Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Why do humans prefer to have sex in privacy? Question follows a Penn couple’s flagrant display
Philadelphia Enquirer ^ | December 5, 2005 | Faye Flam

Posted on 12/06/2005 12:18:48 PM PST by billorites

If scientists from another planet were trying to understand us, our obsession with privacy during sex would make a good thesis project.

The aliens might have noticed that most humans prefer to copulate while hidden away - in our cozy bedrooms or perhaps on a desolate beach dappled with moonbeams. Much fuss ensues when someone chooses to perform mating behavior more publicly, say in a sex club, or in front of a University of Pennsylvania dormitory window.

Why, the aliens might wonder, would crowds of humans gather to watch and photograph a pair of other humans at Penn who repeatedly failed to draw their curtains before engaging in intercourse? Why were the mating pair then so distressed about attracting a slightly wider audience when pictures circulated on the Web showing their naked backsides making the beast with two backs, as Shakespeare would say.

All this happened in the wake of a scandal that started with Channel 3's secretly planting TV cameras in Philadelphia sex club Kama Sutra, outraging patrons who go there to get some privacy while they have sex in large rooms full of other people.

Both incidents open up huge anthropological and sociobiological questions. Most animals don't care whether anyone watches them mating. They neither seek out nor avoid an audience. What's with the humans?

In societies from the sands of the Kalahari to the tiniest Pacific Islands, the cultural preference is for sex in private, says Christopher Kovats-Bernat, an anthropologist at Muhlenberg College in Allentown. Where people can afford it, "we segregate off a space in the dwelling that is devoted to two things - sleeping and sex." In many parts of the world, however, the private bedroom is an unattainable luxury.

While members of Kama Sutra reportedly pay $100 for the privilege of having sex in front of other people, couples in Japan are paying to be alone. There, extended families pack into single-room apartments, so a cottage industry has sprung up to provide "love hotels," says Kovats-Bernat. These by-the-hour rentals cater mostly to married couples.

The Seriono people of Bolivia also like privacy, but they sleep in common rooms in rows of hammocks, he says. So if one couple starts having sex, the neighbors will politely turn the other way.

There's some evidence a similar practice takes place in American college dormitories (though perhaps not at Penn).

And yet, many subcultures exist in which people seek out a certain lack of privacy. In Jamaica, Kovats-Bernat said, strip clubs offer something called "freaky sex" in which men get up on stage, strip, and have sex with the dancers. Either way, we seem to care whether people are watching us or not, which makes us quite different from, say, dogs, who couldn't care less.

In his book Why Is Sex Fun?, UCLA professor and noted author Jared Diamond explains why you and your dog will never understand each other's sex lives. No self-respecting dog would need to hide while mating, he says. Dogs also refrain from sex unless the female is in her fertile phase.

According to Diamond's book, our ape relatives routinely have sex in group settings but, like dogs, only when the female is in estrus. While some promote the idea that sex is only for procreation, Diamond notes that that's much more the case with chimps and dogs, who aren't interested unless they're likely to conceive. Humans, for some reason, evolved so that men and women want to mate all month long even though women are fertile for only a few days, which are hard to identify.

Diamond connects our so-called concealed ovulation with our desire for concealed copulation and outlines a couple of theories explaining why they evolved. One suggests the urge for privacy arose because it prevents conflict and thereby encourages group cohesion needed for successful hunting and gathering.

Illustrating with a more modern example, he writes that if it were an everyday occurrence for people to go into heat, get naked and full-out copulate, say, on the office couch, we just wouldn't get that much work done.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: discoverychannelsong; moralabsolutes
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140141-154 last
To: billorites

I think intimate moments are best without crowds watching.


141 posted on 12/06/2005 7:17:59 PM PST by Jorge (Q)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Joe 6-pack

A friend of mine has a humper dog - we call him "Lucky".


142 posted on 12/06/2005 9:21:06 PM PST by Dashing Dasher (God made mud, God made dirt, God made boys so girls could flirt.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 105 | View Replies]

To: cynwoody

My first Rottweiler used to need privacy to "relieve" herself.

She would hide behind trees, bushes, etc. What a little lady....


143 posted on 12/06/2005 9:23:58 PM PST by Dashing Dasher (God made mud, God made dirt, God made boys so girls could flirt.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 122 | View Replies]

Penn couple?

144 posted on 12/06/2005 9:51:23 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Down with Dhimmicrats! I last updated my FR profile on Wednesday, November 2, 2005.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Modesty during copulation isn't that ancient. Mostly it arose from the need to conceal double-baggers, and (when it was mostly arranged marriages) extramarital affairs.


145 posted on 12/06/2005 10:00:53 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Down with Dhimmicrats! I last updated my FR profile on Wednesday, November 2, 2005.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ValerieUSA

:'o


146 posted on 12/06/2005 10:06:02 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Down with Dhimmicrats! I last updated my FR profile on Wednesday, November 2, 2005.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: laker_dad
Over one hundred posts, and no one has pinged Lazamataz? For shame!

I am clearly not being outragous and offensive enough.

147 posted on 12/07/2005 6:40:15 AM PST by Lazamataz (Proudly Lying About My Sign-Up Date Since 1998)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 112 | View Replies]

To: laney
With the dentist or hygenist??

Neither one of thoses.... and no more comments.

148 posted on 12/07/2005 7:45:23 AM PST by CommandoFrank (Peer into the depths of hell and there you will find the face of Islam...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 99 | View Replies]

To: peacebaby; Dashing Dasher

Hmmm...no responses yet. Surely all the women on this site aren't frigid?

Perhaps they're afraid of going through life unrequited after experiencing my mystical powers?

But I remain an eternal optimist.


149 posted on 12/07/2005 8:37:56 AM PST by wildbill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 88 | View Replies]

To: arasina

It has to be a private reply so that scheduling arrangements can be made. I don't want a traffic jam outside my door.


150 posted on 12/07/2005 8:39:50 AM PST by wildbill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 107 | View Replies]

To: wildbill; Dashing Dasher

I'm not frigid. Are you frigid, Dashing Dasher?

Hopefully optimistic...I like your attitude, wildbill. Keep smiling.


151 posted on 12/07/2005 8:40:12 AM PST by peacebaby (I'm not overwhelmed! I'm just the right amount of whelmed.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 149 | View Replies]

To: billorites
Most animals don't care whether anyone watches them mating. They neither seek out nor avoid an audience. What's with the humans?

Lets start with the basics. Humans are not animals.

152 posted on 12/07/2005 8:41:58 AM PST by Fzob (Why does this tag line keep showing up?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: peacebaby

At least you haven't given me a bad phone number so there's always hope.

I dialed a phone number a girl gave me at a bar once and found it was 'Dial-a-Prayer."


153 posted on 12/07/2005 9:51:24 AM PST by wildbill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 151 | View Replies]

To: Boston Blackie

The first guy in the yellow looks like he's wearing his rear end on backwards....


154 posted on 12/07/2005 1:08:26 PM PST by kstewskis ("Thank you ladies and gentlemen, you've been a wonderful audience" ...Rocky Rhodes)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140141-154 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson