Sex at Dawn
"A controversial, idea-driven book that challenges everything you know about sex, marriage, family, and society"--Provided by publisher. Since Darwin's day, we've been told that sexual monogamy comes naturally to our species. But this narrative is collapsing. Here, renegade thinkers Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá, while debunking almost everything we "know" about sex, offer a bold alternative explanation. Ryan and Jethá's central contention is that human beings evolved in egalitarian groups that shared food, child care, and, often, sexual partners. Weaving together convergent, frequently overlooked evidence from anthropology, archaeology, primatology, anatomy, and psychosexuality, the authors show how far from human nature monogamy really is. With intelligence, humor, and wonder, Ryan and Jethá show how our promiscuous past haunts our struggles over monogamy, sexual orientation, and family dynamics. Human beings everywhere and in every era have confronted the same familiar, intimate situations in surprisingly different ways. The authors expose the ancient roots of human sexuality while pointing toward a more optimistic future illuminated by our innate capacities for love, cooperation, and generosity.--From publisher description.
Stats for nerds
19recommend
43mentions
34people
2010–2025years
53% recommend37% neutral9% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Fiction:
1. First Law cycle by Joe Abercrombie - too much violence for me is first books, but last trilogy is quite interesting.
2. Dark Tower by Stephen King - do I need to say more?
3. Old Man's War by John Scalzi, like this guy writing.
4. The Farseer trilogy and The Liveship Traders trilogy by Robin Hobb - pure pleasure.
5. Shades of Magic trilogy by V.E.Schwab, re-read, preparing to read new cycle.
6. Some Terry Prachett books.
Non Fiction:
1. Ghost Map by Steven Johnson, about cholera outbreak in London in 1854, but more about society and life of that period.
2. Donnie Brasco - FBI guy infiltrated to one of five Mafia families and bring many people to justice, worth reading.
3. Oppenheimer by Kai Brid - didn't watch movie yet, prefer to start with book.
4. Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality by Christopher Ryan, Cacilda Jethá - interesting stuff about our sexuality and how we became who we are.
- > How often are we ordered to do something by another person in our communities that we can't readily disobey
Psychologist Christopher Ryan touches on this topic through his research and books on pre / post agriculture.
Basically it boils down to loss of freedom through territorialism and resulting patriarchy of modern civilizations. I can recommend both "Sex at Dawn"[1] and "Civilized to Death"[2].
Cheer up, at least we've got donuts and dentists today.
[1] https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24521078M/Sex_at_dawn
[2] https://openlibrary.org/books/OL27911904M/Civilized_to_Death
- While the nuclear family most common for most of recorded history, since reading Sex at Dawn and a few related books, I've come to believe that for most of human history -- that is, hundreds of thousands of years before agriculture -- we lived in communities where all adults helped raise all children.
- Sex at Dawn and Civilized to Death by Christopher Ryan
- Cannibals and Kings - Marvin Harris
Warriors and Worriers - Joyce Bennenson
Sex at Dawn - Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá
- I highly encourage reading Sex at Dawn [1]. It's an amazing paradigm-shifter regarding human sexuality.
In a nutshell, it (convincingly, IMHO) argues that the modern story society tells itself about mating and family is dead wrong, and that we as a species are wired for communal (or rather tribal) mating. It's a deep rabbithole. It's also available in audiobook form, if you prefer.
You can get the gist of the argument from wikipedia [1] and a TED talk one of the authors gave [2].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_at_Dawn
[2] https://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_ryan_are_we_designed_t...
