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Sex At Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins Of Modern Sexuality (2010)

by Christopher Ryan(Favorite Author)

4.02 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0061707803 (ISBN13: 9780061707803)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Harper

review 1: A disappointing book. I expected a much more sophisticated argument, but instead we get the following: our ancient human forefathers and mothers, who were hunter-gatherers, did a lot of things communally, including sex. Then along came farming and staying put, and as a result, we developed monogamy, and all our modern troubles with sexuality followed from that disastrous choice. I'm sorry, but like a lot of those sweeping anthropological re-evaluations of what it means to be human, this one is thin on evidence and seems mostly like a reaction to contemporary issues. Don't like modern warfare? Our predecessors lived in peace! Don't like pollution? Our predecessors lived in balance with nature! Don't like modern sexuality? Our predecessors lived one endless orgy! ... moreAnd so on. Alas, it usually turns out that when more evidence comes along, our predecessors were pretty much the same as us. The tendentious tone of the writing doesn't help matters, either.
review 2: I'd heard this book come up A LOT in conversation amongst my friend circle. After hearing it for like the 17th time I decided to read the damn thing. I got like 30 pp in, started asking people if it literally only made one point, and surprisingly found a lot of people who were unhappy with the findings it had come to. Apparently there's a whole book written explaining what they got wrong here ("Sex at Dusk," obvs). If my library ever gets that book, I might give it a whirl. I gave up on this because, essentially, I "got" the argument they're making here (Modern Westerners are unhappy in their monogamous relationships because our modern understanding of pair bonding has only been around for the 10k yrs since agriculture came along, so it's really only a relatively modern change, and we're fighting our nature or whatever), but didn't see how it really MEANT anything, even if it is true (which, apparently, it is at least challenged, if nothing else. I'm not a scientist enough to understand these things).For me it's like this. There are a lot of things that are less than 10k yrs old in our "advancement" as a species that I don't want to get rid of (indoor plumbing, for one), and that I feel we've adapted to pretty well (although apparently, according to an article I read recently, we defecate all wrong. Sigh). Having said that, I don't fit the "pair bonding" mold & reject it for myself. I think that's kind of the beauty of modern Westerners. We don't necessarily act like our instincts tell us to, or society. Both are GUIDES, and we're generally aware of them, but ... /shrug/ In any case, genially written & not a BAD book, just a big 'so what?' for me. less

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