sex is applied selfish genetics, without so naming it.He argues that the act of procreation in a given specie is predictable given knowns such as is the relative energy investment in the developing egg and what is the certainty of the embryo being the genetic product of either parent. The reader is assumed to have a background in evolution theory and this book applies that information to possible arguments. By extension the argument is that the basics of normal human sexuality are a practical application of that same theory. The title question is answered, if not directly or in so many words. The book is out of date, not much of a standalone book and less interesting than the title promises. The book may have been intended for inclusion in a larger undergraduate reading list. I cannot recommend it.
Despite what other reviewers say the title question is answered. Just not in so many words. The answer is more or less the point of Chapter 4, subtitled The Evolution of Recreational Sex.
That this book is dated is not entirely Prof. Diamond’s fault. In terms of Evolutionary Science the 20 years since its original publication is a long time. I am not sure it is represents a contribution great enough as to valuable as to justify a rewrite.
Prof Diamond asks several questions built around relatively unique aspects of the human sex act. Hidden ovulation; preference for private performance; copulation during times and ages when pregnancy is unlikely or impossible. Some of these things are rare in most animals or at least among our fellow primates. Answering each of the questions is the theme of each chapter. The answer is almost always a matter of applying the rule that adult members of a breeding pair assume roles based on the individual mates energy investment in the young, certainty that the young possess the genetic make of the parent; and that no later sex act or relationship endangers that embryo.
Given the brevity of the book there is little space for competing theories or even much discussion of evolutionary theory. Nor is there much in the way of supporting research. In an undergraduate course other reading material may provide for these absences but as a stand-alone book it is not up to the standard of other books by the same author.
Prof. Diamond’s explanations can be interesting. He will usually include a survey of species that have or may have had similar practices. The discussion, with diagrams that help to show that the fossil records can provide clues about which extinct species may have practiced some of these behaviors is worth a read. The problem is that he simply states that this kind of analysis is possible and never makes much effort to prove this possibility. Prof Diamond in effect invokes his authority as a sufficient proof. This may work in an undergraduate course, and especially if there are other texts in use in that class. It is not sufficient to make this a standalone read for the general public. -
يثير الكتاب عدة أسئلة حول التاريخ التطوري للنشاط الجنسي، منها (لماذا الجنس للمتعة)، لماذا لا يقوم الرجال بارضاع الاطفال، ما هو دور الرجل في رعاية الاطفال، لماذا ينقطع الطمث عند المرأة ولا يوجد ما هو مشابه عند الرجل، ما هي اسباب بعض الاشارات الجنسية في الجسد البشري...
الكتاب قصير وهذا جيد للقراءة، لكن غير جيد تماما لاعطاء الاسئلة حقها في البحث المطول... لكنه يكتفي بفتح الطريق لطرح عدة اجابات محتملة للاسئلة المطروحة...
ما يميز الكتب التطورية هي (الحذر) ان لم يكن الكاتب حذرا بما فيه الكفاية فاترك كتابه، وكان الكاتب حذرا في تجنب القفز لاجابة نهائية... افضل ما نتعلمه من هذا المجال هو ان نهدئ ونبحث بتروّي ونتطلع الى طرق التفكير، اكثر من اهمية ان نمتلك اجابات... والاهم هو ان نتعلم كيف نطرح اسئلة..
في الواقع لا يمكنني فصل قراءاتي السابقة عن امكانية فهم وتقبل هذا الكتاب، او الشعور بفتور نحو قلة المعلومات الجديدة المحتواه فيه...
الترجمة ممتازة كما اعتدنا من دار سطور.... -
Why is sex fun? Who the eff cares??? It just IS...if you're doing it right, that is. Ha!
I thought the book had a lot of promise, but it failed to deliver on many, many levels. Diamond's lack of footnotes really irked me and I was left questioning a lot of his research. I mean sure, learning about the number of hermaphroditic fashion models really boosted my self-esteem, but hello? Source please! I don't have time to go digging around through his entire bibliography looking for relevance. Ultimately, I learned a lot about animals and very little about humans. C'est la vie. -
Jared Diamond'ın her kitabı ufkuma ufuk katıyor... Kitabın adı maalesef bir pazarlama çalışması ürünü. Zira içeriği "keyif" konusunun çok ötesinde. Hatta alakası bile yok!
Çeviri muazzamdı. İlgilendiğim bir alandaki tercümeleri okurken genelde çok takılırım. Neredeyse hiç takılmadım diyebilirim.
Favori yazarım olmaya devam ediyor Diamond. Bu kitabını da şiddetle tavsiye ederim. -
This was a mostly tedious book to get through. The only thing that stopped it from being 1 star was a few interesting facts and details that bumped the rating.
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یک‌جاهایی‌ش واقعا جذاب و عمیق و چالش‌برانگیز نوشته شده، یک‌جاهایی‌ش تکراری و بی‌هدف.
۳/۵ -
Jared Diamond'ın yine önce bilim insanlarınca ortaya atılmış fikirleri ele alıp, sonrasında bunlardan yola çıkarak kendi sonuçlarını okurla paylaştığı bir başka eseri. Ne var ki bu defaki konu biraz daha muallak, çünkü insan cinselliğinin evrimi henüz hakkıyla keşfedilmiş bir alan değil. Dolayısıyla okuduğumuz şeyler (mantığa uygun düşse de bazı noktalarda soru işaretleri cevapsız kalıyor.
Kitaba dair hayal kırıklığım alanın kendi içindeki muallaklığı yönünde oldu. Burada Diamond'ın yapabileceği hiçbir şey yok elbette, ancak benim bu kitaba başlarkenki bulmayı hedeflediğim kimi şeylerin halen keşif aşamasında olması biraz keyfimi kaçırdı diyelim.
