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Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships
432Paperback
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Overview
“Sex at Dawn irrefutably shows that what is obvious—that human beings, both male and female, are lustful—is true, and has always been so…. The more dubious its evidentiary basis and lack of connection with current reality, the more ardently the scientific inevitability of monogamy is maintained—even as it falls away around us.” — Stanton Peele, Ph.D.
A controversial, idea-driven book that challenges everything you (think you) know about sex, monogamy, marriage, and family. In the words of Steve Taylor (The Fall, Waking From Sleep), Sex at Dawn is “a wonderfully provocative and well-written book which completely re-evaluates human sexual behavior and gets to the root of many of our social and psychological ills.”
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780061707810 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins Publishers |
| Publication date: | 07/05/2011 |
| Series: | P.S. Series |
| Pages: | 432 |
| Sales rank: | 29,426 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.97(d) |
About the Author
Cacilda Jethá, MD, is a practicing psychiatrist. She lives in Barcelona, Spain.
Table of Contents
Preface: A Primate Meets His Match (A note from one of the authors) xi
Introduction: Another Well-intentioned Inquisition 1
A Few Million Years in a Few Pages 10
Part I On The Origin Of The Specious 17
1 Remember the Yucatán! 19
You Are What You Eat 20
2 What Darwin Didn't Know About Sex 25
The Flintstonization of Prehistory 31
What Is Evolutionary Psychology and Why Should You Care? 36
Lewis Henry Morgan 42
3 A Closer Look at the Standard Narrative of Human Sexual Evolution 46
How Darwin Insults Your Mother (The Dismal Science of Sexual Economics) 48
The Famously Flaccid Female Libido 51
Male Parental Investment (MPI) 52
"Mixed Strategies" in the War Between the Sexes 55
Extended Sexual Receptivity and Concealed Ovulation 58
4 The Ape in the Mirror 61
Primates and Human Nature 64
Doubting the Chimpanzee Model 67
In Search of Primate Continuity 69
Part II Lust in paradise (solitary?) 79
5 Who Lost What in Paradise? 81
On Getting Funky and Rockin Round the Clock 83
6 Who's Your Daddies? 90
The Joy of S.E.Ex. 93
The Promise of Promiscuity 98
Bonobo Beginnings 101
7 Mommies Dearest 105
Nuclear Meltdown 109
8 Making a Mess of Marriage, Mating, and Monogamy 113
Marriage: The "Fundamental Condition" of the Human Species? 115
On Matrimonial Whoredom 119
9 Paternity Certainty: The Crumbling Cornerstone of the Standard Narrative 124
Love, Lust, and Liberty at Lugu Lake 126
On the Inevitability of Patriarchy 131
The March of the Monogamous 134
10 Jealousy: A Beginner's Guide to Coveting Thy Neighbor's Spouse 138
Zero-Sum Sex 141
How to Tell When a Man Loves a Woman 146
Part III The Way We Weren't 151
11 "The Wealth of Nature" (Poor?) 153
Poor, Pitiful Me 158
The Despair of Millionaires 161
Finding Contentment "at the Bottom of the Scale of Human Beings" 163
12 The Selfish Meme (Nasty?) 166
Homo Economicus 166
The Tragedy of the Commons 169
Dreams of Perpetual Progress 172
Ancient Poverty or Assumed Affluence? 173
On Paleolithic Politics 176
13 The Never-Ending Battle over Prehistoric War (Brutish?) 182
Professor Pinker, Red in Tooth and Claw 183
The Mysterious Disappearance of Margaret Power 187
The Spoils of War 190
The Napoleonic Invasion (The Yanomami Controversy) 194
The Desperate Search for Hippie Hypocrisy and Bonobo Brutality 197
14 The Longevity Lie (Short?) 200
When Does Life Begin ? When Does It End? 202
Is 80 the New 30? 204
Stressed to Death 208
Who You Calling a Starry-Eyed Romantic, Pal? 210
Part IV Bodies In Motion 213
15 Little Big Man 215
All's Fair in Love and Sperm War 219
16 The Truest Measure of a Man 225
Hard Core in the Stone Age 231
17 Sometimes a Penis Is Just a Penis 233
18 The Prehistory of O 244
"What Horrid Extravagancies ofMinde!" 246
Beware the Devil's Teat 252
The Force Required to Suppress It 253
19 When Girls Go Wild 255
Female Cofulatory Vocalization 255
Sin Tetas, No Hay Paraíso 259
Come Again? 262
Part V Men are from Africa, Women are From Africa 269
20 On Mona Lisa's Mind 271
21 The Pervert's Lament 280
Just Say What? 285
Kelloggs Guide to Child Abuse 288
The Curse of Calvin Coolidge 293
The Perils of Monotomy (Monogamy+ Monotony) 293
22 Confronting the Sky Together 306
Everybody Out of the Closet 311
The Marriage of the Sun and the Moon 311
Author's Note 313
Acknowledgments 315
Notes 317
References and Suggested Further Reading 351
Index 383
What People are Saying About This
“Sex At Dawn is a provocative and engaging synthesis... that has the added benefit of being a joy to read.... A book sure to generate discussion, and one likely to produce more than a few difficult conversations with family marriage counselors.”
“A wonderfully provocative and well-written book which completely re-evaluates human sexual behaviour and gets to the root of many of our social and psychological ills.”
“Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha have written the essential corrective to the evolutionary psychology literature...”
“This paradigm-shifting book is a thoroughly original discussion of the origins and nature of human sexuality... These authors have a gift for making complex material reader-friendly, filling each chapter with humor and passion as well as dozens of revolutionary insights.”
“You clearly have an exciting book on your hands, whether people agree with it or not: these are issues that will need debating over and over before we will arrive at a resolution.”
“Sex At Dawn is the single most important book about human sexuality since Alfred Kinsey unleashed Sexual Behavior in the Human Male on the American public in 1948.”
“Sex At Dawn challenges conventional wisdom about sex in a big way... This is a provocative, entertaining, and pioneering book. I learned a lot from it and recommend it highly.”
“One of the most original books I’ve read in years, Sex at Dawn manages to be both enormously erudite and wildly entertaining—even, frequently, hilarious. . . . A must-read for anyone interested in where our sexual impulses come from.”