Why do humans prefer to mate in private?

Phys.org ^ | August 5, 2020 | Bob Yirka

[C19fan]

Yitzchak Ben Mocha, an anthropologist with Zürich University, has conducted a study of human procreation habits as part of an effort to understand why humans prefer to mate in private. In his paper published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, he describes his analysis of other studies that involved human sexual practices, among other things.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that human beings generally prefer to mate in private—but why? And why is it so rare? Other than humans, only one other species has demonstrated a preference for privacy during mating: Arabian babblers.

[FrogMom]

“What a stupid study. Human beings wear clothes, and they don’t urinate or move their bowels in public either.”

Unless they live in San Francisco.

[HangnJudge]

...Bravo!!

We live to serve...

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Mute would be welcome too!!

[Manic_Episode]

To keep the flies off Mr Happy...<>

[tbw2]

It fosters monogamy.

[HangnJudge]

...It fosters monogamy.

There’s that “she wants him all to herself” thing

[Deaf Smith]

I thought the Big Forward Moment was the BJ he got after he burned himself.

[Vaduz]

Why do humans prefer to mate in private?

1. Because everyone wants to get in on the act,see Rome
2. It’s akin to having a crowd when you do your morning dump

[lurk]

Does not posing the question why suggest that it ought to change to another sort of norm? But most people will continue to whisper wrestle with the door closed. So this study is, as we all knew at the start, redundant.

[Keyhopper]

Because after last time I’m still not allowed in the bank.

[Bonemaker]

😎

[Vermont Lt]

A good time to get clubbed on the head is in the middle of copulation.

Also, Few women would be seen with most men. I certainly would not want to be displaying my wares for the world to see.

[Vermont Lt]

Rosey. And the Five Dancing Sisters.

[Verginius Rufus]

The earliest human societies in the Paleolithic period seem to be small bands where probably everyone is related to everyone else. Incest taboos seem to be a universal human trait and would mean that people would not have sex with anyone else in the group other than their spouses. Some of the native peoples of the Americas seem to have gone naked or nearly so (the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego in the extreme southern part of South America did so)--but the incest taboos would have been a strong deterrent to illicit sexual activity. The basic pattern of monogamy seems universal and had survival value--having two parents concerned with the child's well-being gave it a better chance of living to adulthood, and marriage meant that men would know which kids were theirs (well, most of the time).

Xenophon in his account of the march of the Ten Thousand tells of a barbarian group living along the south coast of the Black Sea, the Mossynoeci, who wanted to have sex in public with the concubines of the Greek soldiers. Xenophon's comment is that they were the most barbarian of all the peoples they encountered and the furthest removed from Greek customs (Anabasis 5.4.33-34). This was in 400 B.C.

[PGalt]

Great post and history, Verginius Rufus. Thanks very, very much. BUMP!

(so many fascinating things to read, digest, put in context, understand...and so little time)

[tbw2]

Same thing.

[deport]

Poop in the store where they have the toilet tissue.