Ancak bunların bir kenara bırakıp genele baktığımızda, gerek bilmediğimiz, gerekse yaygın olarak bilip üzerine düşünürken Jared Diamond'ın penceresinden bakmadığımız ya da bilip, üzerine düşünüp zaten bildiğimiz şeyleri okuduğumuz şeklinde 3 kategoriye ayırabiliriz.
Diamond'ın özellikle kendi yaşamından ya da Yeni Gine'deki tecrübelerinden yola çıkarak verdiği örnekler, bölüm başlıklarına yerleştirdiği muzip alt başlıklar eseri keyifli kılan yanları. Kendisinin dilini de seviyordum açıkçası, bu eserde de aynı dili sürdürüyor. Sadece konu evrimsel olunca kimi konularda çeşitli hayvanlara fazlaca eğinildiğini hissettim, bu da ben de "ya insanlar?" diyerek bölümleri kimi zaman ufak bir sıkılmayla okumama neden oldu. Elbette her bölüm hayvanlardan yola çıkıp insanlardaki yansımaları ya da zıtlıklarıyla tamamlandığı için bazen sıkılsam da hedefe ulaştım.
Güzel bir eser. Diliyorum bu alandaki keşifler daha çok artar da kalan soru işaretlerine gelen cevaplarla Jared Diamond'dan bu konuda bir başka kitap daha okuruz.
Çeviriye değinmeden geçmeyelim: Çeviri ve editörlük de bence gayet başarılıydı. -
I'll admit I came into this expecting sociology with a little bit of biology, but instead, I got the reverse. There are a lot of comparisons drawn between humans and other species, as an evolutionary explanation for our sexual evolution is attempted. I think not including any observations on how lgbtqia people may fit into the picture is an oversight, but overall this was an informative book.
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in case if you frown upon the title, I would like to highlight that the author is a biologist, he is neither a saint nor a sinner.
biology as a science has a sort of philosophical completeness that the physics, the most fundamental of all science doesn’t possess. biology can answer both “how” and “why” questions. molecular biology and/or genetics do answer the question of “how”, for example, they can tell you the step by step process of “how” a living being dies, but they will definitely fail to answer “why” we die at all? the “why” questions in biology are addressed by the theory of evolution. if you stuck with any riddle in biology, just ask Mr. Darwin, he has the final say.
physics has quantum mechanics, the theory of relativity and they can satisfactorily answer the question like, how does the subatomic particle interact with each other or how a galaxy is formed. but unlike biology, physics has no theory that can answer the “why” questions, why a particle interact in the way it does? or why gravity exists that for the galaxy? etc. put it in another way, there is no theory of evolution in physics. but we can imagine, once such “theory of why” emerges in physics, it will face the same resentment as the evolution did.
as the first word in the title implies, this book is on “why” and not on “how”. why the human has so distinctive sexual biology than other primates or mammalian species. so far, I’ve got the opportunity to read five books by Mr. Diamond. they broadly fall under two categories: about human as a species, this book and the “The Third Chimpanzee” belongs to this group. the second category is about human society, “Guns Germs and Steel”, “Collapse” and “World Until Yesterday” goes here.
some of the topic in “The Third Chimpanzee” has been discussed in great detail in this book. here two concepts those I couldn't resist sharing as I never thought them in the way they were presented:
beyond any doubt, the brain and the thumb are the key adaptations those changed the fate of human species. Mr. Diamond argued that biologically female menopause is as revolutionary as the human brain and thumb. unlike males, females of human species got their reproductive system shutdown by the age of fifty, while they live several decades afterward, apparently, without any reproductive advantage. why is so?
the human birth canal was not evolved to deliver an enormous human fetus or twin, as a woman grows older her mortality due to childbirth increases significantly. a human child requires a long time of nursing and caring before becoming independent, and in old days society couldn’t sue a father for refusing his childbearing responsibility. hence as more elderly women died during childbirth, their infants used to follow the same fate of their deceased mother, and genes not promoting the menopause were slowly removed from the gene pool. menopause helped the single mothers to live longer and take care of their babies in early hunter-gather and forager society.
the lesson is that the world we see today wouldn't be possible without single mothers.
the second interesting point was about old people:
before the invention of writing, people used to memorize enormous knowledge about their environment, plants, animals, etc. as they get older, when they could no longer hunt or bring food to their tribes/family. instead of becoming obsolete, they turned into a library. old people were the living libraries in the ancient society, they were valued and honored by their people. it is the invention of writing that took away the job from old people as the librarian and turned them into a social burden.
if you think carefully, biologically humans are good for nothing. not only in childbirth, the humans were not a good hunter, so they opt for foraging, they were not good at foraging either, so they adopted agriculture. as history tells us, the humans were not good even in agriculture, soon they formed civilization and raged war against each other. apparently, they were so bad in the war that they stop their conquest and focused on science & technology. and guess what, even after two hundred years of advanced science and technology humans were found to be worse enough not to figure out “why” question in physics!
