Is it in human being's genetic make up to mate but not necessarily to procreate?

Question

Animals mate during mating seasons and for the purpose of procreating while humans pretty much mate at will and for pleasure.

Is this because this is just a residual trait that humans had acquired back when the Earth was not so populated as it is now?

Answer 1

its called casual s*x and is motivated my lack of self control fueled by equally uncontrolled filthy lust that involves no type of emotion or love

Answer 2

Many species participate in non-reproductive s*x.  The myth that we are very unusual because we do this is just another example of our ignorance of other animals and our desire to differentiate ourselves from the rest of nature.  

Yes it is genetic, and yes, it makes all the sense in the world from an evolutionary standpoint.  If you want to know why, I suggest reading about behavioral influences on testosterone and estrogen production - to summarize very simply - practice makes perfect.

Answer 3

It is genetic to want to procreate, not necessarily mate up with someone of the opposite s*x for life

Answer 4

the key words in ur ? MATE AT WILL, if u go to biblical times of adam/eve. werent they told to procreate. woman was given once a month to conceive, animals like dogs go in heat twice a year. so there is less chance of over population of animals. the WILL part comes in because we r allowed to make a choice to concieve or not...to chose if we want that responsibilty. but free will and the fall of adam creates the lustful desires ,u dont see animals in the animal kingdom getting it one for their own satisfaction, males r only attracted to the scent of the heat, and females dont allow the penetration til that exact time,, like dogs, females may bleed for 9-13 days, only she knows when to allow the male, she'll flag her tail to the side..they dont have the emotion of o****m, they r mating..we r given both, desires and reproduction at will

Answer 5

Absolutely. This is what attraction is. We become attracted to someone of the opposite s*x first. We don't think in terms of procreating, and then think about a means to carry that out. Well, most of us anyway. Events of finding attraction and flirting increase as we mature. Nature makes this the first step in the procreation that will follow. We are indeed, hard-wired for this behavior.

Answer 6

I have to disagree with a lot of the answers before this one.  We certainly do have a strong desire to procreate.  That's not to say that we, as individuals, don't enjoy s*x, but the reason we enjoy it is because that encourages us, as a species, to procreate.

When talking about natural selection and evolution, people often mix up "proximate causes" with "ultimate causes."  A proximate cause is the immediate reason something happened, while the ultimate cause is the "actual" reason it happened.

For example, you might ask why a kettle of tea is boiling.  You might answer that natural gas is burning, and transferring heat to the kettle and the water inside (a proximate cause).  But you could also explain that it is boiling because I want to make myself some tea, so I put the kettle on the stove (an ultimate cause).  Both explain why the water is boiling, but at different levels.

And similarly so with your question.  The proximate cause for s*x is that it feels good, we're horny, we're in love, we're drunk and can't help ourselves, or whatever.  The ultimate cause is that we have a tendency to try to reproduce.  Our sexual drives serve that tendency.

Of course, when we use condoms or other types of birth control, we're thwarting that ultimate cause.  In this day and age, our sexual drives do a very poor job of serving our desire to reproduce.  That's one reason birth rates drop off so much once a country industrializes.  We evolved in a very different environment (mostly in a hunter-gatherer setting), and in THAT setting, sexual drives were a good way of ensuring reproduction.  Not so much any more, but you have to remember that natural selection isn't "intelligent" and only works slowly.  We haven't had a long enough history in this new environment to change much.

Answer 7

Yes, that's why condoms were invented!

Sexual relations relaxes the nerves...

Answer 8

We are diffrent from the other animals in that way - animal females are mating only in certain times because of their hormones while human females are 'turn on' all the time. The pleasure of s*x is because our brain recognizes this act as a procreation and begins producing hormones that makes us feel pleasure.  

During the modern era - the last 100 years - humans started making s*x for for pleasure without worries for eventual offsprings.