Study: Prehistoric Man Had Sex for Fun

[SarahB]

Strangely enough, the folks over at Fox news apparently just figured this one out recently. :eyes:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269115,00.html


He may have come down from the trees, but prehistoric man did not stop swinging. New research into Stone Age humans has argued that, far from having intercourse simply to reproduce, they had sex for fun.

Practices ranging from bondage to group sex, transvestism and the use of sex toys were widespread in primitive societies as a way of building up cultural ties.

According to the study, a 30,000-year-old statue of a naked woman -- the Venus of Willendorf -- and an equally ancient stone phallus found in a German cave, provide the earliest direct evidence that sex was about far more than babies.

Timothy Taylor, reader in archeology at Bradford University, reviewed evidence from dozens of archeological finds and scientific studies for his research.

“The widespread lay belief that sex in the past was predominantly heterosexual and reproductive can be challenged,” said Taylor.

snip

[KitchenWitch]

1. And some entity somewhere PAID for that study!

:crazy:

[NewJeffCT]

24. The study that always makes me shake my head

is when the media announces, "Study shows that binge drinking is popular on college campuses."

[KitchenWitch]

33. You and I should both be on the panels that decide which grants get funded!

:rofl:

[LeftyMom]

2. Apparently, nobody at FOX has ever read up on chimps or bonobos.

:eyes:

[wildhorses]

3. well,

DUH:bounce:

[merh]

4. The folks at Faux and their loyal listeners can't grasp the concept

they didn't evolve, they were never prehistoric, they were created and put here as they are today and they don't have sex for fun. It's about having babies or power over another, always with a motive. Never just for fun x(

[petronius]

5. What about prehistoric woman?

:shrug:

[BikeWriter]

19. I was thinking that, too.

[ashling]

6. BREAKING -Fox Noise touts the truth of evolution

Bill Orally goes ape ... film at 11

[WCGreen]

7. Zippity doo dah....

It took an archaeological dig to find that out...

Why wouldn't they fuck...

[Reverend_Smitty]

8. Breaking News at 11...

This just in...sex is fun! must be a slow news day over there at Faux

[idgiehkt]

9. sounds like they have the cart before the horse

Prehistoric humans more likely didn't make the connection between sex and babies, at least at first, just as animals probably don't. They got busy because they enjoyed it, and after an interval a little one appeared. It kind of surprises me that they even say this, but I guess maybe they are talking about neolithic...well I thought the Venus of Willendorf was from paleolithic times, but whatever.

This is kind of funny, too:

"Practices ranging from bondage to group sex, transvestism and the use of sex toys were widespread in primitive societies as a way of building up cultural ties."

Um, I think they just did it to have orgasms.

[xchrom]

15. prehistoric women did -- men were a tad behind the curve ball though.

[NewJeffCT]

25. What is a better way to improve cultural ties?

some hot & wild sex, or invasion & occupation?

[leftofthedial]

10. the false "morality" and restriction of sex

is an artifact of political control (as is all "religious" belief)

[idgiehkt]

11. I think so too

religion is the government in your living room.

edited because I've had to edit every post I've made tonight, why should this one be any effing different...

[SarahB]

21. Agricultural and patriarchal political systems changed the world.

Not necessarily for the better. :(

[Wetzelbill]

12. I have no good comeback for this

Nothing at all. WTF?

[Forkboy]

13. Are there other reasons?

:shrug:

[Jamastiene]

14. Old fuckers, eh?

:rofl:

Of course they did. Who wouldn't? :rofl:

[xchrom]

16. shudder -- a stone dildo -- god i'm glad they discovered latex.

[NewJeffCT]

26. Gives new meaning to the expression

Hard as a rock.

[xchrom]

28. oh. my god. -- i can't believe you said that!!!

:spray:

[woo me with science]

17. Which prehistoric man?

The pervert.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

18. Researched by Tim (The "Tool" Man) Taylor?

A tool for every job.
:rofl:

[Zomby Woof]

20. Yabba-Dabba Doo!

Anyone who grew up watching "The Flintstones" knew this. :P

[pokerfan]

22. Why Is Sex Fun?

Why Is Sex Fun?: The Evolution of Human Sexuality
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Sex-Fun-Evolution-Sexuality/dp/075380154X

Looks like an interesting book, actually.

[MorningGlow]

23. Amazing how deeply biblical teachings have permeated science

Once upon a time we believed that God actually said "Go forth and multiply", and scientists took that to heart and used it as the foundation for their theory that prehistoric man was obsessed with nothing but proliferation. When I was in college, I realized that archaeology wasn't the major for me when every textbook, article, and professor taught that all our predecessors thought about was "increasing their herd" because there were so few of them. According to the archaeological status quo, all festivals were fertility festivals, all gods and goddesses were fertility gods and goddesses (except for the ones who represented death), and all ornaments were tchotchkes that would promote fertility.

Feh. I always suspected those little stone goddess statues were the predecessors of Playboy.

[SarahB]

34. That looks good.

I saw this one recently and I think I'm going to order it. I love stuff that blends science and research in terms of human behavior. Interesting stuff. http://www.amazon.com/Power-Sex-Suicide-Mitochondria-Meaning/dp/0199205647/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-8839359-7659151?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179247421&sr=1-1

[SarahB]

35. dupe

:crazy:

[Beausoleil]

27. So easy a caveman could do it

[dysfunctional press]

29. well...DUH!

that's pretty much the general idea, isn't it? i mean, if it wasn't fun- none of us would be here.

[skygazer]

30. I wish I could get a grant to study something obvious

Every time I think of something good, I second-guess myself - "No, they wouldn't go for that - it's too stupid" and the next thing I know, I'm reading about the results of the exact same thing I thought of. :banghead:

I also get a kick out of the people who think that things like oral sex or anything remotely removed from the "missionary position" are somehow modern inventions. Obviously none of those people ever peeked at the Kama Sutra. :eyes:

[dropkickpa]

31. Have these people never seen bonobos?

The nymphos of the primate world! OF COURSE people fucked for fun, it's FUN!!

The idiotic tone nature of studies like this makes me wanna :banghead:

I have seen more animals (species) masturbate than you would believe (not on purpose, I just seem to have bad timing). Masturbation is for pleasure only, why wouldn't animals do the real thing for pleasure, too?

[SOteric]

32. Well it's not like they had TV or the internet.

:shrug:

[SarahB]

36. Update: The British article on the same study

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1720068.ece

The oldest swingers: sex games of Stone Age exposed

:rofl:

Strikes me as interesting the differences in approach with the headlines. :D

[Parche]

37. caveman

The had to use their 'bones' for something!!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[hedgehog]

38. Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear series were supposed to be based

on up-to-date archaeological research on Neanderthal and early Homo-Sapian man. I could go along with that as far as areas such as diet, housing and the manufacture of stone tools are concerned, but I've often wondered about her scientific sources for her characters' preference for oral sex and assorted novel positions......