The Evolution of Human Sexuality

The Evolution of Human Sexuality

The 1981 Oxford University Press edition
Author Donald Symons
Country United States
Language English
Genre Psychology
Published 1979 (Oxford University Press)
Media type Print
Pages 358
ISBN 0-19502535-0

The Evolution of Human Sexuality is a 1979 book by anthropologist Donald Symons, a classic work on human sexual evolution.

Summary

Symons surveys human sexual behavior and discusses human sexual evolution, including the development of human ovulation.[1][2] He argues that in all societies, sex is typically conceived of as a female service or favor.[3] In his analysis of homosexual behavior, Symons concludes that the reason gay men have on average more sexual partners than straight men, and many more than straight women, is that gay men do not have to compromise with the different sexual tastes and inclinations of women. Gay men's sexual behavior is an exaggerated version of universal male tendencies, while lesbian women's sexual behavior is an exaggerated version of universal female tendencies. Symons suggests that straight men would have as many sexual partners as gay men if they had the opportunity.[4]

Discussing rape, Symons criticizes Susan Brownmiller's Against Our Will (1975) and her argument that rape is not sexually motivated.[5]

Scholarly reception

The Evolution of Human Sexuality has been called "the best single book on the sociobiology of sex" by law professor Richard Posner,[6] "the first comprehensive anthropological survey of human sexual behavior from the new Darwinian perspective" by journalist Robert Wright,[1] a "classic but controversial treatise on human sexual evolution" by biologist Paul R. Ehrlich,[7] and "groundbreaking" by psychologist Steven Pinker.[3] Symons' study of the development of human ovulation has been identified as a landmark by Ehrlich.[8]

Anthropologist Meredith Small writes that Symons sees the clitoris as "a morphological gift resulting from a shared embryonic connection with the male penis". Small believes that there is evidence to support Symons's view, noting that the clitoris is made of the same tissue as the penis and responds sexually in a similar manner.[9]

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wright 1994. p. 43.
  2. ↑ Ehrlich 2000. p. 187.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Pinker 2003. p. 114.
  4. ↑ Ridley 1993. p. 176.
  5. ↑ Symons 1979. p. 278.
  6. ↑ Posner 1992. p. 20.
  7. ↑ Ehrlich 2000. p. 389.
  8. ↑ Ehrlich 2000. p. 391.
  9. ↑ Small 1996. p. 138.

Bibliography

Books
  • Ehrlich, Paul (2000). Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect. Washington: Island Press/Shearwater Books. ISBN 1-55963-779-X.
  • Pinker, Steven (2003). The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-140-27605-X.
  • Posner, Richard (1992). Sex and Reason. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-80279-9.
  • Ridley, Matt (1993). The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-029124-5.
  • Small, Meredith F. (1996). Female Choices: Sexual Behavior of Female Primates. New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-8305-0.
  • Symons, Donald (1979). The Evolution of Human Sexuality. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19502535-0.
  • Wright, Robert (1994). The Moral Animal: Evolutionary Psychology and Everyday Life. London: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-87501-5.