query

James Heartfield Jim at heartfield.demon.co.uk
Mon Dec 4 22:05:58 PST 2000


I think that you can say that some humans have used artificial contraception as long as there has been established civilisation, but for the most part only a very small minority.

Erotic sex-play (as opposed to recreational sex) was the preserve of leisured elites in the ancient world. For subject classes of slaves and serfs the separation of sex and procreation had not happened.

Some writers on the subject would include John D'Emilio and Estelle Freeman, Intimate Matters and Ken Plummer Greek Homosexuality.

I can't speak for US crime statistics, but British crime statistics come from two very distinct sources: police figures (subject to manipulation as the police record greater numbers of trivial crimes pushing the trend up, or conversely fewer pushing the trend down) and the British Crime Survey. Most commentators consider the BCS more reliable because it is survey-based, ie it is a questionnaire to people asking whether they are have been victims of crime.

Not enough people have noticed the flaw in survey based statistics, ie that it is a subjective judgement as to whether the smashed tail-light on your car is a crime, or some piece of bad driving on your part. Similarly you might think that the scuffle between you and a neighbour constitutes assault, where the courts might have thought that your neighbour is innocent, by virtue of your provocation, etc etc etc. Survey based crime statistics claim to capture the true rate of crime, allowing for people's unwillingness to report. But sometimes that unwillingness to report is a rational unwillingness to expose one's less rational allegations to the test of a criminal prosecution.

In message <3A2BF788.6834032B at uniserve.com>, Sam Pawlett <rsp at uniserve.com> writes
>How long have humans used contraception and abortion? Is it fair to say
>since humans have had sex other than for procreation? Presumably, said
>practices have been around before writing was invented but records can
>only go as far back as the written word. The earliest references are in
>the Book of Genesis and in Ancient Egyptian records (papyrus paper.)
>Contraception and abortion must go back before that...but how far? Other
>mammals rely on "natural" forms of birth control but do any use
>contraception or abortion?
>
>What is some good reading material?
>
>Also, is the U.S. Bureau of Justice the best place for stats on violent
>crime?
>
>This stuff is for,you guessed it, an article on biological explanations
>of violence (i.e. violence as a male reproductive strategy.)
>
>Sam Pawlett

-- James Heartfield



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