On Fri, 15 Mar 2002 17:01:15 -0500 Richard Geller <[log in to unmask]>
writes:
> > There are a number of evolutionary puzzles about human sexuality.
> > Concealed ovulation is one, which Jared Diamond discusses in The
> > Third Chimpanzee.

Ardeith writes:
One theory is that the males don't know when ovulation occurs
so they will stay close in order to be on the scene when the
female indicates receptivity.    Another theory I've read
is that concealed ovulation means that no one knows which
male fathered which baby....so it's in the interest of the male
to help take care of any baby the female has....just on the
chance it may be his......

Richard quoted:
Another is the fact that the human penis is
considerably larger than that of other primates.  There is no
obvious reason why that should be so.  The location of the
clitoris is such that most women do not achieve orgasm as a
result of penetration.  This is a bit puzzling, too.

Ardeith writes:
In most animals, copulation is quick, and both parties
give themselves a shake, then get on with other business....
and the females' "plumbing" is basically horizontal......
In human females, when she stands up, the "plumbing"
becomes pretty well vertical....allowing the potential
baby to drain out.......It is thought that human female
orgasm is designed to make her feel all relaxed and
dozy....so she will lie back and give the little swimmers
as much time as possible to get as far as possible
"upstream" before she stands up.....

As for size of penis......
Perhaps the size of the penis was Ma Nature experimenting
with ways to satisfy a female and keep her lying down
for a bit.   It didn't really work out that way, but then it
didn't matter much to the survival of the species so size
was not "selected for" either way..........

And, yeah, the clitoris is not in a very convenient
position for this.......which may be one reason humans
switched to a frontal position.....works pretty good if the
female is on top, tho'...Hey, the lightbulb just went off...
if the female is on top, what's right in the male's face?
Maybe that explains the boob question, huh?

but we need to remember
that self-gratification is something all children explore...
In the "primitive" tribes our Western anthropologists
wrote about, children were not forbidden to explore
themselves.......which our Western culture found
deplorable......but those children had the opportunity
to find out for themselves what felt good.....and no
doubt our early ancestors knew the same things....
I wonder if there is a correlation between female
orgasm and survival of sperm.....anybody know?
Do more sperm survive where the female has had an
orgasm....or where she has not?

Richard wrote:
 Menopause, another human idiosyncrasy, remains unexplained.
> > Let me take a speculative crack at these.
>  Menopause is reasonable given the huge physical difficulties bearing
> children once we gained big brains and big heads. Women that
> maintained reproductive ability would have died from childbirth and
natural
> selection would disfavor them.

Ardeith writes:
Some researchers are now speculating that the menopausal
females were survival positive for the early families/clans/tribes
because they could help the younger women with child-care
and food gathering......just as older men could help teach
the younger men about hunting and such.....

Richard wrote:
> Penis size might have served the sexual selection role of, say,
> peacock feathers and other "wasteful" resource deployments found in
many
> male species.

Ardeith writes:
Maybe......40 or 50 thousand years ago, there may indeed
have been more variability in penis size......and a display
of a big one might have been an idicator of good health
and strength...........but (and I'll admit I haven't "sampled"
all the varieties from around the world) they seem to be
about the same size today.......
Masters&Johnson found that the human female vagina
could stretch or contract to accomodate a wide range
of sizes, but neither penises big enough to cause pain,
or penises too small to feel at all, would have been
"selected for".............

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Walk The Path With Practical Feet!


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