Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by chromas on Thursday August 06 2020, @05:35PM   Printer-friendly
from the go-away,-batin'! dept.

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)


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Thursday August 06 2020, @10:41PM (2 children)

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 06 2020, @10:41PM (#1032558) Journal

    No. There are many species that operate that way, but an even larger number that don't. Among our close relatives the Gorillas operate that way, the Gibbons don't, the Chimpanzees are in between, and I don't know about the Orangutans. And I'm not sure the Bonobos are the same as the other Chimpanzee. (Non-Bonobo Chimpanzees tend to go in for orgies, but the dominant males get first dibs. I haven't heard anything similar claimed about the Bonobos...just that they're rather easy and are willing to use sex to smooth over hurt feelings.)

    --
    Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Immerman on Thursday August 06 2020, @10:53PM (1 child)

    by Immerman (3985) on Thursday August 06 2020, @10:53PM (#1032572)

    Yeah, in addition to being our closest wild relatives, bonobos are kinda the free-love champions of the ape world. Straight, gay, whatever, a little sex helps comfort friends and reduce social tensions. They also have a matriarchal society where one of the (typically elder) females is the one who leads the troop. Curiously, they're also the only primate where the males are responsible for the majority of child care, and where the males tend to outlive the females.

    • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Thursday August 06 2020, @11:12PM

      by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 06 2020, @11:12PM (#1032579) Journal

      Bonobos are no closer to us than the other Chimpanzees. They separated from each other more recently than their common ancestor separated from us.

      --
      Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.