On Wednesday, February 26, 2003, at 08:27 PM, Peter K. wrote:
> Dr Roughgarden said that a more comprehensive theory of sex selection
> should take into account
> social as well as sexual selection. Mating could function to build and
> manage relationships as well
> as to reproduce. "Female choice, I am pretty sure, has much more to do
> with managing male power than
> it does with trying to obtain good genes."
>
i'm not an expert on this sort of thing, but iirc sex is a conflict management tool among bonobos, for example. so everybody sleeps with everybody, more or less. this is just another example of how reproduction/selection is only one aspect of sexual activity in primates, at least. didn't we have a discussion about this on lbo-talk a year or more ago? i seem to think so, but i admit i can't be bothered right now to go digging in the archives . . .
j