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Why do humans prefer to mate in private?
Anecdotal evidence suggests that human beings generally prefer to mate in private—but why? And why is it so rare? Other than humans, only one other species has demonstrated a preference for privacy during mating: Arabian babblers. To learn more, [anthropologist Yitzchak] Ben Mocha retrieved data from 4,572 accounts of cultural studies—ethnographies—and studied them looking for what he describes as normal sexual practices. Those involved were not trying to shock or avoid punishment for engaging in taboo practices such as incest—and were also not in the pornography business. He found that virtually every known culture practices private mating—even in places where privacy is difficult to find. He also looked for examples of other animals mating in private, and found none, except for the babblers. He also found that there were no explanations for it, and in fact, there were very few other people wondering why humans have such a proclivity. And, not surprisingly, he was unable to find any evolutionary theories on the topic.
Journal Reference:
Yitzchak Ben Mocha. Why do human and non-human species conceal mating? The cooperation maintenance hypothesis, Proceedings of the Royal Society B (DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.1330)
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday August 06 2020, @09:11PM (3 children)
I think you might mean Catholics.
I bet those same groups would sanction the marriage of two older people who are too old to have children. I wonder what they think is the reason those people might be getting married for.
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(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @10:30PM
I was thinking of my grandparents, who are Lutheran. Catholics are still Christian though.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by choose another one on Thursday August 06 2020, @11:31PM (1 child)
> I bet those same groups would sanction the marriage of two older people who are too old to have children.
Catholics have already run through that argument and have an answer for it (same as the "what if he/she is infertile" question) - basically if God wants it to happen she will make it so, call it a miracle or whatever, which makes it all ok to get married to have sex.
Oddly the same answer doesn't apply to same sex marriage, God is clearly fussy about exactly which miracles of procreation are acceptable, and in which animals (since sequential hermaphroditism and gynandromorphism etc. exist in God's animal creations...). Or to oral sex, or anal, and so on and so forth all the way to "every sperm is sacred".
> I wonder what they think is the reason those people might be getting married for.
Not only do they think it, in fact they _must_ be getting married for that - impotence (not infertility) is a bar to marriage for Catholics, marriage _must_ be consummated to be valid, which specifically means semen in vagina, no other way. If the parties cannot do that then the one true church will not marry them, and yes medical evidence may be required if there is doubt.
Yes, I was once a Catholic and my late grandmother was widowed then remarried when in her 70s - this stuff was the subject of much family discussion.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @06:34AM
So your religion used to be Catholic, but at some point you decided to choose another one?