> -----Original Message----- > From: Maureen [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 8:31 PM > To: cf-community > Subject: Re: evolution and homosexuality > > There is a reason monogamy and monotony have the same root word. ;-> > > Marriage is totally a social convention. It has nothing to with > biology.
I'm not sure that the two are at all distinct. Our social conventions are very often biologically based (and often the evolutionary processes behind them are downright amazingly fascinating). Nearly all important human behavior is due to either our social natures (community animals) or our intelligence. Intelligence, or more specifically the giant brain that provides it) means that even after our extended gestation (during which the female is more vulnerable than normal) it still takes several years for us to be even moderately self-sufficient and over a decade to reach anything approaching adult capabilities. In this light monogamy does make evolutionary sense (especially from the female perspective). The male remains essentially at peak fitness through gestation and childhood. Placing him in a role of responsibility to the female and the offspring is nothing but good for them. Of course we also have developed a strong community and an amazingly overactive biological reward-system for sex... so we've got a nice bunch of competing pressures. The desire to mate with superior partners is strong: even when those partners aren't available to nurture later. The pleasure of sex often overrides our intelligence (and our knowledge of the consequences). Homosexuality may very well be a biological answer to a social dilemma. Homosexuals are more common in families and communities where there are "too many" of one sex. It may be a biological response to the possibility of the social and community damage that fighting over mates would cause. It may also offer some guarantee that the aging parents (and their valuable wisdom) are cared for. After all, having successfully bred to the point where it's unlikely their genetic contribution will be lost it's only natural to consider the non-breeding contribution that they can provide. There's so much complexity to the pressures around us that the evolutionary responses are amazingly complex. I can't T see how we'll ever truly, completely understand them - but there's definitely enough evidence to have a decent understanding of the basic, common stuff like monogamy and homosexuality. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:280816 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
