Sex at Dawn

Prolactin and the other hormones released at orgasm appear to trigger very different responses in men and women. While a man is likely to require a prolonged refractory (or recovery) period immediately after an orgasm (and maybe a sandwich and a beer as well), thus getting him out of the way of other males, many women are willing and able to continue sexual activity well beyond a “starter orgasm.”

It’s worth repeating that primate species with orgasmic females tend to be promiscuous. Given the great variability of mating behavior—even just among the apes—this is highly significant. While monogamous gibbons have rarely been seen copulating, so infrequent and silent is their intercourse, female chimps and bonobos go wild regularly and shamelessly. Females often mate with every male they can find, copulating far more than is necessary for reproduction.

Goodall reported seeing one female at Gombe who mated fifty times in a single day.

Echoing the Kama Sutra, Sherfey isn’t shy about the implications of this mismatch of orgasmic capacity between human males and females, writing: “The sexual hunger of the female, and her capacity for copulation completely exceeds that of any male,” and, “To all intents and purposes, the human female is sexually insatiable. ...” That may or may not be, but it cannot be denied that the design of the human female’s reproductive system is far from what the standard narrative predicts, and thus demands radical rethinking of the evolution of female sexuality.

P A R T V

Men Are from Africa, Women Are from Africa

The sooner we accept the basic differences between men and women, the sooner we can stop arguing about it and start having sex!

DR. STEPHEN T. COLBERT, D.F.A.

Permeating the standard narrative of human sexual evolution is the depressing claim that men and women always have been and always will be locked in erotic conflict. The War Between the Sexes is said to be built into our evolved sexuality: men want lots of no-strings lovers, while women want just a few partners, with as many strings as possible. If a man agrees to be roped into a relationship, the narrative tells us, he’ll be hellbent on making sure his mate isn’t risking his genetic investment by accepting deposits from other men, as it were.