The Anthropology of Sex-Everyone's Doing It

Sex isn't something we generally need to learn, we just sort of know how to do it. This is because it's an innate and genetically driven need. Otherwise, how would we reproduce? That, in fact, brings up the whole subject of the true purpose of sex. There are all sorts of jokes around that say men are dogs because of their basic, primal 'need'. Well, this isn't so far from the truth, in a solely evolutionary and genetic way.

All creatures must procreate, and all creatures, except for the lower forms who simply divide asexually or those odd little hermaphrodites out there, need to have sex to accomplish the task. As anyone over the age of about 10 already knows, sex is what blends a male's and female's DNA into a new life form. If we didn't take half of our chromosomes from each parent, we would be a world of clones, not counting the odd mutation here and there. Charles Darwin, and others, came up with the theory of evolution and survival of the fittest, which states that those creatures who are a better fit with their environment and are able to survive better, will flourish and reproduce more. This means their good genes will be passed on to future generations, where the weaker and less better adapted animals won't be able to attract a mater, thereby effectively selecting themselves out of the gene pool.

Genetic mutations occur all the time and basically, evolution is caused by mutations...a sort of dumb luck. If a mutation turns out to be beneficial in one way or another, the creature will thrive and reproduce, passing on this good trait. If it's a detrimental mutation, the creature will likely fail to reproduce or will die. Either way, it's taken out of the gene pool. Speaking from an evolutionary biology standpoint, all of this makes perfect sense. It even makes more sense when you think about how animals attract mates. In the animal kingdom, a lot of males have brightly colored plumage or large, impressive antlers that make the ladies swoon. Other animals have to show their tough side and fight off the opposing males, thereby impressing the ladies with their prowess. Who wouldn't want a strong, beautiful male around to protect the family?

The sexual drive is also extremely important for obvious reasons. If nobody wanted to have sex, the populations of animals would dwindle pretty fast. By making is pleasurable, it only increases the desire. Humans aren't much different. Women still tend to seek out the strong and good looking, subconsciously desiring the fittest male for their mate. Consciously, however, women might not even be thinking of reproducing at all and are simply following their instinct to be with a man they consider their match. Of course, these days things have changed somewhat and men and women don't have sex for the sole purpose of reproduction. In fact, it's become somewhat of a sport for some people. But, sport or not, sex is here to stay. If, however, you don't plan on contributing to the gene pool and spreading your DNA into future generations, it's probably a good idea to use one of the many prophylactic devices available. The ever-increasing human population will thank you for that!