Suzuki on Sex    and    Morris on Sex

Separation of boys and girls happens in early school years.  They come back together after puberty.

Parading eye contact with as many of the opposite sex as possible

Ovulation and costume reduction

What do humans see as sexy?

1)     health, fertility, (child-bearing and child-rearing) protective prowess

2)     smooth skin, high voice (invoke protective), deep voice, facial hair, wide shoulders

enlarged pupils = sexual arousal

white of eyes = youth and health

flawless complexion = health, youthfulness

red lips = sexual arousal

skin colour warmed up = healthy sexual glow

long legs = sexual signal as puberty approaches = super sexuality

Sexual signals:

smile, grooming of hair, blush (similar to the blush at the end of love-making) implied innocence and has a virginal quality

rounded breasts = sexual signal, mimic of rounded buttocks

rounded female shoulders, rounded knees are primeval signals of the buttocks display.

Lips get swollen and redder.

Cultural beauty differences:
West, slender females, muscular for males

Massai slender males are preferred

South Pacific = heavier bodies for both males and females

Todo S. India = female hairiness is liked by the men.

 

Universals:

Outline of adult male body: triangle, compact muscular behind,

Youthfulness (fecundity and sexdrive peaks at 18 in males, at 22 in females)

Healthy body and clear unblemished skin in 190 countries.

 

Pickups:

Lucky accident, parade and display, hair flick, friendly words, chatter (info exchange phase), (china sing strengths to one another),

When partner is selected:

Return to infancy, cuddles, caress, silly names, high pitched voices, rock in each other’s arms (falling in love)

Love = helps provide for the survival of the children.  It plays a functional role.

The need for maternal and paternal protection grows weaker, need for independence grows.  Separation follows.  New couple: food and drink: humans indulge in courtship feeding.  Spoon-feeding each other.  A gift is offered next (flowers) just like in the animal kingdom.  Food-sharing is important to us.

Tie-signs:

Handholding, arm around the shoulder, waist, double embrace, touching in the neck area and knee touch.

 

Os penis, instant erection.  Humans do not have this.  This means that arousal is necessary.  This takes longer and is much more sensuous.  Sex is more than procreative.  Sex is more subtle and more erotic and intense.  Strengthens the attachment of the couple for the role of child rearing.  This is pair-bonding.  Human babies are dependent for 10-15 years.

Sweat carries the pheromones.  60 times the normal level of blood in the penis.

Expression of pain on the face shows the pain of exertion. 

The pair-bond is not safe for life. 

Tribal life separation was a short period of time.  In civilized society, the separation can last longer.

What can people gain from being unfaithful.

Male scatters genes.  The female selects for the best sperm.  Varying the timing of the organism, she can determine who the male fertilizer will be.  Males can control how many killer sperm he produces based on how loyal he feels his partner has been.  There are also sperm that make a “chastity belt.”

 

New couples engage in behaviour similar to that found in the animal kingdom.  As with birds, couples feed each other, and offer each other gifts (flowers).  
Signals suggest to others that the people in the couple are not available.  Holding hands is one such sign.  The signals also show a level of intimacy: a) one's arm over the shoulder of another, b) arm around the waist, double embrace, c) touching the neck, knee or backside, 
The exposure of more skin allows more pleasure from touching.  Humans seen to have moved beyond procreation to include pleasure in their sex rituals.
Our genes have not kept up with our social development.  Originally, it was important for couples to raise children to ensure that enough resources were provided for the children's survival.

When people are away for a long time, strain can happen on the pair-bond.  What can a woman gain from being promiscuous?  By varying the timing of orgasm, she can favor the sperm of her favored lover.  Sperm wars; only a small proportion are egg seekers.  The rest destroy foreign sperm.  1) active search and kill alien sperm.  Men can control the killer sperm in the ejaculate.  If a man was the first to mate with a woman, he may have fewer sperm.  2) blockers, curl and interlock tails and block the sperm of other men.  This all suggests that humans were promiscuous.  Nonetheless, 99% of humans live in pair-bonds today. 

 

Suzuki on Sex

 

Sperm warfare  Only small percentage of sperm seek the egg. 

Pair-bond = couple

In the past men’s behaviour exhibited a drive to mate fast, with as many as possible women.  This ensures the survival of his genes.

Women, on the other hand, want long term relationship to ensure the survival of offspring.

Male Australian rifle bird Kaipo Indians of South America.

Advertise intentions and best qualities to find a partner.

Creatures strive to satisfy an instinct to reproduce.

Sex exists to reproduce for most creatures

Hermaphrodite earthworms have both sexes in each worm.

Dandelions are asexual: they produce seeds and clones.