isn’t it weird? -
ঈদানিং নন ফিকশন পড়ে আসলেই মজা পাই । বয়স বাড়ার লক্ষন :/ আনন্দের বিষয় হল নন ফিকশন অ যে ফিকশনের মত মজার হতে পারে সেটা জানা ছিল না । এই বছর পড়া ২টা নন ফিকশনের ভিতরে এখন ও এই বইটা অনেকটুকু এগিয়ে আছে । হিউম্যান ইভলিউশন বিশেষত মানুষের অদ্ভত যৌনতা এর বিবর্তন নিয়ে এক অসাধারন বই।
বইটার নাম কিছুটা রগরগে (সত্যি বলতে কি কিছুটা না অনেকটাই ) শারীরিক সম্পর্ক মানুষের খুবই কমন একটা জিনিস হবার পর ও এইটা নিয়ে যে কেউ কথা বলতে আলোচনা করতে দ্বিধা বোধ করবে । এই কমন জিনিসটাই ভয়াবহ রকমের আনকমন অন্য সব প্রজাতির সাথে তুলনা করতে গেলে । কিভাবে? আমরা যদি অন্য কোন প্রাণির দিকে তাকাই অ��াক হয়ে দেখব তারা শুধু একটা নির্দিষ্ট সময়েই মিলিত হচ্ছে , মানুষের মত সারাবছর ধরে সময়ে অসময়ে না । প্রকৃতি খুব সুন্দর করেই অন্য প্রানী (এমনকি আমাদের কাছাকাছি এপদের থেকেও) যে কোন সময়ে মিলিত হবার প্রবনটা বাদ দিয়ে ফেলেছে । প্রকৃতির কাছে যত্র তত্র যখন তখন শারীরিক মিলিন একটা উটকো ঝামেলা ছাড়া আর কিছুই না তাহলে প্রকৃতি মানুষের বেলায় কেন এত বড় একটা ছাড় দিল ?? কেন শুধু মানুষ মজার জন্য সেক্স করে ?? কেন মানুষ একটা বিশেষ সময় ছাড়াও যখন খুশি মিলিত হতে পারছে ?
মানুষের যৌনতা আসলেই কতটা উদ্ভট সেটা বুঝানোর জন্য লেখক শুরুতেই এক মজার উধারন দিয়েছে । মনে করেন আপনার পোষা কুকুরটা হটাত কথা বলতে পারল এখন তাকে যদি জিজ্ঞাসা করা হউ মানুষের যৌনতা তার কাছে কেমন ?? কি কি উত্তর আসতে পারে??
১) তোমরা মানুষড়া বড্ড আজিব নিrদিষ্ট সময় ছাড়াও রাতে বিরাতে দিনে দুপুরে যখন ইচ্ছা মিলিত হয়ে যাচ্ছ
২ ) বয়স হয়ে যাবার পর যখন তোমাদের সন্তান ধারন করার ক্ষমতা থাকে না তখন ও তোমারা সেক্স করে যাও
৩) কোন কিছুই তোমাদেরকে মিলিত হও্যা থেকে ঠেকায় রাখতে পারে না এমনকি যখন তোমার সংগি প্রেগন্যান্ট থাকে তখন ও তোমরা সেক্স কর –গ্রসসসসসস
৪) সবচেয়ে বাজে জিনিস হল তোমারা লুকিয়ে লুকিয়ে সেক্স কর কি অভদ্রতা :P
শুধু কুকুরকে না অন্য যে কোন প্রানীকে মানুশের সেক্স লাইফ নিয়ে কথা বলার সুযোগ দিলে তারাও ঠিক একই ধরনের কথাই বলবে । তো কি কারনে প্রকৃতি মানুষরে এত উদ্ভট সেক্স লাইফ এলাউ করল ?? সব উত্তর আছে বইটার ভিতরে -
It seems that Jared Diamond got better and better with every book he wrote. With practice he got exceptionally good at making comparisons between species, cultures, etc. He also developed a better focus on the subject with every book.
However this book was written before any of that. While it is easy to read, it contains little info and has strange examples. It also alludes too often to the author's sex life in a "Look at me I'm a successfully married man with a sex life...horay!" way. Diamond tries to explain various reasons for various sexual habits & cycles, goes on rants about the analogous examples in the animal world and attempts to draw occasionally weak parallels to humans. Jared also seems side with certain "virginal nerd men" I know in that most men are scumbags and women deserve better. I disagree because women have the option to pick whoever they deserve and I will not accept blanket insults against my sex.
I still somewhat recommend this book because of the random bits of information in it. For example: polygamous Mormon men (especially priests) are the peak of male evolution in that that on average the have the most children(25). Plus it's an amusing book to read in public places.
The most frustrating aspect of this book is that Diamond forgets to answer the most important question of all - the one on the cover. What the hell? Now upon finishing the book every reader has to go out, experiment and answer the question for themselves. -
#2010-27#
baca itu seru!
baca ini saru!
Begitu mungkin yang ada di pikiran orang-orang ketika membaca buku ini, dilihat dari judulnya ‘Mengapa Seks itu Asyik’. Sesudah membaca buku ini, aku merasa buku ini bisa dihadiahkan pada anakku ketika nanti dia menginjak masa remaja, dan organ reproduksinya tumbuh sempurna. Namanya juga punya anak perempuan, jadi harus dijaga baik-baik.
Seperti dijelaskan di pengantarnya, buku ini tidak akan mengajari anda posisi-posisi baru dalam menikmati hubungan seks, namun dapat membantu anda untuk mengerti mengapa tubuh anda terasa sebagaimana yang anda rasa, dan mengapa kekasih anda bertingkahlaku seperti sekarang.
Perbandingan antara manusia dan mamalia lainnya (beberapa malah dengan serangga!) untuk menjelaskan bahwa mungkin manusialah yang menganggap seks itu sebagai kegiatan rekreatif, sementara yang lain hanyalah sebagai upaya untuk meneruskan keturunan. Maksudnya sebagai rekreatif adalah manusia mampu bercinta di luar masa subur mereka, kapan saja mereka mau, sedangkan hewan-hewan, adalah untuk meneruskan keturunan mereka. Bahkan anehnya (kata anjing) kenapa dilakukan di ruang tertutup dan tersembunyi?
Nah, di buku ini saya mendapatkan pencerahan bahwa kata-kata ‘nafsu binatang’ yang sering dilampiaskan adalah salah kaprah belaka, yang benar adalah murni ‘nafsu manusia’, karena penjelasan-penjelasan di buku ini melihat betapa sopannya binatang yang hanya bercinta pada masa suburnya, karena memang ditunjukkan dengan tanda-tanda tubuh yang jelas, tidak seperti manusia yang bisa terus menerus sebulan penuh, walaupun tanpa suatu pertanda yang kasatmata, bahkan bagi laki-laki, yang organ reproduksinya bisa sampai ia tua, masih bisa melakukan aktivitas seksualnya.
