The Evolution Of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating
Language: English
Pages: 368
ISBN: 046500802X
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism
An Unnatural History of Emerging Infections
Sense and Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour
Vita: Life in a Zone of Social Abandonment
Cultural Anthropology: Tribes, States, and the Global System
According to one of these views, "natural" humans are at one with nature, peacefully coexisting with plants, animals, and each other. War, aggression, and competition are seen as corruptions of this essentially peaceful human nature by current conditions, such as patriarchy or capitalism. Despite the evidence, people cling to these illusions. When the anthropolOgist Napoleon Chagnon documented that 25 percent of all Yanomamo Indian men die violent deaths at the hands of other Yanomamo men, his
contexts in which this occurred, however, were highly circumscribed in that all the "men" were already wealthy, came from a high-status family, and had secure expectations through inheritance. 23 Apparently the preference for slightly older men can be overridden when the man possesses other powerful cues to status and resources and when his resource expectations are guaranteed. Other exceptions occur when women mate with substantially younger men. Many of these cases occur not because of strong
to that state over seeking casual sex partners. One solution to the puzzle comes from the ground rules set by women. Since it is clear that many ancestral women required reliable signs of male commitment before consenting to sex, men who failed to commit would have suffered selectively on the mating market. Men who failed to fulfill women's standards typically would have failed to attract the most desirable women and perhaps even failed to attract any women at all. Women's requirements for
dislike by others, excessive drinking, ignorance, lack of education, possessiveness, promiscuity, selfishness, lack of humor, and lack of sensuality. In contrast, men rate only four negative characteristics as significantly more undesirable than women do: a low sex drive, physical unattractiveness, need for commitment, and hairiness. Men clearly relax their standards more than women do for brief sexual encounters. Relaxed standards, however, are still standards. Indeed, men's standards for sexual
wanted to get rid of her husband, she never had refused his sexual advances. Her friend suggested that she try it. A week later, she reported that her husband had become enraged at her sexual refusal and, after two days, had packed his bags and left. They were divorced shortly thereafter. If women give sex to get love and men give love to get sex, then depriving a man of sex may be a reliable way to stop his love and encourage his departure. Lack of Economic Support A man's ability and