Green fly offspring is already pregnant with offspring.

Reproduction: one cell turning into two.

Sex is two cells turning into one.  To pass genes on to future generations and to mix the genes for variation.

Sex exists to allow variation that helps survival.  Parasites kill us more than our enemies in life.

A baboon spends time proving himself to his female partner.

Praying mantis: female eats male after sex.  Some male frogs mate for 6 months. 

Cooperation versus exploitation

Sex purges bad mutations allowing species to clean up its genes.

Some force so strong fostered sex to develop and continue. 

Parasites and disease are still with us.  Our species keeps changing to produce offspring that will survive.

Snails under ducks in water: snails were sexually reproducing.  Ducks carried parasites.  Sex allowed variation to help with survival.

On the other hand, snails away from ducks cloned.  If there is a high risk of parasite invasion, the best way to survive is to cross fertilize (have sex with another creature). 

Bonobos (pygmy chimps) are our closest relatives.  They have sex freely.

Finding a mate and nurturing offspring is fundamental.  This may help define male and female. 

Find a mate and take care of offspring

Both cells could not be equally mobile and rich in nutrients, so females have eggs rich in nutrients, and males have sperm that is mobile.  

Female Australian Liar bird is selective.

Tends to be the case that females are more choosey than males.  Males take seconds to “make” the ingredients for a baby, woman needs longer time.

 

Vocal repertoire .   Male jacana is a good father who raises the chicks, the female mates with many males.

Females favour males who are beautiful and resourceful because that tells females something about his genes.  When the females choose the same qualities all the time in their partner, they will exaggerate the characteristics of that animal.

When females choose sex partner for best qualities, if they choose in one direction, they will exaggerate that quality in the male (peacock). 

Did ancient women shape men the way peahens shaped peacocks?

Hyenas female is stronger and larger than the male.  She carries more testosterone than the males.

Testosterone helps suppress the immune system which makes people more  susceptible to infectious diseases.

Mental characteristics that are bred into us by the opposite sex

Creative, Witty, intelligent, and good at mental tricks.

Do all women desire powerful wealthy men?

37 cultures asked reported that the women want men who can be good providers.  Women look for men who have financial prospects, ambition, industrious, older, social status, protective

Men look for women with good looks and youth.

Some of our desires are fixed in our genes.

Inteligence, honesty,

Gut reaction to someone as a partner, in our genes.

 

Women want long term mate, with greater emotional involvement (feelings for her) longer period of courtship.  She wants to know:  Does he care?

Man wants short term sex.

India: fire signifies the end of a life alone and the beginning of a new life together.  Woman offers man opportunity to put genes into next generation, woman  gets the substance to do it.

One way to do it is to round up as many females as possible

Dwarf Siberian hamster:  male semen hardens into a plug at top of female’s vagina. 

 

Humans produce a soft plug (15 minutes after insemination).  Penis is piston shaped.  Thrusting sucks the soft plug back down the vagina.  Competition helped shape the anatomy.

Puzzle: males produce enormous number of sperm  (300 million in average ejaculate).  Not all are fertile.  14 types exist: heads differ, tails, cytoplasm on side or not.  Some are defensive (tail sperm is older) and block passage from a later male, killer sperm finds sperm from another male and kill them.

 

Bonobos:  sex helps cement relationships and resolve conflicts.  Large testicles suggests lots of sex, to keep other males’ sperm out.

Gorillas have much smaller testicles than the chimp.  They need less because he physically controls his harem.    Testes evolve to match levels of promiscuity.  Promiscuity arrived to select best mates.

Men can control number of sperm they make depending on if he feels (subconsciously even) his mate may have been unfaithful.  Risk of competition is greater when the couple is separated.

Women have the trump card.    The timing of the orgasm determines how much sperm she retains.  If woman has organs 1 min before or earlier, there is low sperm retention.  After man ejaculates, she retains more.

Yellow warblers were thought to mate for life.  (Only the swan now holds that title).  They are not: half the nests are sired by other males than the birds’ partners.  Natural selection favors the bird with the most offspring to ensure the survival of species. 

Women have strategies for obtaining favorable genes.

Orgasms : retains more lover’s sperm (3 X) than of her partner when in an unfaithful relationship.  This unfaithfulness is genetic. 

Early history, adultery was natural.  Males get more offspring, women get strong male and all the males would think the offspring was theirs and they would support it.   Monogamy was also natural for the security of the children.  Both developed side by side. 

Humans are the only species that can choose not to reproduce at all; one of a few species that has sex for pleasure.

We need love as a peace making emotion to keep a family along together.  If we were peaceful we would not need love.  This emotion felt through love would not be needed.