[lbo-talk] Biology vs. Sociobiology: Father's Milk

[Mycos]

Mycos wrote:
> Jim Devine wrote:
> 
>> One of the questions that sociobiology or crude Darwinism (which
>> stresses natural selection über alles) can't answer is why women have
>> large breasts -- because the size plays no adaptive function and this
>> phenomenon is rare or even nonexistent outside of homo sapiens. One
>> theory -- cf. Marvin Harris' OUR KIND -- accepts Darwin's theory of
>> sexual selection, which many crude Darwinists see as almost heretical:
>> women have large breasts simply because men are more attracted to
>> women with them, so that the "large breast" gene is more likely to be
>> passed down the generations.
>>
>> I must admit to being obsessed with this topic. ;-)
>>
>> JD

Human females have relatively large breasts, whereas other primate 
females do not. One hypothesis is that large breasts developed to 
resemble buttocks. Given that face-to-face sex is desirable in 
reinforcing emotional bonds and that males prefer the buttocks (both 
questionable assumptions), large breasts would serve to attract human 
males to the female's front."
(Relethford, John H. The Human Species. Mountain View, California: 
Mayfield Publishing Company, 2000. pp. 242.)

And here's something for those of you who have been placed in the 
position of having to insist that we really do read the articles ;-)

from http://www.playboy.com/sex/features/breasts

  "In The Naked Ape, zoologist Desmond Morris outlines his idea that men 
love boobs because boobs resemble buttocks. In the jungle a female 
primate in heat displays her ass to indicate that she's ready for sex.
( a naughty bit snip )
Morris surmises that once women began walking upright, breasts developed 
as a way for them to arouse bootylicious thoughts without bending over. 
Biped babes could now catch a male's eye coming or going. The problem 
with this hypothesis is that men in many cultures aren't obsessed with 
breasts. In their 1951 book Patterns of Sexual Behavior, anthropologists 
Clellan Ford and Frank Beach conclude that the most universally admired 
female trait is plumpness. Less than one quarter of the tribes they 
surveyed valued large breasts. The website 007b.com, which archives the 
various sizes and shapes of breasts (including tubular), argues that 
they are not inherently sexy but simply a sign that a girl has become 
"capable of feeding children as God intended." It asks, "Is a bull 
interested in the cow's udder when it wants to mate?"

-- 

Gary Williams

<a href="http://mycos.blogspot.com/">Mycos</a>