When and why did human beings start to seek for privacy when having s*x, defacating, or urinating?

Question

I'd like answers only from sociologists, anthropologists, evolutionists, or people knowledgeable in behavioral sciences. No point gaming please. This question is not posted here for fun.

Answer 1

I'm not speaking with scientific authority, this is just an idea. When having s*x, all defenses are lowered. Two (or more) people in copulation become vulnerable to attack. While the struggle for day-to-day survival isn't as much of a concern for us in modern times, it would have been for our ancestors.

Evidence for this can be found in the differences between our two closest living relatives: Bonobos and chimpanzees. Bonobos are rarely preyed on, have abundant food resources (reducing aggressive competitors for food) and mate indiscriminate of location. Chimps, by contrast, are constantly threatened, and they tend towards private s*x lives.

Answer 2

Interrestingly , of all the species on this God's earth, humans are the only species who need their privacy and who need to cook their food.

Humans are the only species who have a pethora of relationships, relatives, and something called friends.

In animal world there are only Maes & Females, There is only a mother & child relationship which too is for a limited period only.

There are no inhibitions, no barriers, no rules& regulations.

Answer 3

If a person is not influenced by societal pressure would they still want privacy?

You should ask that as well.  Children do not care until another person, usually an adult draws their attention to it.

I am not a sociologist, I just have a good memory.

Answer 4

Jesus said so....

Answer 5

Early man behaved as he pleased , just like other wild species. But as clans developed following the learning about the advantages of taking shelter in secure places like caves, competition for the attention and favors of mates prompted the males to guard their favorite females from their own adult offsprings also.Some clans developed the tradition of driving out the adult males  while others opted to have the Patriarchal disciplinewhich  ensured that  the young males would not mate within the clan and a mate would be found from elsewhere and then brought in .

The exposure of genitalia was part of the excretory process and hence carried the risk of  attracting sexual attention of the opposite s*x. It is important to remember here that the excretory substances carry characteristic odours of  the individual and become an easy means of identification. Thus  early learning included the avoidance of exposure of genitals ,and excretions came to be done in privacy., As social norms for families and clans grew, the stereotype of today's family ethics evolved. A simple model of how clan bahavior and family behavior were before current phase of humn civilisation evolved can be seen in the life of Primates and bears. Primates live as clans and have only  a modicum of family norms. But Bears have a much more evolved family life. The parents drive out the adult bear child  until he/she finds an adult mate and settles down to family life. Until children become full adults they are tended by the parents. Parents will never mate in the presence or even distant sight of the offsprings.

There is vital clue for our  evolution in these species. Personally I am inclined to the thought that Bears have not received as much attention from Anthropologists in their study of human evolution; much as The Primates have been studied in this connection. The Bears think and meditate much like the humans but Primates are found to pay scanty attention to these aspects.

Answer 6

Im not a professional but from watching my little 2 year grandaughter it seems to be inherent in wanting privacy. She will go into the bathroom when her mother needs to go and not give her mother the privacy but if the little girl needs to go she will tell everyone to stay out so she can go without anyone watching. She seems embarrassed to have anyone watch her go. No one has taught her this either.

Answer 7

concentration

Answer 8

I second the answer by Timetravelboy.  Vulnerability is a prime factor of which housing and plumbing are extensions.  The vulnerability comes before any considerations of social interaction.

Another factor is the nomadic nature of hunting and grazing which means leaving body fluids and semi-solids along the trails.  I would think that the sense of smell presses most animals and humans to move away from their digs or stops for the night.  

And it seems most animals are born with the sense that food and body fluids don't really mix well.

Answer 9

Anthropologists have not been able to determine if modesty was ever natural among homo sapiens or if it has been entirely cultural based.  Early man "owned" his women and had to protect them from other males.  He was cautious about stimulating other males with open copulation or risked getting attacked and his woman taken by other males. There is some evidence, as found in neolithic peoples found in the 1800's around the world that women in warm-climate tribes were covered or clothed or wrapped or wore burka-type garments very early to identify them as the "sealed" property of some man and their coverings were to reduce stimulation of other males.  Early women, after cloth and weaving was learned following the rise of agriculture, also began to wear retaining garments and wraps to position and secure menstrual cloths / grassy paddings.  Menstrual odors attracted enemy males and large predator animals to encampments.  So, women were punished for exposed menstrual paddings, kept hidden and "down wind" so to say, during their menstrual week . . . one of our earliest modesty concepts of feminine "confinement".  

Clothing on a woman quickly came to represent "off limits" to sexual advances, or, early "chastity".   One thing led to another.  For example, a woman covered or wrapped in "off limits" garments did not tan as much as women exposed.  Their softer skin was desired and became an asset.  For 10,000 years, a large part of women's "modesty" dress was related to preventing sun damage and skin aging.  Most modesty "rules" following the rise of cities in human cultures have been dictated through subjective, arbitrary religious concepts associated with symbolism about what a "decent" man or woman was considered to be at that time. Urinating in public is not seen as immodest in many cultures.  But, defecation, associated with pungent odors and disease, was culturally pressed into "modesty" arrangements.