Adalah feromon, (yang sayangnya kurang dijelaskan mendalam dalam buku ini sehingga saya terpaksa buka Wiki untuk menjelaskannya) sesuatu yang mendasari sebelum tingkat hubungan lebih lanjut antara makhluk lain jenis.
Feromon adalah sejenis zat kimia yang berfungsi untuk merangsang dan memiliki daya pikat seks pada hewan jantan maupun betina.
Zat ini berasal dari kelenjar endokrin dan digunakan oleh makhluk hidup untuk mengenali sesama jenis, individu lain, kelompok, dan untuk membantu proses reproduksi. Berbeda denganhormon, feromon menyebar ke luar tubuh dan hanya dapat mempengaruhi dan dikenali oleh individu lain yang sejenis (satu spesies). , wikipedia.
Pada manusia, tidak tampak jelas feromonnya, karena feromon dijelaskan sebagai ‘bau yang dikeluarkan manusia’, namun daya rangsang yang akan mengaktifkan hormon estrogen dan progesteron jelas terasa awalnya di kulit. Tentunya ingat kalian apa yang tahu-tahu dirasa ketika kekasihmu tiba-tiba menggenggam tanganmu, bahkan sentuhan ringan pun bisa membuat dada deg-deg plas tidak karuan, raut muka merah padam, bahkan kadang-kadang ada yang keluar keringat dingin.
Dan tiba-tiba he can’t out of your mind.
Lalu dijelaskan mengenai kenapa manusia (seharusnya) berdua dengan pasangannya dalam membesarkan anak-anak mereka. Jelas bahwa anak-anak manusia tidak bisa makan sendiri sampai umur tertentu (biasanya sih 6-8 tahun), sementara anak-anak mamalia lain ketika lepas masa menyusuinya, maka mereka akan belajar untuk mencari makan dan mempertahankan hidupnya sendiri, karena itu beberapa anak mamalia hanya dalam pengasuhan betinanya saja, termasuk untuk melindungi dan melatihnya. Peran jantan sebagai pemburu (pencari makan) jelas nampak dalam berbagai sisi kehidupan mamalia, termasuk manusia, namun selain itu pula, betina pun juga harus mencukupi kebutuhan anak-anaknya. Pendapat ini masih diperdebatkan sih di kalangan manusia, terutama yang berkaitan dengan isu-isu sosial dan isu perjuangan hak-hak wanita.
Perempuan lebih menarik dari pria??
Itu benaaar!!!
Salah satu hormon progesteron memang memproduksi lemak di bagian-bagian tertentu perempuan seperti dada dan bokong, yang menyebabkan laki-laki akan terkunci penglihatannya ketika melihat seorang perempuan berbadan indah lewat di depannya, dan tak jarang usil menggoda dengan kata-kata. Sedangkan perempuan, walaupun ada laki-laki keren bodynya lewat paling hanya dilihat saja namun ditelan rasa penasarannya dalam hati.
Kalau saya tanya pada teman perempuan, lo suka nggak sama Cameron Diaz ? Ada kemungkinan perempuan suka memuji kaumnya sendiri, jadi mereka tetap akan bilang, iya, gue suka, matanya itu loh, bikin penasaran, dan senyumnya manis, pasti bikin cowok geregetan. Nah, jelas perempuan itu menarik, sampai perempuan sendiri mau mengakuinya.
Kalau saya bilang ke teman pria, saya suka Tom Cruise, kebanyakan laki-laki akan tertawa dan meledek, masa sih sama Tom Cruise aja suka.. atau komentar-komentar lain yang (sst..) menunjukkan bahwa dia merasa tersaingi (?). Bahkan Ayu Utami, di bukunya Parasit Lajang cerita bahwa dia ditertawakan teman-teman lelakinya karena mengatakan dia suka Van Damme.
Perbedaan lawan jenis membuat kita mengerti apa yang terjadi, banyak lagi yang dijelaskan dalam buku ini secara ilmiah, baik dengan organ organ reproduksi, maupun efeknya ke kehidupan keseharian. Kalau mau lebih lanjut tentang organ-organ yang menimbulkan rangsangan yah, tidak ada dalam buku ini, karena itu materi yang lebih adult, lebih baik mencari info tentang ini di Cosmopolitan atau FHM.
"Nggak ada masalah yang perlu dijelaskan, kecuali mengapa Jared Diamond begitu idiot. Kamu nggak ngerti mengapa kita melakukan seks sepanjang waktu? Ya karena itu asyik!" hal. 89 -
In short, I may describe this book as another diamond from Jared's bag of gems, where he told us a story of human sexuality from the evolutionary perspective. In this book, he described that the attributes of human sexuality e.g. concealed sex, monogamous society, recreational sex, non-existence of male lactation were developed because of specific evolutionary reasons. More interestingly, even the evolution of female menopause is a deceptive game of evolution to make more by making less. He also argued that the role of men and women in society was shaped by the long-term effect of evolution.
The storytelling style, ample interesting facts, and wise evolutionary reasoning make this book exciting. -
-Tema y datos interesantes, exposición discutible.-
Género. Ensayo.
Lo que nos cuenta. El libro ¿Por qué es divertido el sexo? (publicación original: Why Is Sex Fun? The Evolution of Human Sexuality, 1997) nos acerca a nuestro comportamiento sexual (y sociosexual) como especie, Homo sapiens, y mientras trata de explicarlo con bases científicas nos muestra que somos muy extraños en comparación a otros animales e incluso casi aberrantes si nos comparamos con otros mamíferos, incluso los de genéticas muy próximas.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
https://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com... -
A cím felvet egy nagyon jó kérdést – amit aztán igen távolról közelít meg, ami persze szíve joga, de aztán teljesen megválaszolatlanul hagy. Úgy kell nekem, bedőlni egy csalinak.
