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Re: Sex roles: are we like the chimps?
Jong (jhp20@cus.cam.ac.uk)
30 Jun 1995 16:07:29 GMT
In superficial socio-economic level you may be right, however
as Freudian Psychology showed just below that level essentially
the two societies are dominated by sex and violence(power, economic
political, intellectual... ).
Sex is an imperative for all biological beings and the appearances
from it differs dramatically as in ants, chimps, bonobos and humans
but I do not see any fundamental differences in principle.
Jong
In article <804463099.14086@imp.demon.co.uk>, p@dorrell.demon.co.uk
says...
>
>In article <3sfsal$b38@newsbf02.news.aol.com>,
> mainelaine@aol.com (MainElaine) wrote:
>>I'm writing a comparison/contrast paper on the human male and the
alpha
>>male (chimpanzee). I'd appreciate any info or direction on
>>similarities/differences (;>). Thanks! (It seems we really are a chimp
off
>>the old block.)
>
>I think that our sex life is more like that of swans than that of
chimpanzees.
>That is, tendency to long-term permanent monogamy, sharing and
cooperation in
>child rearing, perhaps occasional infidelity. I think that the latest
thinking
>on monogamy and shared child-rearing is that it is usually a
consequence of
>the female being unable to rear a child alone, and in humans this has
come
>about because evolution of a large head to hold a large brain has
somehow
>resulted in a long and helpless post-birth infancy (because the initial
stage
>of brain growth is not finished until a year after birth).
>
>The alpha male chimp is a male who physically dominates the whole
troop with
>perhaps the help of some friends. Human language has so totally
altered the
>means by which people communicate and cooperate with each other
that the
>concept of social dominance that occurs with chimps (and other
animals) is no
>longer recognisable with human beings (or only in some
circumstances). Chimp
>morality is what human morality is when you walk down a dark alley,
i.e. the
>strongest guy or group wins (and gets all the sex). As a minor
example, the
>social life of a male chimp starts off with his attempts to physically
>dominate all females in the troop. I don't think this generally happens
in
>human society. Even physical dominance between males is of variable
>importance.
>
>If you attempt to look for a human equivalent to an alpha male, you
simply
>won't find it. Modern human society is dominated by moral
propositions, legal
>systems and political movements. It is not even possible for any of
these
>things to get an improved sex life, although men associated with
them may
>sometimes do so. The main goal in a male chimp's life is to become
the alpha
>male, or failing that a friend of the alpha male. For human males it may
or
>may not be a life goal to become a socially dominant individual. Wealth
is
>often more important, and this is not exactly the same thing as
power.
>
>Modern society is also economic and women are attracted
sometimes to richer
>men. The human tendency to become obsessed with doing some
particular thing
>better and better is probably a consequence of the economic nature
of society.
>Chimpanzees do not have economies.
>
>Philip Dorrell Email: p@dorrell.demon.co.uk
>Articles on consciousness, dreams, music, evolution, anthropic
principle at
>http://www.xmission.com/~gastown/dorrell/index.html
>
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