[Anthropology] anybody?

Question

One explanation for the tendency of human females to be sexually receptive on a continuing basis is that

a. It is an accidental byproduct of the high hormone requirements for persistent bipedal locomotion.

b. It increases competitiveness among the males of a group.

c. It encourages endogamy.

d. It discourages incest.

e. It leads to greater competitiveness among women.

I spent all day to find the answer, but I still don’t know it! :-(

Answer 1

I would go with B

Answer 2

The theory is that we're always ready to go because we need the energy to walk upright.  The others wouldn't make much sense; you want less competitiveness to maintain group unity, for instance, which is one theory why we view s*x as such a private act.  And women always being ready for s*x won't help with the incest or marrying within the group things because, well, wanting more s*x usually makes you more likely to break sexual taboos.  I'd definitely go with a.

Answer 3

B

Answer 4

It increases competitiveness among the males of a group

Answer 5

The answer is probably a complex one, but of the repsonse you provide probablly B - since the guys are always trying to impress the girls....

Answer A I have never even heard before (and I am not aware of any hormone needed for habitual bipedalism)

C is opposite of reality (some form of EXogamy is the norm  inmost societies

D - ??? never heard of

E - are women competitive?  in most socieities they seem to get along fine

Answer 6

If I had to pick one of those I'd go with (e) but I don't like any of the answers.  (b),(c), and (d), in particular, seem highly counter-intuitive and (a) seems nonsensical.  (e) just seems like a stretch.

Seems to me, women are sexually receptive on a continuing basis because our infants are so vulnerable for so long and therefore might die and need to be replaced (so to speak).  We also generally only have one at a time, unlike most other species.  It makes sense evolutionarily that we should, given these limitations, have lots of children so that some of them will survive to procreate themselves.

Answer 7

As there is no experimental evidence, there is no definitive answer.  However, we can learn something from the fact that many of our primate cousins have the same tendency.  Some, such as the bonobo, a type of chimpanzee, are more sexually active than humans.  

I would argue that it grows out of the helplessness of human infants.  Nature has accommodated the large human brain by having our babies born at an earlier stage of development than any other primate, and earlier than almost all mammals except marsupials.  The long and intense caregiving demands a baby places on a mother make her more dependent on a male for care and protection.  But the male's biological imperative is to spread his seed as far and wide as possible.  But the male doesn't think of it in these terms.  He just feels horny.  If he can get it at home, he's more likely to stick around and be a good caregiver.

Answer 8

I would answer C, but this is a tricky question.  One theory about why human women are fertile 12 times a year as opposed to once or twice like other mammals who go "in heat" is that they NEEDED to be ready for males that returned form hunts at erratic intervals during the year.  Apparently this adaptation helped the small bands of humans maintain endogamy, by making it possible for the males of the groups to impregnate the females even if they were not around very often because of hunting parties.  This is only one theory about our past, but I think it may have some bearing on the question.