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

Skip to comments.

Evolution on the Meat-Sex Exchange
New York Times ^ | August 28, 2003 | MEREDITH F. SMALL

Posted on 08/28/2003 9:26:38 AM PDT by presidio9

Humans and apes separated about six million years ago, and ever since then humans have been careering down an evolutionary path all their own. Lucky for us, bits of bones dropped along the way became fossilized, and these remains tell much about the physical evolution of the creatures that eventually became modern humans.

Harder to follow is the path of our behavior. No one really knows what early humans acted like, who they interacted with or what kind of social groups they preferred, and so the lifestyle of our ancient ancestors is only a guess. This part of our history is so up for grabs that there is lots of room for speculation by polymaths curious enough to read the mountain of anthropological literature and piece together a credible story of human behavioral evolution.

And why not? Anthropology has a long tradition of letting others look at the data. Authors like Robert Ardrey, Elaine Morgan, Carl Sagan and Jared Diamond, among many others, have all attempted to figure out where we came from and how we did it. Because no one could possibly be right — we have no film from the Pleistocene and no written records of our ancient past to confirm or refute anything anyone says — each account has merit and is worthy of discussion.

Leonard Shlain, a surgeon, is the latest to jump in with "Sex, Time and Power," in which he makes a case for concentrating on women and their need for the mineral iron as the key to understanding our past. Women need high stores of iron, Dr. Shlain says, because they menstruate every month, become pregnant and nurse. In our evolutionary past the best way to restore depleted iron was to eat meat. But women were probably not hunters, and so they must have manipulated men with sexual favors to bringing home a blood-soaked dinner. This manipulative move, Dr. Shlain suggests, then set into motion just about every aspect of human behavior.

The reproductive biology of women supposedly supports his account: Menstruation, with a blood loss excessive compared with that of other mammals, makes women crave meat. Women have also lost the usual advertisement of fertility — heat — and are always open to sex. Men, who have high levels of testosterone, which increases their sex drive, are then lured into hunting and sharing meat by the promise of continuous sex from these menstruating, sexy women. The trade is meat for sex and everyone wins as genes are passed down by the iron-rich women who produce healthy, intelligent babies.

The female lust for meat, Dr. Shlain suggests, is responsible for the evolution of much of human behavior, including intimate relations between men and women, foresight and puzzle solving, complex social interactions, different psychological moods between men and women, and any number of human traits that we now see in the best and worst of us.

Dr. Shlain's account is supported by endless references to every human biological and behavioral feature that has ever been written about; he certainly has an exhaustive reading list. But everything he suggests, except for the specific detail of a need for iron, has been said before, which gives his account an old-fashioned feel. Meat for sex? We've been hearing about this since the 1960's. Men like sex and woman just want to make babies? Hasn't this been a party line since the 1950's? Even Dr. Shlain's enthusiasm for women as the prime movers of humanity (but thanks for thinking of us) comes off as dated given that female anthropologists like Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Helen Fisher, Alison Jolly and many others have been writing about this for years.

Dr. Shlain should know that the feminist revolution reached into anthropology more than 30 years ago and no one now doubts that women were big-time players in evolution. To suggest that women should have their own genus name, Gyno sapiens, seems not only dated, but a bit silly.

There are also some telling mistakes that undermine his thesis. For example, the human brain did not suddenly expand 150,000 years ago with the appearance of modern humans, but about 1.5 million years ago, when brain size doubled for the first time and then continued to do so. The idea that menstruating women figured out the monthly calendar is also off because women without birth control who are pregnant or lactating rarely have periods, and in any case, many cultures do not follow a monthly calendar. Dr. Shlain also seems to believe that there is a purposeful trajectory of human evolution that landed us here as masters of the universe. Evolution is a much more zigzagging, messy process, and our history, like that of all animals, is fraught with mistakes and dead ends. Thinking that human evolution was guided along by women toward some clean and neat end is just wrong.

Dr. Shlain also pushes too far when he waxes lyrical from iron to the development of language, homosexuality, death, laughter, art, incest, fatherhood and patriarchy. Yes, human behavior is complex, but is it really necessary to speculate on every single human behavior and assume they all make evolutionary sense? In the end, the message about iron, which is an interesting tidbit, is lost in Dr. Shlain's need to impress the reader with his wide-reaching intellect.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: eatingtastyanimals; itsjustsex; meat; peta; prostitution; sex
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-73 next last
To: xzins
This is too stupid for words.

Yes, these just-so stories are what happens when preconceptions get in the way.

41 posted on 08/28/2003 10:54:17 AM PDT by AndrewC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Junior
Naw, she simply woke up one morning craving red meat.

And then she nagged her husband until he went hunting? If he came back empty-handed, she berated him about what a loser he was?

It all makes sense now... ;o)

42 posted on 08/28/2003 11:03:47 AM PDT by malakhi (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: All
The female lust for meat, Dr. Shlain suggests, is responsible for the evolution of much of human behavior,

Well....there you have it. Case closed.