Sokat ír példákat és ellenpéldákat különféle állatfajták szaporodásának és szexualitásának egyes, az emberére is úgy-ahogy releváns vonásairól. Ezzel nagyjából azt a szintet hozza, mint egy állatos tévécsatorna műsora, amin vagy bealszol, vagy nem. Úgy 50 oldal elmegy ilyen elevenszülési és tojáskeltési, utódnevelési stratégiák mustrálásával.
Mikor rátér az emberi faj fejlődésére, kicsit fellélegzek: na, most akkor jöhet a móka és sok aha-élmény. De nem igazán. Bár a könyv második felére már jobb fomában ír, azért ennél jobb Jared Diamond szöveget is láttam már. Ahhoz pedig messze nincs elég jól kijátszott ziccer, kétértelműség és poén, hogy olyan igazán vagány, végigrötyögős kultklasszik legyen.
Az emberi lények újkori kulturális közegbe ágyazottsága felemásan van jelen a könyvben: hol reflektál rá, hol inkább nem, és csöppet sem világos, mikor miért kap vagy sem szerepe a vizsgálat tárgyának ez a nyilvánvaló alapkörülményne. És bár explicite érzékeny a nemi egyenlőtlenségek civilizációs és evolúciós problémaegyüttesére, az valahogy mégis felemésan hat, hogy a női zsírpárnák után a férfi péniszméret után vége a történetnek. Olyan, hogy „csikló” vagy „orgazmus” csak érintőlegesen bukkan fel, valahogy csak a pénisz méretének egyoldalúan részletes, bár eléggé vicces elemzésére futotta.
Az evolúciós kutatások civilizációs-kulturális jelenségekre alkalmazása ebben a könyvben legalábbis több kérdést hagy megválaszolatlanul, mint ahányat eleve fölvet – sőt, itt még az alap felvetést is. -
Một quyển sách thú vị để hiểu về đời sống giới tính trong các mô hình xã hội khác nhau, không chỉ của loài người mà của các động vật khác (chim, nhện, cá,…). Cả một thế giới hiện ra kỳ thú, mà chủ đề gắn với mỗi cá thể từ khi sinh ra: đực hay cái, hay cả hai, hay bị nhầm lẫn giới tính, hay có cả hai.
Ta hiểu hơn cơ chế hormone của cơ thể và cách vận hành vô ý thức của những bản năng hoặc thói quen dưới sự ảnh hưởng của những hormone giới tính ấy. Vì sao chim lại xây nhiều tổ ấm với những con cái khác nhau, vì sao nhện đực cam tâm để cho nhện cái ăn mình sau cuộc mây mưa, hiểu như thế nào về tuyến sữa,…
Trong mọi trường hợp, con người là loại lạ lùng nhất so với các động vật khác trong thiên nhiên, nhưng vẫn theo những nguyên tắc của sự sinh tồn và tiến hoá.
Có nhiều đoạn hơi dài dòng, hoặc ý hơi rời rạc nhưng nhìn chung là sách ổn. Cách viết khá dễ đọc và hấp dẫn, phù hợp cho những ai quan tâm đến chủ đề giới tính, và không cần có kiến thức cơ bản vẫn đọc hiểu được.
3,4/5 -
Shame on Mr. Diamond for luring me in with this clever title. What this book really is is a scholarly tome for the serious anthropology student. It is interesting that, when it comes to sex, humans do a lot of things very differently than even our closest animal cousins. The book looks at why men have nipples, why humans continue to have sex even during pregnancy when there's no chance of additional procreation, and how various species evolved with obvious or hidden signs of ovulation (complete with charts going back to the missing link). The bottom line is, almost all animals have sex solely for passing on their genes. One of the most interesting story is about a species of male bird who sets up one mate in a nest and makes sure the hatchlings are on their way and then goes and sets up another nest with another mate, flying back and forth between both families. Meanwhile, other males may be lying in wait to "spend time" with a female while her mate is away. But other than that, the book can get pretty dry. There's a long discussion of the possible benefits of hidden ovulation. Does it keep the man around because he never knows for sure when the female is fertile? I'm not sure Diamond ever answered this question; I think I may have fallen asleep. Sex is fun; Why Is Sex Fun? is not.
-
This book was fascinating and so engaging and easy to read for a book based in biology. In it,
Jared Diamond brings up numerous facts about human sexuality that we all take for granted. Humans have sex for fun whether or not they are fertile, at any time of the month or year. Human females experience a distinct decline and then abrupt stop in fertility around middle age. Women usually have little idea of when they might be ovulating (unless they are using some form of modern technology to tell them). These simple facts of life which most of us accept as normal, are actually very, very odd in the rest of the animal kingdom. Diamond discusses how these traits and behaviors evolved and how they make us uniquely human.
I loved this book. Diamond is like a great professor of any subject--he makes you excited to go out and talk about his subject to your friends and to learn more on your own time.
I never thought I would like a non-fiction book about biology so much. -
Kitabın çoğunu Amsterdam'da okudum. Yani tam da olmasi gereken yerde :) Benzer kitaplar okuduğum için beklentim biraz yüksekti. Hele ki yazari Jared Diamond olunca. Beklentilerimi tam karşılayamadı. Ama alabla ilgili ilginç ve eğlenceli bilgiler öğrenmek isteyenler için ideal.
-
…and why is that?
I read this whole book, cover to cover, by Jared Diamond, whose previous book that I'd read features in my top 10 non-fiction books of all time, to find out the answer to "why do we do it?" But, alas, in vain.
I learnt about the sexual practices and reproduction methods of baboon, gorilla, chimps, pigeons, frogs, elephants, ants, flies, and million other animals and birds whose name I heard for the first time, but didn't learn why is it fun for us, the humans, to have sex?
