Dear fellow finalists,
I would like to comment on the idea that emerged in the lecture on sex
differences, of the 'concealed estrus'. The question is; why is it that
the human female is the only species out of all other mammals who does
not 'advertise' the fact that she is more fertile at a certain stage of
her reproductive cycle than at others. For example, dogs go on heat,
cats give out a secret odour and so on. It was suggested that women
actually advertise their fertility at all times, perhaps by dressing
seductively or wearing an irresistible perfume. Alternatively it could
be argued that human males do not need much encouragement, so we can
afford to be a bit more subtle than the animals, (sorry boys!). But why
then is it that sex is still enjoyable for a woman during her period,
when she is least fertile? From a Darwinian point of view this is a
complete waste of energy!
I would like to suggest, that due to the complexity of the human brain
and our superior intelligence to the animal world, we have developed in
a way so that we no longer need to rely on instinctual drives to rule
our behaviour. Perhaps it is the case that the female has evolved in a
way so that her estrus is now concealed, although this was not always
the case. There must have been a point in time when it was discovered
that at a certain time of the month, having sex is very likely to
result in the female becoming pregnant. Perhaps a certain female didn't
want to be pregnant so try to hide the fact that she was ovulating,
from her potential male partners. As more and more women started using
this technique as the first historical method of contraception, they
gradually began to evolve as a species and develop in the way that
their estrus is naturally concealed as it is today. (WHAT A GREAT
THEORY!!)
Well, if anyone made any sense of that waffle then I'll be amazed!
Any comments on this fascinating area will be greatly appreciated.
ALEXA HEWES
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