43 posted on 08/28/2003 11:04:34 AM PDT by HalfFull
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: presidio9
The female lust for meat...

This is too easy.

44 posted on 08/28/2003 11:08:55 AM PDT by connectthedots
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: presidio9
I figured those lamo veggie burgers wouldn't get you laid.
45 posted on 08/28/2003 11:53:47 AM PDT by .cnI redruM (Nothing Is More Vile Than A Blowhard With Halitosis! - redruM)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: presidio9
How can this be...my wife's friend is a vegetarian..."she don't eat meat but she sure likes the bone" is the best way to describe her...
46 posted on 08/28/2003 12:19:27 PM PDT by MD_Willington_1976
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MD_Willington_1976
Speaking from personal experience are you?
47 posted on 08/28/2003 12:24:01 PM PDT by presidio9 (Run Al Run!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: presidio9
Men, who have high levels of testosterone, which increases their sex drive, are then lured into hunting and sharing meat by the promise of continuous sex from these menstruating, sexy women

Bad news for vegetarian men, good news for vegetarian lesbians.

48 posted on 08/28/2003 12:25:55 PM PDT by Porterville (Et tu liberal?? Et tu???)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MalcolmS
I know this is all a stretch [larger brain size--a larger head, making it harder to give birth]

Amazing, where the subconscious mind will lead us.

49 posted on 08/28/2003 12:28:55 PM PDT by PatrickHenry (Hic amor, haec patria est.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: WhyisaTexasgirlinPA
Pinging Miss Whyisa"I'lltrademeatformeat"TexasgirlinPA!
50 posted on 08/28/2003 1:01:06 PM PDT by Argh
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: FormerLib
Nice point.......
51 posted on 08/28/2003 1:30:25 PM PDT by WhyisaTexasgirlinPA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Argh
Pinging Miss Whyisa"I'lltrademeatformeat"TexasgirlinPA!

You say that like it's a bad thing........

52 posted on 08/28/2003 1:32:07 PM PDT by WhyisaTexasgirlinPA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: presidio9
Another version of this line of thinking, and from the review above, probably much better thought out, appears in "The Sex Contract: The Evolution of Human Behavior"
by Helen E. Fisher.

Fisher argues that three things occurred in the evolution of humans: brain got bigger, humans started walking upright, and females had monthly cycles rather than the yearly cycles typical of other primates.

A consequence of humans walking upright is that the pelvis got smaller; a consequence of bigger brains is that babys were born earlier, thus requiring longer before they were self sufficient (chimps require 3 years to become mature).

The author asked the question - which came first?

She concluded that when a genetic mutation occurred for monthly cycles, this allowed those females to attract males for sex in exchange for food (the sex contract!), and this trait won the evolutionary race.

Maybe that is the original "Eve".

The book is still available on Amazon.com.

Of course, others would argue that many women have regressed, grudgingly yielding to sex only on the yearly basis.
53 posted on 08/28/2003 1:32:40 PM PDT by Mack the knife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GodfearingTexan
I think I've heard enough already.
54 posted on 08/28/2003 1:48:29 PM PDT by presidio9 (Run Al Run!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: presidio9
I went to a cocktail party/dinner in honor of a Dr. Zollinger, retiring president of the American College of Surgeons. The surgeon got into a conversation with a world-reknowned historian. It went something like this:

"Well, doctor, how do plan to spend your retirement?" said the historian.

"I'm glad you asked, I thought I would try my hand at writing some history." the surgeon replied.

"How coincidential!" exclaimed the historian loudly. "You see, I'm about to retire as well and I thought I would try my hand at a little surgery."

Leonard Shlain should stick to what he knows.

55 posted on 08/28/2003 2:43:56 PM PDT by Rudder
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: presidio9
Humans and apes separated about six million years ago

That's when the apes discovered that the humans were a bad influence on them...

56 posted on 08/28/2003 2:46:21 PM PDT by NCjim
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NCjim
All thanks to evolution ... rag head science --- liberals !

The govt is functioning under herd instinct now ... cattle pens --- packing house !

Social engineering ... feed lot education too !
57 posted on 08/28/2003 2:51:48 PM PDT by f.Christian (evolution vs intelligent design ... science3000 ... designeduniverse.com --- * architecture * !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: WhyisaTexasgirlinPA
You say that like it's a bad thing........

I suppose if one has enough spare meat and is desperate, it could be attractive under certain circumstances...

58 posted on 08/28/2003 3:22:33 PM PDT by Argh
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: Junior
"Cravings are a body's way of telling us we're low on something."

Yup. It's just that simple.

59 posted on 08/28/2003 9:22:59 PM PDT by blam
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: KellyAdmirer
"Someone at some point is going to come along with a meteor theory to explain this, I just know it."

If this one does not satisfy...let me know. I have many more

A Catastrophical Scenerio For Discontuinities In Human History

60 posted on 08/28/2003 9:27:13 PM PDT by blam
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-73 next 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