Every time someone in my vicinity found me reading this book, probably looked at me with raised eye-brow and took me for a pervert. All for nothing then?
Well, not exactly nothing. But… -
নামটি খুবই রগরগে। মাতৃভাষায় এবিষয় নিয়ে লেখায় শব্দচয়নটা বেশ বেসামাল হবে, টের পাচ্ছি।
Why is Sex Fun?: the evolution of human sexuality; Jared Mason Diamond এর বই,মানুষের যৌনতার বিবর্তন নিয়ে,১২৮ পৃষ্ঠার।
আড্ডার ছলে বইটির শুরু,সেভাবেই বলে যাই।ধরুন আপনার পোষা কুকুরকে বাগ্শক্তি আর আপনার মত একটা উন্নত মস্তিষ্ক দেয়া হল।এখন তাকে যদি মানুষের যৌনপ্রবৃত্তি নিয়ে প্রশ্ন করা হয়,
তো অপার বিস্ময়ের সাথে তার মন্তব্য যা যা থাকবে :
মানুষের যৌনতার কোন নির্দিষ্ট ঋতু বা সময়গময় নেই,
সন্তান না হবার সম্ভাবনা থাকলেও তোমাদের যৌনতা থামেনা
স্বাভাবিক উর্বরতা বয়সের সাথে কমে গেলেও যৌনতা চলতেই থাকে!
এই বৈশিষ্ট্যগুলো শুধু মানুষের জন্যেই স্পেশাল, প্রাণিজগতের অন্যান্য প্রায় সকল প্রাণির যৌনতার মূল কারণ সন্তান জন্মদান,তাও নির্দিষ্ট ঋতুতে!কেন মানুষের Sexual behaviour এতোটা উদ্ভট?
বই পড়ার ইচ্ছে থাকলে আগেই বলে নিচ্ছি,স্পয়লার নিজ নিজ দায়িত্বে।
এই প্রশ্নগুলোরই উত্তর খোঁজার চেষ্টা করা হয়েছে বইটিতে। কিছু মজার ফ্যাক্ট নিয়ে আলোচনা করছি,সংক্ষেপিত করে করতে হচ্ছে বলে অস্পষ্ট থেকে যাবার সুযোগ আছে,মনমতো পুরো ব্যাখ্যা পাবার জন্য বই পড়ার বিকল্প নেই!
*** খুব সাধারণভাবে আমরা বলি,সকল প্রাণির কাজের মূল প্রেরুণা বেঁচে থাকা অর্থাৎ Survival.প্রাণিজগতে কিছু প্রাণির মধ্যে Sexual Cannibalism দেখা যায়।এর মানে হচ্ছে যৌনমিলনের সময় স্ত্রী প্রাণী পুরুষটিকে খেয়ে ফেলে! যেমন কিছু প্রজাতির মাকড়শায় এ্মন দেখা যায়।এমন না যে স্ত্রী-প্রাণির থেকে পালানোর চেষ্টা করে।বরং দেখা গেছে,মাথা ঘাড় মুখের সামনে ঠেলে খেতে সুবিধা করে দেয়!তো এসব ক্ষেত্রে Survival এর ব্যাখ্যা কতটুকু গ্রহণযোগ্য?
এর গ্রহণযোগ্য ব্যাখ্যাটি হল--পুরুষ মাকড়শার প্রবণতা থাকে সর্বোচ্চ সংখ্যক Sperm এর নিষেক ঘটানো।তো এর জন্যে স্ত্রী মাকড়শার দরকার অতিরিক্ত পুষ্টি, যা ঐ পুরুষ মাকড়শা নিজ শরীর থেকে সরবরাহ করে। হয়তো পুরুষটি স্বজাতির স্ত্রী আবার না-ও পেতে পারে,মারাও পড়তে পারে।তো ঐ একবার সঙ্গমের সময়েই উদ্দেশ্য থাকে তার সর্বোচ্চ সংখ্যক ডিম্বাণু নিষেকের! গুছিয়ে বললে,সকল কর্মের মূল প্রেরণা হচ্ছে, সফলতার সাথে পরবতী প্রজন্মে Gene Transfer করা!
*** সন্তান জন্মের পর Parental care কে নেবে, পিতা,মাতা নাকি উভয়েই; এটা প্রাণিজগতে Natural selection এর অন্যতম জটিল বিষয়।প্রাণিভেদে শুধু পিতা,শুধু মাতা, মাতা-পিতা কেউই না এবং উভয়ের পরিচর্যা;সবরকমের নিদর্শনই পাওয়া যায়।এটা মোটামুটি তিনটা ফ্যাক্টরের ওপর নির্ভর করে।এক,কে কতোটুকু বিনিয়োগ করলো।দুই,সন্তান পরিচর্যার ফলে অন্যকোথাও সঙ্গমের স��যোগ থাকছে কিনা।তিন,নিজের পিতৃ-মাতৃত্বের নিশ্চয়তা।
উভচর ও জলজ অনেক প্রজাতির ক্ষেত্রে নিষেক ঘটে মাতৃদেহের বাইরে।সেজন্য, Parental care মাতা ও পিতার যে কেউ হতে পারে,ক্ষেত্রবিশেষে ক্ষেত্রে কেউইনা। তুলনামূলক জটিল জননপ্রক্রিয়ার প্রাণী Placenta-যুক্ত Mammal,এদের ক্ষেত্রে যেহেতু মাতৃ-দেহাভ্যন্তরে নিষেক ও বৃদ্ধি ঘটে,তাই প্রাণির যত্ন,স্তন্যদানের বিষয়টা মায়ের ওপরই বর্তায় ,Natural selection অনুযায়ী। মানুষের ক্ষেত্রে কেন পিতার চেয়ে
দৃশ্যত মায়ের care বেশি এবং জন্মের পর পিতার তুলনামলক বেশি সরে যাবার ঘটনা দেখা যায় তা জন্মকালীন বিনিয়োগ থেকে আঁচ করা যায়।
সুবৃহৎ ডিম্বাণু দানকারী মা,নয়মাস দেহের ভেতর নিজের পুষ্টিতে লালন করে সন্তানকে। অপরদিকে পিতা একবার সঙ্গমে ক্ষুদ্রতম একটি Sperm দিয়েই শেষ(কোটি কোটি বেহুদা নষ্ট হয় অবশ্য)!
সেজন্য জন্মের পর অনেক সময় পিতার ছেড়ে যাওয়াটা সমাজে বেশি দৃশ্যমান হলেও মায়ের ক্ষেত্রে একান্তই দেখা যায়না!দ্বিতীয় কারণটিও মা-এর বিপরীত।স্তন্যদানকালীন সময়ে আবার সঙ্গমে সন্তান জন্মদান সম্ভাব্যতা মায়েদের নেই, Natural selection-এ আবারো মা'র ছেড়ে যাবার সুযোগ কমে যায়।তৃতীয় কারণটি, পুরুষ-প্রাণী সন্তান জন্ম দিতে গিয়ে তার নিজের সন্তান কিনা সে বিষয়ে নিশ্চিত হতে পারেনা,তার সঙ্গিনীর গর্ভে কি তারই সন্তান?
গুহামানবের সময়কাল চলে আসা এই সন্দেহ পুরুষ-মানসে Genetically programmed. অন্যের Gene লালনের কোন সদিচ্ছা তার নেই।
*** মানুষের যৌনতার আরেকটি অনন্য বিষয় Concealed ovulation, নারীদেহে এমন কোন বাহ্যিক পরিবর্তন খেয়াল করে বোঝার উপায় নেই যে ঠিক এই সময়ে Intercourse-এ সন্তান জন্ম দেবে।
অন্যান্য প্রাণির স্ত্রী-প্রজাতির ক্ষেত্রে তখন দৈহিক পরিবর্তন লক্ষণীয়।শিম্পাঞ্জীসহ অন্যান্য প্রাণিদের দেহে এর আভাস দেখা গেলেও মানুষের দেহে বিবর্তনের ফলে এটি এখন উহ্য। এর কারণ পূর্বোক্ত দুই ও তিন নম্বর ফ্যাক্টর।
এর একটা তত্ত্বের কথা বলছি।মানব-সন্তান immature হয়ে জন্মায়,ফলে এক্ষেত্রে পিতা-মাতা উভয়ের care দরকার সন্তানের Survival এর জন্যে���
ভেবে দেখুন,গুহামানব যদি জানতে পারতো যে ঠিক এই সময়ে Intercourse করলে সন্তান জন্ম নেবে,তবে বাকি সময় সে ঐ সঙ্গিনীর পেছনে নষ্ট না করে অন্য কারো পেছনে বিনিয়োগ করত।ফলে গুহামানবীকে তার সন্তান টিকিয়ে রাখার জন্য যে খাদ্য ও নিরাপত্তার Care এর দরকার হতো,তা পেতোনা। অপরদিকে গুহামানবও নিশ্চিন্ত যে তার অনুপস্থিতিতে অন্য কারোর Intercourse-এ সন্তান জন্মের সম্ভাবনা নেই।পুরুষের এই polygamous প্রবৃত্তি রোধ করতে Natural Selection ��শ্রয় নিল Concealed Ovulation এর।ফলে পুরুষের নিশ্চিত হওয়ার সুযোগও
কমে গেল,সেইসাথে নিশ্চিন্তে থাকারও!Period এর পর ছাড়া বাকি সময়টুকু কম-বেশি যা-ই হোক,নিষেকের সুযোগ তাই থেকে যায়।মোটাদাগে এটাও,Recreatioonal Sex এর অন্যতম কারণ। -
3.5 stars
I must admit that I would never have picked this book up if I hadn't come to know of Jared Diamond's brilliant writing in his other book: Guns, Germs and Steel. Although human sexuality is an endlessly fascinating topic, books attempting to scrutinize it are all too often filled with nothing more than bumbling rhetorical questions and weird, irrelevant anecdotes. So knowing how amazing Guns, Germs and Steel was, I was fairly confident Jared Diamond would not disappoint in Why Is Sex Fun?
My final thoughts: Why Is Sex Fun? is a worthwhile read that is well-structured and answers questions methodically. Among many other things, this book informs me about many new things on human sexuality (of course) and even poses questions I admittedly never thought of asking before. But unlike in GGS, the explanations put forward in Why is Sex Fun? still overwhelmingly feel like theories. The reason why I loved GGS so much is that the explanation Diamond provided us with were so well-rounded and consistent I could easily accept it as 'truth' (albeit not perfectly complete, but then, what theory actually is). So although the theories in WISF are plausible, they fail to consider so many aspects and fail to explain so many observations that it doesn't really convince the readers.
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For a quick recap, here are the questions the book addressed:
1. Why don't men lactate?
2. What is the purpose of recreational sex?
3. Why did we evolve concealed ovulation?
4. What are the roles of men?
5. Why did we evolve the female menopause?
6. Body signals. (why do men have large penises?)
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And here are a few questions and observations that I thought need addressing:
1. It is said that "recreational sex is the glue holding a human couple together while they rear their helpless baby together". Well, I'm sure many of you (like myself) would have raised their eyebrows at this. Is sex really the only reason a male would stay with his mate? And if he is so inclined to leave, would sex really be so important that he decides to stay after all? If deserting his mate is evolutionarily better for the male, then why didn't males evolve behavior that causes them to leave their mates despite the promise of sex?
Besides, it's still evolutionary more advantageous for the male to cheat on his mate, and there's no physical inhibition stopping him from doing so. He could still be monogamous and profit from regular sex with his mate AND occasionally cheat on her but not so much that he would be jeopardizing his child's life by neglect.
