On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 JBrown72073 at cs.com wrote:
> OK, then how do you explain societies in which ALL women report orgasms
> (such as Mangaians and a few other Polynesian islanders among whom
> female sexual pleasure is taught to both boys and girls) AND societies
> in which it is entirely unknown. Population genetics?
You're confusing me with a genetic determinist. Read through the past few years of LBO posts on genetics and culture. I completely agree with your point; culture shapes human experience, including sexual experience. This position is completely compatible with the claim that tendency to orgasm is also influenced by genetics.
> We may have little evidence (other than logic) that female orgasm is a
> direct adaptation, but that's different from saying it's not a universal
> female possibility. Someone (Donald Symonds?) gives the analogy, we're
> not adapted to write or read, either, but nearly any human is equipped
> to do so.
Sure, writing and reading ability is a good example of a spandrel. That's my argument about female orgasm too.
> Also, if you asked our oddly frigid twin sample if they get physical
> pleasure from sex (ignoring orgasm for a moment) I think you'll find the
> numbers higher. Would that mean female sexual pleasure is an adaptation
> but the particular category of it, female orgasm, isn't?
Sure, that's the great thing about sociobiology: we can make up any stories we like!
Miles