[lit-ideas] Re: For JL
- From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:05:11 +0900
On Thu, Feb 14, 2008 at 3:04 PM, Mike Geary <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Why is sex so often associated with violence?
>
> Because women are so uncooperative? I don't know.
>
At the risk of interrupting the humorous repartee, allow me to note the
most likely answer, a simple, literal fact: Human beings are animals. The
association of sex and violence is a common pattern found among any number
of species, but especially among those where the number of offspring is low
and copulation required to fertilize the egg. This pattern is strongly
associated with territoriality and defense of the nest. The mitigating
factor is typically the ritualization of violence that minimizes actual
injury. An alternative, found among several insects, but especially the
preying mantis, involves the killing and consumption of the male once the
act of copulation is successfully undertaken. There are, I believe, some
species of mantis in which the female beheads the male while the penis is
still inserted and pumping away.
Ah, biology.
John
--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
http://www.wordworks.jp/
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