[thechat] King Preaches Abstinence to Parading Maidens

[Erika Meyer]

Handelaar wrote:

>a)  *Almost* no human culture any longer has childrearing as
>     a primary focus;

Physical evolution is a bit slow for the speed of change in human
culture, but I do have to say that IF this is true, it is a horrible
mistake on our part. (one of many).

& as a parent I have to say that most of my resources go into
childrearing whether I like it or not.  My whole life revolves around
it.  And I only have one child.

>
>b)  That sociobiology thing doesn't represent the prevailing
>     anthropological viewpoint anymore, and in any case if you go
>     back to pre-'civilised' societies there's a compelling (and
>     currently more prevalent) counter-viewpoint revolving around
>     the shared raising of children within a community.  Given that,
>     and assuming that those early women wanted more children,

woah!  Each child requires a LOT of investment from a female, from
pregnancy to childbirth, and if you survive that, there's the next 20
years of heavy labor...

Women (in general) have a history of wishing to limit children.  This
has been a big point of contention in the past, the right to control
one's own fertility has been something women have fought bitterly for.


>    again assuming that childrearing is as important as supposed,
>     in fact the gender imperative towards multiple partners lies with
>     the female, not the male, since she's repeatedly selecting the
>     most 'fit' co-parent over a period of years and that's unlikely
>     to be the same male every time.  [pause for breath :-)  ]

The idea is to get the man to invest in his own children.  It's hard
enough to train ONE man, let alone several.

;-)

>Absolutely.   And in this field there's really no such thing as
>'scientific fact' at all, since without reliable evidence, there's
>no science.

Theories can be based on inductive reasoning.  They require evidence.
Scientific testing in a controlled environment is something else.

Theories are not the same as facts.  But worth discussion
nonetheless, until/unless they are disproved.

>  Rigidity, I think both of us agree,
>probably doesn't work.  (Actually I reckon that's generally true in
>most things, but I digress.)

right.  slack is good.  everybody deserves slack.

>I agree with you - except for the presumption of it being the males
>who should have the exclusive right to multiple partners.

right... though I imagine it's a tie in with other cultural things.

>that exclusivity is basically about the relative power available to
>men and women, in an antiquated and really-quite-unpleasant way.

I agree that there is a tie-in.

E
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