Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha in their book Sex at Dawn seek to explore major issues of human sexuality ranging from the origins of monogamy in human beings, the subject of divorce, systems of mating in humans and many more areas that are embodied in this wide topic. Ryan and Jatha’s major concern however is how past promiscuity haunts family dynamics among them monogamy and sexual orientation. The book therefore serves as a major breakthrough in an effort to understand humanity in a deeper sense in regard to sex and sexual matters (Ryan & Jetha 66).
Ryan and Jetha argue that, humans lived in groups whereby there was sharing of responsibilities ranging from child care, resources such as food and even reacted to outside danger as a group. They go ahead and argue against modernity being incorporated into the hunter- gatherer era for instance; stating that monogamy was part and parcel of the former society whereas they think that it is more modern than it could have been ancient. Their argument further goes on to say that monogamy is a creation of society because research indicates that the ancient societies who shared literary everything could not adapt to such kind of living.
In regard to mate selection, Ryan and Jetha say that the selection of mates was not competitive because sex amongst the groups of people was never scarce. This they interpret that competition for sperms among women mattered more than anything else. Both males and females in their case evaluate and analyze each other and if any fits the qualifications each desires, for females, it is material wealth and social status whereas men yearn for youthfulness, fertility and lack of sexual experience (Ryan & Jetha 14). At some point, each stray to get other partners thereby resulting to polygamy.
In the book, Ryan and Jetha say that women generally have low libido as compared to men. They further say that the main motive why women give in to sex is for them to get love from men in return. It is only for sperm competition that they get entangled in sex and this they do with not one male but several of them and whichever is lucky and has the qualities they are looking for, that is the sperm donor that they will have sex with. This again they say that prompts women to have sex with several mates and when sperms are deposited inside them; the sperms compete with each other and the strongest end up fertilizing an egg.
Ryan and Jetha’s argument does not end there. They take an in-depth look at the male and female sexual organs. For instance, the talk about the size of the male testes, the shape of a male penis and even the location of the female sexual organs; all in an effort to demystify and explain why human sexuality is what it is. Their main concern in this case is to bring forth the ideology of how human sexuality is and how it operates from both the male and female perspectives (Ryan & Jetha 256). The physiological differences are explicit but they work for the common goal of mating.
There is an argument in the book that states that marriage is the beginning and end of a man’s sexual life (Ryan & Jetha 2). This according to them is an aspect of marriage especially monogamy that entangles a man to have sex with only one woman who he will be with for the rest of his life. Their argument is that man is a sexual being and therefore his escapades will come to an end because society expects the man to stick to a routine of sex with one wife. It is no good to a woman too, because she is also trapped to a man who he has to honor by only having sex with for the rest of her life therefore lacking freedom: that women will always be sorry for being who they are and just being one in that set up.
In their effort to explain what family really is, Ryan and Jetha’s central focus is the path that human sexuality has taken over the years. Its change as humans evolved from hunters and gatherers to agricultural societies. Their attack on monogamous theories of human sexuality seek to explain the fact that just like other primates, who humans are closely connected with, polygamy should be acceptable. Monogamy is a making of the current society and its effort to advocate for it makes it even worse because man, is a natural polygamist. It is true that some men are polygamists and others want to be, but others want to be in monogamous marriages or relationships. But to them, it is very natural for one to have sex with as many people as possible for as many reasons as there could possibly be. Being heterosexual allows one to be polygamous and not monogamous because history shows that, that was never the case. The primary function of sex is to reproduce and could be, they want to popularize this agenda.
Work Cited
Ryan, Christopher & Jetha Cacilda. Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality. New York; HarperCollins Publishers. 2010
