Sex, Time, and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human EvolutionViking, 2003 - 420 Seiten No clear and compelling explanation currently exists for the sudden emergence of big-brained Homo sapiens 150,000 years ago. Here, Leonard Shlain proposes an original thesis that argues that profound changes in female sexuality hold the key to this mystery. According to Shlain, bipedalism, narrow pelvises, and enormous fetal heads precipitated a crisis for our species. Mothers faced a grave death threat in childbirth. To compensate, women lost estrus and its urgency to copulate, but gained veto power over sex. Drastic reconfiguration of their reproductive cycle, particularly the new feature of heavy menses, allowed women to discover the dimension of time and with it the insight that sex caused pregnancy. Men used foresight to become the planet's most dangerous predator but they suffered terror when they learned they were doomed to die. Inventing religions and afterlives to ameliorate the knowledge of death, men then learned the part they played in impregnation. The concept of paternity drove men to create patriarchal cultures designed to control women's reproductive choice. But the insights, first discovered by women, also created the conditions for two people to love each other more deeply and longer than any other animal. Throughout "Sex, Time, and Power," Shlain offers carefully reasoned and certain to be controversial discussions on subjects such as menses, orgasm, masturbation, menopause, circumcision, male aggression, the evolution of language, homosexuality, and the origin of marriage. Written in a lively and accessible style, "Sex, Time, and Power" is certain to generate heated debate in the media and among readers interested in human evolution and the history ofsexuality. |
Inhalt
Big BrainNarrow Pelvis | 11 |
Red BloodWhite Milk | 23 |
Plant IronMeat Iron | 39 |
Urheberrecht | |
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Andere Ausgaben - Alle anzeigen
Sex, Time, and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution Leonard Shlain Eingeschränkte Leseprobe - 2004 |
Sex, Time, and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution Leonard Shlain Eingeschränkte Leseprobe - 2004 |
Sex, Time, and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution Leonard Shlain Eingeschränkte Leseprobe - 2004 |
Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen
acids Adam ancestral anima animal animus anovulatory cycles anthropologists appear babies band became become began begin behavior bipedal birth bleeding blood body bonobos boys brain called cells Chapter child chimpanzees circumcision creature cultures cycle daughters death diet early estrogen estrus evolution evolutionary evolved existence experience factor father female's feminine genes girls Gyna sapiens hemoglobin hermaphroditic hominid Homo erectus Homo sapiens hormones human female human sexuality human species hunter hunter-gatherer hunting increased iron kill language learned lesbians living major male male's mammalian mammals man's masculine mate meat menarche menses menstrual menstrual cycle metabolism million misogyny moon Mother Nature Natural Selection nonhuman observed occurs offspring organism orgasm ovulation ovum penis percent period pleasure predators pregnancy prey primate protein reason reproductive sexual sperm survival testosterone testosterone levels theory thousand years ago tion trait uterine woman women young