2. Why do female mammals tend to be smaller in size than males? As pointed out in the book, most of the time it is the females that have to care for the young. So wouldn't it be more logical if females were bigger than males? They would be better prepared to chase away predators and protect their young, and they would also be more prepared to chase away competing mothers for the best food sources. I get it that males have to be big in order to compete with each other for females, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they have to be bigger than females. So why are females smaller?
3. What exactly are the advantages of monogamy? The book often used monogamy as part of an explanation, but it never addressed the reasons why some animal species including humans are monogamous in the first place. From my point of view, monogamy isn't even strictly necessary in traditional hunter-gatherer societies. The child could be taken care of by the whole tribe, as opposed to just the father (as the book points out why monogamy is necessary).
4. Now, I'm almost certain that this particular question had been in most of your minds while reading through the book: What is the the advantage of the female orgasm? And additionally, the book didn't really answer its title question: Why exactly is sex fun?
The only answers the book provided were a) Recreational sex is important to conserve monogamy b) recreational sex is a by-product of concealed ovulation which is also important to ensure monogamy
Well, okay. But the book didn't go any deeper than that and ask the question why sex is fun in the first place, or why sex has to feel good.
5. In the book it was mentioned that there are two types of males, the "show off" and the "provider". It was also mentioned that females are better of married to the "provider" but that it's better for the male to be the "show off" because he attracts more females. So, why are females attracted to the "show off" instead of being genetically programmed to be more attracted to the "provider"?
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Well, that's that. -
I was enjoying it up until he started discussing human lactation which immediately revealed that he knows just about nothing about the subject. "Human lactation is energetically very expensive," and nursing mothers eat like men?
This is hardly the same as eating like an active man: "Studies have shown that most healthy breastfeeding women maintain an abundant milk supply while taking in 1800-2200 (or more) calories per day." "Breastfeeding your baby, on average, burns 200-500 calories per day" - kellymom.com
He claims lactational amenorrhea lasts for up to several years, so mothers in hunter/gatherer societies would only have children once every few years. What? Moms practicing ecological breastfeeding - breastfeeding on demand, cosleeping and nursing throughout the night, using no artificial nipples (bottles/pacis), i.e. similar to what the hunter/gatherer society model would be - average about 14.4 months of amenorrhea. In my >10 years experience of working with nursing dyads, 18-24 is about the longest I have heard claimed with any regularity, and even those moms are outliers.
He says that hunter/gatherer mothers were able to enjoy such long periods of amenorrhea because they nursed "many times each hour," whereas modern mothers nurse "only every few hours" for convenience. I am honestly not sure if Diamond's own children were only nursed for the first few months of life, or if they followed the Ezzo plan, or what. Even today, newborns nurse all the time, and breastfeeding is not about what's convenient for the mother, but about when the baby needs to eat. Mothers who refuse to nurse more often than every 3-4 hours are likely to find that their nursing relationships don't last much beyond the switch to autocrine control, between 3-5 months. Yes, there are women who, by biological happenstance, do have higher storage capacities and can get away with less frequent emptying of the breast, but babies are babies; they have growth spurts, they teethe, they don't know how to read clocks.
So anyway, all of that was from the same page, and it annoyed me enough to actually write all this, and it leaves me disinterested in the remainder of the book on the grounds that if Diamond is this poorly informed on his own species, how can I trust what he says about others? -
Who is the the animal with the weirdest sex life? Yup, human sex is WEIRD because we do it for fun, anytime, even when we're not ovulating or fertile, in private, and females have menopause. These points are made in the preface and the first chapter. After that, the content is strictly for anthropologists or cocktail party chat.
The titillating title leads one to expect a book on humans, especially given his physiology background. But the book is written for students interested in how & why animal reproductive parts & mating behavior evolved into humans, or not. I'm more interested in attraction, hormones & the brain, rather than in the assertion that sexual behavior is still driven by the ancient male's best interest to spread his genetic material around as much as possible. We've evolved past that.
That said, who knew that men lactate? Or about the Australian marsupial mouse? "All males in the population become sterile within a short time in August and die over the next couple of weeks, leaving a population that consists solely of pregnant females." Or try dropping this at a party: Men's penises are longer than (gorillas), more than they need to be to do the job...How did that evolve? Since such tissue comes at the expense of energy for another appendage (i.e. the cerebral cortex), "In effect, the man is boasting, "I'm already so smart and superior that I don't need to devote more ounces of protoplasm to my brain, but I can instead afford the handicap of packing the ounces uselessly into my penis." If you like that, read the book. He's a decent writer, but the content was too scholarly for me. -
Jared Diamond does not posses Carl Sagan's gift of enriching all he writes with a grand sense of poetic wonder; he also lacks the verve and wit of a science writer like Phil Plait. Diamond's books, however, are absolutely essential for those seeking to understand our universe and ourselves because he invariably chooses such fascinating topics. From the development of civilizations in his masterpiece GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL, to their potential decline in COLLAPSE, Diamond leaves one with a deeper understanding of humanity's essential questions. In this case "Why Is Sex Fun?"
Diamond first points out, then speculates the answers to the more rare and suspicious aspects of human sexuality: our tendency towards monogamy; recreational sex in general; concealed ovulation; menopause; men's attraction to big boobs, big butts...and big penises; and the use-ful/less-ness of men in general.
Oh, and male lactation.
THERE IS AN ENTIRE CHAPTER ON MALE LACTATION!!!
Jared Diamond won a Pulitzer Prize. He also wrote the sentence, "Lactation is not an infrequent result of nipple self-stimulation in teenage boys." I don't know which is the greater honor.
"Why Is Sex Fun" lacks the scope and depth of Diamond's other works, and leaves multiple questions untouched (most notably the evolution of homosexuality); however, it is a brief(>150 pages) and fascinating exploration on the how's and why's of fornication.
