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Title: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: roo_ster on July 05, 2007, 12:54:05 PM
Have fun.

Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Why most suicide bombers are Muslim, beautiful people have more daughters, humans are naturally polygamous, sexual harassment isn't sexist, and blonds are more attractive.
By:Alan S. Miller Ph.D., Satoshi Kanazawa Ph.D.

Human nature is one of those things that everybody talks about but no one can define precisely. Every time we fall in love, fight with our spouse, get upset about the influx of immigrants into our country, or go to church, we are, in part, behaving as a human animal with our own unique evolved naturehuman nature.

This means two things. First, our thoughts, feelings, and behavior are produced not only by our individual experiences and environment in our own lifetime but also by what happened to our ancestors millions of years ago. Second, our thoughts, feelings, and behavior are shared, to a large extent, by all men or women, despite seemingly large cultural differences.

Human behavior is a product both of our innate human nature and of our individual experience and environment. In this article, however, we emphasize biological influences on human behavior, because most social scientists explain human behavior as if evolution stops at the neck and as if our behavior is a product almost entirely of environment and socialization. In contrast, evolutionary psychologists see human nature as a collection of psychological adaptations that often operate beneath conscious thinking to solve problems of survival and reproduction by predisposing us to think or feel in certain ways. Our preference for sweets and fats is an evolved psychological mechanism. We do not consciously choose to like sweets and fats; they just taste good to us.

The implications of some of the ideas in this article may seem immoral, contrary to our ideals, or offensive. We state them because they are true, supported by documented scientific evidence. Like it or not, human nature is simply not politically correct.

Excerpted from Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters, by Alan S. Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa, to be published by Perigree in September 2007.

   1. Men like blond bombshells (and women want to look like them)

      Long before TVin 15th- and 16th- century Italy, and possibly two millennia agowomen were dying their hair blond. A recent study shows that in Iran, where exposure to Western media and culture is limited, women are actually more concerned with their body image, and want to lose more weight, than their American counterparts. It is difficult to ascribe the preferences and desires of women in 15th-century Italy and 21st-century Iran to socialization by media.

      Women's desire to look like Barbieyoung with small waist, large breasts, long blond hair, and blue eyesis a direct, realistic, and sensible response to the desire of men to mate with women who look like her. There is evolutionary logic behind each of these features.

      Men prefer young women in part because they tend to be healthier than older women. One accurate indicator of health is physical attractiveness; another is hair. Healthy women have lustrous, shiny hair, whereas the hair of sickly people loses its luster. Because hair grows slowly, shoulder-length hair reveals several years of a woman's health status.

      Men also have a universal preference for women with a low waist-to-hip ratio. They are healthier and more fertile than other women; they have an easier time conceiving a child and do so at earlier ages because they have larger amounts of essential reproductive hormones. Thus men are unconsciously seeking healthier and more fertile women when they seek women with small waists.

      Until very recently, it was a mystery to evolutionary psychology why men prefer women with large breasts, since the size of a woman's breasts has no relationship to her ability to lactate. But Harvard anthropologist Frank Marlowe contends that larger, and hence heavier, breasts sag more conspicuously with age than do smaller breasts. Thus they make it easier for men to judge a woman's age (and her reproductive value) by sightsuggesting why men find women with large breasts more attractive.

      Alternatively, men may prefer women with large breasts for the same reason they prefer women with small waists. A new study of Polish women shows that women with large breasts and tight waists have the greatest fecundity, indicated by their levels of two reproductive hormones (estradiol and progesterone).

      Blond hair is unique in that it changes dramatically with age. Typically, young girls with light blond hair become women with brown hair. Thus, men who prefer to mate with blond women are unconsciously attempting to mate with younger (and hence, on average, healthier and more fecund) women. It is no coincidence that blond hair evolved in Scandinavia and northern Europe, probably as an alternative means for women to advertise their youth, as their bodies were concealed under heavy clothing.

      Women with blue eyes should not be any different from those with green or brown eyes. Yet preference for blue eyes seems both universal and undeniablein males as well as females. One explanation is that the human pupil dilates when an individual is exposed to something that she likes. For instance, the pupils of women and infants (but not men) spontaneously dilate when they see babies. Pupil dilation is an honest indicator of interest and attraction. And the size of the pupil is easiest to determine in blue eyes. Blue-eyed people are considered attractive as potential mates because it is easiest to determine whether they are interested in us or not.

