| Sex at Dawn (Ryan & Jethá) |
ISBN: 978-1-921640-59-9
Pub.: 2010 by Harper-Collins (Scribe Publications in Australia)
Synopsis: A treatise on the controversial topic of prehistoric sexuality, influences that may have shaped human sexuality, cultures that display similar sexual practices today, and what all of this may mean for us.
Review: I read this book in late February of 2011 amidst quite a bit of commentary about its contents (primarily through podcasts and similar means). I'll admit this is what drew it to my attention and as I don't get around to actually reading much these days it should be noted that the book's capacity to grab my attention and keep it, to the point where the book went everywhere with me, is no mean feat.
A good portion of the book's ability to suck a reader in (pun not intended but nonetheless amusing - to me, anyway) is the manner in which it is written. Ryan and Jethá are excellent writers. I shall note that it impresses me that they are also both doctors and married to one another; neither of these facts are pressed upon the reader at any point.
I only found that out when I read the author info on the first page. This is not a pair of doctors who will throw their qualifications around as if it makes them the Masters of the Universe. They are frank, down-to-earth authors who communicate with the reader in a direct and easy-to-understand manner.
This text is simultaneously amusing and clever, engaging and simple. It's a very easy read, even during the data-heavy portions, and my initial fears that it might be a bit too dry for my to continue with were utterly unfounded.
The book opens with Ryan relating an occasion in which he met a monkey in the botanical gardens of Penang, Malaysia. The light-hearted, descriptive and almost self-derisive manner of Ryan's writing is immediately entertaining. This is a guy who knows what he is and what he isn't.
The introduction, right from the first sentence, is going to be highly confronting to many people. The book starts off by stating our position within the animal kingdom in no uncertain terms: that we, as Homo sapiens, are indeed primates. Apes, in fact. We're not like apes and we're not just related to apes - we are apes. This little fact is absolutely key to the understanding of the entire book and everything in it: we are members of the primate family and no less an animal than the bonobo or chimpanzee.
Irrespective of this (largely) accepted scientific fact there's no doubt that the same calculated, direct approach to analysing the rest of the animal kingdom - indeed, the rest of reality as we Homo sapiens understand it - is not applied to humans with the same diligence or in the same manner. Why? This book goes into that.
The answer, of course, is simply that it's us. It's far harder to maintain a scientific, academic distance when you're talking about your own species. It's very important to keep that in mind, though it's not hard to do so as it's pointed out near-constantly throughout the book. I'll mention that the authors don't belabour the point; they use it. And they do so elegantly.
The founding premise of the book is that what they refer to as the 'standard narrative' - a theoretical model of human sexuality that is supposed to explain the fundamental whys and whats of human sexuality - is incorrect. Not just incorrect, indeed, but fundamentally flawed.
In order to understand the monumental scope of that premise let me point a couple of things out. This 'standard narrative' is accepted by human scientists over a lot of the globe as being correct and has influence on a great deal of human sexual theory. Its presence can be found in societal law, fashion, self-help books, counselling, relationship counselling, religious dogma, movies, books, psychology, sociology. You know the whole deal about the so-called 'Battle of the Sexes' (a pet seething hatred of mine)? Standard narrative. It's the underlying principle behind a lot more than just books about why people find new and interesting ways to combine their genitals.
The standard narrative is a big deal. And these people are saying it's wrong. Think about that for a moment. Look across that list above and think: if the standard narrative is actually wrong then how much of that would be different is another model had been accepted as 'correct' instead?
Yeah. Huge changes, the world over. The world we know it, in fact, likely wouldn't exist.
If you find yourself offended at being called an animal, let alone being compared to one, this really isn't a book that you're going to like. Homo sapiens are compared to chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and more. You may know that a lot of human behaviour has been likened (sometimes favourably, sometimes not) to that of the chimpanzee, our closest genetic relative. Well, the bonobo (pygmy chimpanzee) is actually equidistant on our 'family tree', meaning we're as closely related to them, and we share many more features with the humble, horny bonobo than the chimpanzee.
Why should you care? Because the bonobo is both more promiscuous and less violent than the chimpanzee. We may well have been modelling our opinion of human culture off the wrong ape all this time.
I really can't discuss the book too much without spoiling a lot of its more interesting surprised and I'd really prefer not to do that. I will say, though, that this book is confronting. It is groundbreaking. It is valuable - so, so valuable. The authors confront laymen, scientists, religion and more on their path through this book. I was confronted - almost affronted - on their stance regarding agriculture and how it's shaped the human world.
Why wasn't I actually affronted? Because the facts they present are true, they're solid, there are reference notes throughout every stage of the tome, and (vitally importantly) they present it in a way that is easy to swallow. It's neither sugar-coated nor arrogant. It's simple, direct and plain.
This is a book that is clearly supposed to shake up the status quo, even if that only means stirring the ol' neurons and getting you thinking about why you hold the view that you do.
In closing I'd like to congratulate the authors on an exceedingly well-written book and to extend my hearty recommendation to everyone - everyone - of adult age to buy this book and read it cover to cover. Even if you don't agree with the concepts raised within these pages - and some of you won't - it raises extremely valid points on the human animal's tendency to look at our place in the world and assume it's the mean, rather than one end of the bell curve.
I give it five skullys (out of five). Yeah, it's that good.
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