Monogamy or Polyamory - Which Is More "Natural"?

Name: Monogamy or Polyamory - Which Is More "Natural"?
Start: 2017-07-09T13:00:00-04:00
End: 2017-07-09T15:00:00-04:00
Location: Washington Square

Hosted By

Brian B.

Monogamy or Polyamory - Which Is More "Natural"?

Details

I wasn't able to book the side room at the Good Karma Café, so I've switched our meeting place to an outdoor venue -- the Washington Square Park, between 6th & 7th Streets on Walnut in Olde City. Luckily, I checked the weather report and it should be nice & sunny, and although it'll be in the 80s there's plenty of shaded areas in the park. Please just remember to bring a folding chair or picnic blanket so sit on. You can also bring any type of food or drink you want, although I don't think alcohol is allowed in the park.

The park is fairly easy to get to if you're using public transit. With SEPTA, take the Market-Frankford Line & get off at the 5th Street Station (corner of 5th & Market), and walk 2 blocks south on 5th and then turn right on Walnut Street and walk 1 block west. With PATCO, just get off at the 9th-10th & Locust stop and walk 3 blocks east. For those who are driving, parking in the neighborhood can be tough to find. If you can't find a spot on the street, I'd suggest parking in the Washington Square parking deck at 249 S 6th Street which is just a half block away.

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MONOGAMY VS POLYAMORY - WHICH IS MORE "NATURAL" FOR HUMANS?

This meetup will address arguments in evolutionary psychology & anthropology over whether monogamy or polyamory is more "natural" for humans, in the sense of being more common in what evolutionary psychologists call the "environment of evolutionary adaptedness" (EEA). The EEA is essentially means what geologists call the Pleistocene epoch and archaeologists call the Paleolithic era (i.e. from about 2.6 million years ago up to the end of the Ice Age and the advent of agriculture around 10,000 BC), when humans lived as scatted bands of nomadic hunter-gatherers numbering no more than 100-200 people each.

We'll start off by looking at what scientists have discovered about mating strategies in mammals in general, and specifically primates, and how it relates to ecological factors like food scarcity and risk from predators.

Then we'll look at the archaeological & genetic record and see how scientists use this information to surmise the mating habits of the early hominids from which Homo sapiens would eventually evolve.

Third, we'll shift over to the anthropological view of human sexuality, especially as it relates to the sexual norms of tribal hunter-gatherers. Notably, the psychologists Christopher Ryan & Cacilda Jethá's book Sex At Dawn (2010) argued that there's a wealth of evidence which suggests polyamory was commonly practiced by tribal hunter-gatherers historically and is thus more natural for humans. We'll also look at the critique of their arguments by Lynn Saxon in Sex At Dusk (2012).

Lastly, we'll look at scholars who take a more historical approach to human sexuality, and who've looked at why various societies have adopted monogamy, visiting marriages, polygyny, or polyandry as their standard family model.

The articles & videos you see linked below are intended to give you a basic overview of the major points in the debates over technological progress. As usual, I certainly don't expect you to watch all the videos & read all the articles prior to attending our discussion. The easiest way to prepare for our discussion is to just watch the 4 videos linked below, which come to about 46 minutes total. Hopefully, that doesn't seem like too much time to invest if you're really interested in these type of issues. If you prefer reading articles to watching videos, I've listed some beneath each video that make some interesting points.

(Over the next few days, I'll jot some notes under each article to summarize their main points so that you don't have to read them all to get the general gist.)

In terms of the discussion format, my general idea is that we'll briefly cover the 4 topics in the order presented here, spending roughly 30 minutes on each section.

WHICH ANIMALS ARE MONOGAMOUS? WHAT IS THE EVOLUTIONARY ADVANTAGE OF SOCIAL MONOGAMY, AND HOW DOES THIS DIFFER FROM SEXUAL MONOGAMY? WHY DO WE SEE SO MUCH DIVERSITY IN THE MATING PATTERNS OF PRIMATES?

Hank Green, "Monogamy" (video - 8:40 min.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH_rIT0juiM&t=199s

Brian Switek, "Monogamy is much more interesting than it sounds" (short blog post)

http://scienceblogs.com/laelaps/2007/11/09/monogamy-is-much-more-interest/

Edward Clint, "Questioning the 'Sexy' Bonobo Hype" (short article)

http://www.skepticink.com/incredulous/2014/06/13/questioning-sexy-bonobo-hype/

William Tucker, "Monogamy Made Us Human" (medium-length article)

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/370159/monogamy-made-us-human-william-tucker

HOW DO THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HUMANS AND OTHER PRIMATES (LARGER BRAIN, LONGER DEVELOPMENT, HIDDEN ESTRUS,LESS SEXUAL DIMORPHISM) SUGGEST DIFFERENCES IN SELECTION PRESSURES THAT MAY HAVE ALTERED EARLY HOMINID MATING HABITS?

Robin Dunbar, "Is Monogamy Linked To Brain Size?" (video - 4:33 min.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFmxZitx5Bw

Priyanka Pulla, "Why do humans grow up so slowly? Blame the brain" (short article)

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/08/why-do-humans-grow-so-slowly-blame-brain

Andy White, "Australopithecine Sexual Dimorphism: What's Love Got To Do With It?" (medium-length blog post)
http://www.andywhiteanthropology.com/blog/australopithecine-sexual-dimorphism-whats-love-got-to-do-with-it
Jared Diamond, "Sex and the Female Agenda" (medium-length article)

http://discovermagazine.com/1993/sep/sexandthefemalea262

Daniel Engber, "Are Humans Monogamous or Polygamous?" (medium-length article)

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/human_evolution/2012/10/are_humans_monogamous_or_polygamous_the_evolution_of_human_mating_strategies_.html

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE SEX LIVES OF PREHISTORIC & MODERN HUNTER-GATHERERS? WHAT IS THE LINK BETWEEN MONOGAMY, AGRICULTURE, HIERARCHY & PROPERTY?

Christopher Ryan, "Are We Designed To Be Sexual Omnivores?" (video - 14:02 min.)

https://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_ryan_are_we_designed_to_be_sexual_omnivores

Robin Hanson, "Sex at Dusk v. Sex at Dawn" (short blog post)

http://www.overcomingbias.com/2012/08/sex-at-dusk-v-sex-at-dawn.html

Adam Lee, "Book Review: Sex at Dusk" (short blog post)

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism/2013/04/book-review-sex-at-dusk/

Eric Michael Johnson, "The Case of the Missing Polygamists" (medium-length article)

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/primate-diaries/case-of-the-missing-polygamists/

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE HISTORIC EVOLUTION OF MONOGAMY IN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES? UNDER WHICH CONDITIONS DOES IT EMERGE OR FADE AWAY? IN EUROPE, WAS MONOGAMY FIRST INSTITUTED BY THE EARLY CHRISTIANS OR THE PAGAN GREEKS & ROMANS?