Male & Female

CobraBoy! (tbyars@earthlink.net)
Wed, 27 Aug 1997 04:32:32 -0800


Wednesday, August 27

GUYS AND DOLLS

IN HER LATEST BOOK, Sex on the Brain (Viking, $24.95), Pulitzer

Prize-winning journalist Deborah Blum dives into one of the
most

controversial and fascinating questions in human biology:
Besides the

obvious, what makes men and women different? An investigative

science writer best known for her book on animal testing (The

Monkey Wars, Oxford University Press, $25.00), Blum bases her

assertions in Sex on the Brain -- which range from why we even

have two sexes to what men and women find attractive in each

other -- on interviews with experts and research into fields as

diverse as evolutionary science, anthropology, animal behavior,

neuroscience, psychology and endocrinology. The author recently

spoke with Swoon about killer testosterone, French kisses and
that

elusive thing called attraction.

<bold> Swoon: To begin with, why must there be two sexes?

</bold> Blum: Of course, there are animals who are
hermaphroditic, but

they're rare, and many of them disappear. What nature
eventually

decided is that one limited, self-reproducing gene pool would
never

be enough. The ideal is that you and your partner have very
different

genes and that you minimize the risk of duplicating bad genes.

<bold> What's the news on sexual attraction between men and

women?

</bold> We are just starting to realize that there are all these
undercurrents

that affect choices -- like mate selection -- that we thought
were

conscious. As it turns out, men send signals. One of these
signals is

smell. The immune system sends out smells, carried in sweat,
that

women seem very attracted to. In one study on sweat, men wore
the

same T-shirt for a number of days and women rated the smells in

terms of sexiness. Very consistently, the women picked men with

immune systems most different from their own. Some people think

the same immune-system information is found in saliva. So,
French

kissing may be another way of discerning this biology.

<bold> Is it true that men are innately more aggressive than

women?

</bold> There is a lot of politics with that; many want to say
that men and

women are born equal and that differences are created by
culture.

However, the difference in aggression is there right from the

beginning. Even prenatally, male fetuses are more active. Why
is

this? Early on, we were a polygamous species. In polygamous

species, males tend to operate in a "live fast and die" pattern.
[The

males] must be on that aggressive edge at all times.

<bold> Certain studies show that male animals, including humans,

evince a noticeable drop in testosterone after being paired

off in committed sexual relationships. Can you explain

this?

</bold> It's really interesting that the body does this. It's
like your body is

naturally preparing to soften you. Perhaps women have used

monogamy and partnership to control male behavior.

<bold> In your book, you describe people as being "ambiguously

monogamous." What do you mean by this?

</bold> Only monogamous species have long-lasting partnerships,
share

equally in the tasks of life and exhibit long-lasting affection.
We have

monogamous traits but retain many polygamous habits, such as

aggression. We're in a really interesting, complex and confused
state

in terms of what we are looking for [in a mate].

-

Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner.

-Toa Te Ching

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