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From: sbishop@desire.wright.edu
Newsgroups: sci.psychology,sci.bio,soc.men,soc.women,soc.singles
Subject: Re: Are Humans Naturally Monogamous?
Message-ID: <1990Oct25.084600.1596@desire.wright.edu>
Date: 25 Oct 90 13:45:59 GMT
References: <1990Oct24.175532.9407@pmafire.UUCP> <13922@cs.utexas.edu>
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In article <13922@cs.utexas.edu>, turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin) writes:
> -----
> In article <1990Oct24.175532.9407@pmafire.UUCP>, reiser@pmafire.UUCP (Steve Reiser) writes:
>> Without cultural training would human being by there biological nature
>> be monogamous or is it culturally ingrained from childhood?
> 
> It is hard to imagine an environment that allows a human to
> survive to adolescence that does not provide cultural training
> of some sort.  To the extent that one can imagine such an
> environment, like the fabled children who survived in the wild,
> it is unlikely that any human so raised would be capable of 
> much sexual activity beyond masturbation, at least, not without
> being shown how.
> 
> Humans by their *nature* develop in a culture.  To talk about what
> humans would *naturally* do without culture is nonsense.  It is NOT
> natural for humans to develop without culture.  
> 

This is entirely true.  Many animals are totally *naturally* oriented to 
being raised in a group or family situation.  If raised otherwise they 
suffer from SERIOUS mental and emotional problems.  Humans fall into
this catagory.  

> To understand what is natural to humans, one can only look at the
> range of cultures that have developed.  Are humans naturally
> monogamous or not?  In some cultures they are and other cultures they
> aren't, and in yet other cultures, such as our own, they can be
> either.  That is the only realistic answer to your question.
> 
> Russell

This answer fits the general anthropological idea of humans.  It is really
a cultural explanation and since humans ARE the ultimate cultural animal
then it fits the situation.