I recently finished the book Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality. It is an excellent and life altering book. It really ties together a lot of what I have read about evolutionary psychology and evolutionary biology. If you have not read this book, or even if you have never read an evolutionary psychology book at all, read it. It may change the way that you see the world, and I mean that in a good way. It covers topics such as monogamy, swinging, infidelity, and polyamory in it.  It truly covers the wide spectrum of human sexuality. Wow is all I can say.

If you do not know what polyamory is I have written a primer on polyamory for those who are curious.

I am currently reading the new book ” Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality” which is a book on Evolutionary Psychology, which for me, is a really fascinating topic. I think I have the table copied over correctly. It is a great book so far.

This table occurs in Chapter 3 and I found it really, really interesting and I thought I would share it with you. I found it especially interesting since chips and bonobos are our closest genetic relatives, differing by about 1.6%. It is amazing how diverse the primates’ mating patterns are.

Table 1:  Social Organization Among Apes

Bonobo

Egalitarian and peaceful, bonobo communities are maintained primarily through social bonding between females, although females bond with males as well. Male status derives from the mother. Bonds between son and mother are lifelong. Multimale-multifemale mating.

Chimpanzee

The bonds between males are strongest and lead to constantly shifting male coalitions.  Females move through overlapping ranges within territory patrolled by males, but don’t form strong bonds with other females or any particular male. Multimale-multifemale mating

Gibbon

Gibbons establish nuclear family units; each couple maintains a territory from which other pairs are excluded. Mating is monogamous. mating.

Gorilla

Generally, a single dominant male (the so-called ·Silverback”) occupies a range for his family unit composed of several females and young. Adolescent males are forced out of the group as they reach sexual maturity. Strongest social bonds are between the male and adult females. Polygynous mating.

Human

By far the most diverse social species among the primates, there is plentiful evidence of all types of socio-sexual bonding, cooperation, and competition among contemporary humans. Multimale-multifemale

Orangutan

Orangutans are solitary and show little bonding of any kind. Male orangutans do not tolerate each other’s presence. An adult male  establishes a large territory where several females live. Each has her own range. Mating is dispersed, infrequent and often violent.

I like the answers that the book and evolutionary psychology bring to the table. In many ways I can see how their answers make a lot of sense, especially in light of the empirical evidence they provide. Evolutionary Psychology almost seems Freudian in nature, no – not the you want to sleep with you mother side, but everything is about sex side.

I think that they are are trying too hard to be the be-all-end-all definitively answer to all of life’s questions. I think that no specific field of scientific endeavor will ever be able to answer all of those questions. As living creatures we are too complex to be reduced to ‘it is all about sex and reproduction’ for each and every ‘question’ out there. I do believe that evolution is a large part of many answers, but I also think that there are many answers that will be sociological in nature and cannot be answered via evolution.

Just a few random thoughts brought on by this book. Thanks for reading. =)

I have just finished reading “Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters: From Dating, Shopping, and Praying to Going to War and Becoming a Billionaire– Two Evolutionary Psychologists Explain Why We Do What We Do“. Hows that for a really long book title.

This was a very interesting read. This book gives a 2 chapter intro into Evolutionary Psychology and then it is off to explaining many of humanity’s cross-cultural universal behaviors from an evolutionary psychological perspective. I think that this book is a wonderfully enlightening read. I would suggest that everyone pick it up (if you are into that sort of reading). In some cases I think that they maybe trying to hard to come up with answers, but their empirical evidence is telling.

I was previously on the ‘nurture’ side of the ‘nature vs nurture‘ argument, but with the books that I have been reading such as this plus Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage, and Why We Stray (Paperback) a (sociocultural look at mating in humans and other creatures) and The Myth of Monogamy: Fidelity and Infidelity in Animals and People (an evolutionary biological look at mating in humans and other creatures) I am seeing that our evolution greatly affects what and why we do things as humans today.

I have scheduled my exam for for Real Estate Sales License in about 2 weeks. I am taking it now just to get a feel for it so I can take it again later. Last night I took Chapter 1 and 2’s (of 24 14) practice tests and I scored 83% and 72% on them. I need a 70% on the actual test to pass, so it looks like I am doing OK so far. I have found some things that I need to brush up on.

I spent a few months studying while Tanya was last away to Belarus working on the last year of her degree. I read through the book once to get a good feel for it as well as some perspective, and then I went through it again while highlighting important passages. Now I will go through it the 3rd time and then take the test. I am hoping to pass it so I do not have to worry about and I can move on to other plans.

We shall see how that works out. =)

Here is some reading about Marriage, Love, and Gay Marriage from Biblical, Anthropological, and other perspectives:

Articles

• An Elastic Institution: American Anthropological Association (2004)
• Anthropologists debunk ‘traditional marriage’ claim : The Washington Blade (2004)
• Gay marriages fit into this adaptable institution: USA Today (2004)
• Multicultural marriage: Boston Globe? (2006)
• Scientists counter Bush view: The San Francisco Chronicle (2004)
• The Science of Love, and the Future of Women by Helen Fischer: Ted (2006 – Video/Audio)

Books

• Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage, and Why We Stray (1994)
• Divine Sex: Liberating Sex from Religious Tradition (2006)
• God is not a Homophobe: An unbiased look at Homosexuality in the Bible (2006)
• Myth of Monogamy, The (2002)

I have mentioned before that I support gay marriages (same-sex marriages) and that I am willing to perform same-sex marriages. This is a civil right issue and it is a travesty that this is an issue here in America.

What follows are a few links that talk about gay rights and gay marriage. If you take a look at nothing here but one link – check out Out Take Online – click through the intro and take a look at the Trailer.

• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LBGT) Project
• Fair Wisconsin
• Freedom to Marry
• Out Reach
• Out Take Online
• Gay Civil Rights
• Unitarian Univeralist Association (UUA) Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender (LGBT) Community

You may also want to check out the book ‘God is not a Homophobe: An unbiased look at Homosexuality in the Bible‘ by Philo Thelios.

Thanks for stopping by.

I have been doing a crazy amount of investment reading, especially about real estate. I have read through Carleton Sheets’ Program, as well as working on my Real Estate Sales License. I have been reading many of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad line, as well as books such as Inc. and Grow Rich., The Complete Book of Trusts, and a book or two on Tax Lien Certificates. There is so much more that I need to read about. I feel very optimistic and excited about getting our financial independence started.