Check It Out

Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality 
by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha
Harper, 2010
New Book Area: HQ12 R93 2010

The authors of this book ask, “What is the essence of human sexuality and how did it get to be that way?” This husband and wife team believe that “…human beings evolved in intimate groups where almost everything was shared – food, shelter, protection, child care, even sexual pleasure.” However, “… seismic cultural shifts that began about ten thousand years ago rendered the true story of human sexuality so subversive and threatening that for centuries it has been silenced by religious authorities, pathologized by physicians, studiously ignored by scientists, and covered up by moralizing therapists….The campaign to obscure the true nature of our species’ sexuality leaves half of our marriages collapsing under an unstoppable tide of swirling sexual frustration, libido-killing boredom, impulsive betrayal, dysfunction, confusion, and shame.” According to the writers they have found “…overwhelming evidence of a decidedly casual, friendly prehistory of human sexuality echoed in our own bodies, in the habits of remaining societies still lingering in relative isolation, and in some surprising corners of contemporary Western Culture.” Therefore, monogamy is not a natural state for humans.

In setting forth the defense for their thesis Ryan and Jetha answer all sorts of interesting questions: Why are human testicles so much larger than those of gorillas but smaller than those of chimps? Can sexual frustration make us sick? How did the lack of orgasms cause one of the most common diseases in history, and how was it treated? To say that this is a fun, interesting, and very controversial read is probably totally unnecessary.