Joe Meyer Hosts.
My guest is Christopher Ryan, co author with Cacilda Jetha of Sex at Dawn - the prehistoric origins of modern sexuality.
The standard narrative of modern human sexuality features a male-dominated ruling class supported by nuclear families each founded on monogamous mating.
Jetha and Ryan show that the monogamy model is very different from how humans lived before agriculture and from our genetic - preconscious expectations.
This conflict between how we evolved to behave and what society has come to expect of us, argue the man and woman co-authors, is destructive to individuals, families, society as a whole and even the robustness of our offspring.
Dr Ryan discusses the evidence against the standard narrative of human sexuality and the evidence for a more humane myth of what we have evolved to be.
Our discussion is disorganized into three sections.
observation of humans in our time - both domesticated and un
comparison of humans with other apes and anatomical evidence all pointing towards a more promiscuous and egalitarian past.
While some parts may be embarrassing, an objective understanding of our evolved sexuality can only help bring peace among the humans..
- KBOO