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From: feit@acsu.buffalo.edu (Elissa Feit)
Newsgroups: alt.sex,sci.bio
Subject: Re: Evolution & female orgasm
Keywords: orgasm, primates, mango
Message-ID: <55783@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>
Date: 24 Jan 91 03:34:44 GMT
References: <1178@ai.cs.utexas.edu> <1991Jan21.202957.10822@yenta.alb.nm.us> <5420@husc6.harvard.edu>
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In article <5420@husc6.harvard.edu> burns@das.harvard.edu (John Burns) writes:
>In _The Straight Dope_, Cecil Adams reports that female stump-tailed
>macaques have been observed to climax from oral sex with each other (pp.
>64-65).  In the second volume, _More of the Straight Dope_, he adds reports
>of female chimpanzees masturbating with twigs and mangos, and of a male
>gorilla performing oral sex on his mate.  Whatever the origins of female
>orgasm, its recreational use predates humanity.

Ah, but you are making the mistake of envisioning evolution as a
ladder (a common, but no-longer-acceptable metaphor), upon which
we (humans) perch on the top, and chimps and macaques are below us.

On the contrary, evolution is a tree with EVERY species in existance
at the same level on a leaf. Every species has had the exact same
time in which to evolve.

It may BE true that primate females orgasmed before the more recent
splits (apes/homo, 5-7 million ? yrs ago)... But it does NOT follow
that because chimp females orgasm, we did in pre-homo sapiens' time.

Not to take one side or the other, however....  I like the idea of
recreational sex WAAAAYYY back in our (pre-)history   8-)

>John A. Burns (burns@das.harvard.edu, burns@huche1.bitnet)
>"Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it."

Really?!? Fleas fall in love? Well, I'll be!  8-)

Elissa Feit (feit@cs.buffalo.edu // {rutgers,uunet}!cs.buffalo.edu!feit)
      "I had to regain my confidence so I got into camoflauge.
       The girls they love to see you shoot."
      "I love a man in uniform."      -   Gang of Four