Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality
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In their book, Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá debunk almost everything we "know" about sex, with a bold alternative explanation. The central contention is that human beings evolved in egalitarian groups that shared food, child care, and, often, sexual partners.
The authors show how far from human nature monogamy really is and expose the ancient roots of human sexuality while pointing toward a more optimistic future illuminated by our innate capacities for love, cooperation, and generosity.
The authors also show:
- Why sexual passion tends to fade even as love deepens
- Explore why long-term fidelity can be so difficult for so many
- Why homosexuality persists in the face of standard evolutionary logic
- What the human body reveals about the prehistoric origins of modern sexuality
- Why many middle-aged men risk everything for transient affairs with younger women
- How our promiscuous past haunts our struggles over monogamy, sexual orientation, and family dynamics
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If you have a question or problem, ask us:Table of Contents/ List of Topics Covered:
Preface: A Primate Meets His Match (a note from one of the authors)
Introduction: Another Well-Intentioned Inquisition
- A Few Million Years in a Few Pages
Part I: On the Origin of the Specious
1. Remember the Yucatán!
- You Are What You Eat
2. What Darwin Didn’t Know About Sex
- The Flintstonization of Prehistory
- What Is Evolutionary Psychology and Why Should You Care?- Lewis Henry Morgan
3. A Closer Look at the Standard Narrative of Human Sexual Evolution
- How Darwin Insults Your Mother (The Dismal Science of Sexual Economics)
- The Famously Flaccid Female Libido
- Male Parental Investment (MPI)
- “Mixed Strategies” in the War Between the Sexes
- Extended Sexual Receptivity and Concealed Ovulation
4. The Ape in the Mirror
- Primates and Human Nature
- Doubting the Chimpanzee Model
- In Search of Primate Continuity
Part II: Lust in Paradise (Solitary?)
5. Who Lost What in Paradise?
- On Getting Funky and Rockin’ Round the Clock
6. Who’s Your Daddies?
- The Joy of S.E.Ex.
- The Promise of Promiscuity
- Bonobo Beginnings
7. Mommies Dearest
- Nuclear Meltdown
8. Making a Mess of Marriage, Mating, and Monogamy
- Marriage: The “Fundamental Condition” of the Human Species?
- On Matrimonial Whoredom
9. Paternity Certainty: The Crumbling Cornerstone of the Standard Narrative
- Love, Lust, and Liberty at Lugu Lake
- On the Inevitability of Patriarchy
- The March of the Monogamous
10. Jealousy: A Beginner’s Guide to Coveting Thy Neighbor’s Spouse
- Zero-Sum Sex
- How to Tell When a Man Loves a Woman
Part III: The Way We Weren’t
11. “The Wealth of Nature” (Poor?)
- Poor, Pitiful Me
- The Despair of Millionaires
- Finding Contentment “at the Bottom of the Scale of Human Beings”
12. The Selfish Meme (Nasty?)
- Homo Economicus
- The Tragedy of the Commons
- Dreams of Perpetual Progress
- Ancient Poverty or Assumed Affluence?
- On Paleolithic Politics
13. The Never-Ending Battle over Prehistoric War (Brutish?)
- Professor Pinker, Red in Tooth and Claw
- The Mysterious Disappearance of Margaret Power
- The Spoils of War
- The Napoleonic Invasion (The Yanomami Controversy)
- The Desperate Search for Hippie Hypocrisy and Bonobo Brutality
14. The Longevity Lie (Short?)
- When Does Life Begin? When Does It End?
- Is 80 the New 30?
- Stressed to Death
- Who’re You Calling a Starry-Eyed Romantic, Pal?
Part IV: Bodies in Motion
15. Little Big Man
- All’s Fair in Love and Sperm War
16. The Truest Measure of a Man
- Hard Core in the Stone Age
17. Sometimes a Penis Is Just a Penis
18. The Prehistory of O
- “What Horrid Extravagancies of Minde!”
- Beware the Devil’s Teat
- The Force Required to Suppress It
19. When Girls Go Wild
- Female Copulatory Vocalization
- Sin Tetas, No Hay Paraíso
- Come Again?
Part V: Men Are from Africa, Women Are from Africa
20. On Mona Lisa’s Mind
21. The Pervert’s Lament
- Just Say What?
- Kellogg’s Guide to Child Abuse
- The Curse of Calvin Coolidge
- Ten More Reasons Why I Need Somebody New (Just Like You)
22. Confronting the Sky Together
- Everybody Out of the Closet
- The Marriage of the Sun and the Moon
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- Hardcover $20.85
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