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From: jespah@milton.u.washington.edu (Kathleen Hunt)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Evolution & female orgasm
Message-ID: <14868@milton.u.washington.edu>
Date: 22 Jan 91 02:42:24 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Lines: 29

From: throop@cs.utexas.edu (David Throop)
*     Has women's sexual responsiveness changed since prehistoric times?
*Have our sexual practices?
*...
*     I think of cunnilingus and manual stimulation of one's partner as
*civilized acts.  I find it hard to believe that stone age people
*practiced them -- at least, I've heard no reports of these practices
*among chimpanzees.   
*...
 
Just a few notes:  female orgasm does occur in many other mammalian species.
I only know for certain that it has been physiologically confirmed to occur
in stump-tailed macaques, the common chimp, and domestic housecats, but
I haven't looked into the lit for this very much and probably it occurs in
many other mammals as well.  There is some speculation that female orgasm
in some species might be useful for "pumping" the semen up the uterus &
oviduct (this was said re the cats, anyway).

Also, you might be interested to know that the bonobo ("pygmy chimpanzee",
_Pan paniscus_) does quite commonly do mutual masturbation, female-female
clitoral stimulation (known as "genital-genital rubbing" or "G-G rubbing")
and various other means of stimulating the clitoris.  I haven't read 
descriptions of cunnilingus in this species.  Female bonobos definitely
go out of their way to enjoy sex, though.

Just some more things to consider.

Kathleen
jespah@milton.u.washington.edu