      The irony is that none of the above is true any longer. Through face-lifts, wigs, liposuction, surgical breast augmentation, hair dye, and color contact lenses, any woman, regardless of age, can have many of the key features that define ideal female beauty. And men fall for them. Men can cognitively understand that many blond women with firm, large breasts are not actually 15 years old, but they still find them attractive because their evolved psychological mechanisms are fooled by modern inventions that did not exist in the ancestral environment.
   2. Humans are naturally polygamous

      The history of western civilization aside, humans are naturally polygamous. Polyandry (a marriage of one woman to many men) is very rare, but polygyny (the marriage of one man to many women) is widely practiced in human societies, even though Judeo-Christian traditions hold that monogamy is the only natural form of marriage. We know that humans have been polygynous throughout most of history because men are taller than women.

      Among primate and nonprimate species, the degree of polygyny highly correlates with the degree to which males of a species are larger than females. The more polygynous the species, the greater the size disparity between the sexes. Typically, human males are 10 percent taller and 20 percent heavier than females. This suggests that, throughout history, humans have been mildly polygynous.

      Relative to monogamy, polygyny creates greater fitness variance (the distance between the "winners" and the "losers" in the reproductive game) among males than among females because it allows a few males to monopolize all the females in the group. The greater fitness variance among males creates greater pressure for men to compete with each other for mates. Only big and tall males can win mating opportunities. Among pair-bonding species like humans, in which males and females stay together to raise their children, females also prefer to mate with big and tall males because they can provide better physical protection against predators and other males.

      In societies where rich men are much richer than poor men, women (and their children) are better off sharing the few wealthy men; one-half, one-quarter, or even one-tenth of a wealthy man is still better than an entire poor man. As George Bernard Shaw puts it, "The maternal instinct leads a woman to prefer a tenth share in a first-rate man to the exclusive possession of a third-rate one." Despite the fact that humans are naturally polygynous, most industrial societies are monogamous because men tend to be more or less equal in their resources compared with their ancestors in medieval times. (Inequality tends to increase as society advances in complexity from hunter-gatherer to advanced agrarian societies. Industrialization tends to decrease the level of inequality.)
   3. Most women benefit from polygyny, while most men benefit from monogamy

      When there is resource inequality among menthe case in every human societymost women benefit from polygyny: women can share a wealthy man. Under monogamy, they are stuck with marrying a poorer man.

      The only exceptions are extremely desirable women. Under monogamy, they can monopolize the wealthiest men; under polygyny, they must share the men with other, less desirable women. However, the situation is exactly opposite for men. Monogamy guarantees that every man can find a wife. True, less desirable men can marry only less desirable women, but that's much better than not marrying anyone at all.

      Men in monogamous societies imagine they would be better off under polygyny. What they don't realize is that, for most men who are not extremely desirable, polygyny means no wife at all, or, if they are lucky, a wife who is much less desirable than one they could get under monogamy.
   4. Most suicide bombers are Muslim

      Suicide missions are not always religiously motivated, but according to Oxford University sociologist Diego Gambetta, editor of Making Sense of Suicide Missions, when religion is involved, the attackers are always Muslim. Why? The surprising answer is that Muslim suicide bombing has nothing to do with Islam or the Quran (except for two lines). It has a lot to do with sex, or, in this case, the absence of sex.

      What distinguishes Islam from other major religions is that it tolerates polygyny. By allowing some men to monopolize all women and altogether excluding many men from reproductive opportunities, polygyny creates shortages of available women. If 50 percent of men have two wives each, then the other 50 percent don't get any wives at all.

      So polygyny increases competitive pressure on men, especially young men of low status. It therefore increases the likelihood that young men resort to violent means to gain access to mates. By doing so, they have little to lose and much to gain compared with men who already have wives. Across all societies, polygyny makes men violent, increasing crimes such as murder and rape, even after controlling for such obvious factors as economic development, economic inequality, population density, the level of democracy, and political factors in the region.

      However, polygyny itself is not a sufficient cause of suicide bombing. Societies in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean are much more polygynous than the Muslim nations in the Middle East and North Africa. And they do have very high levels of violence. Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from a long history of continuous civil warsbut not suicide bombings.

      The other key ingredient is the promise of 72 virgins waiting in heaven for any martyr in Islam. The prospect of exclusive access to virgins may not be so appealing to anyone who has even one mate on earth, which strict monogamy virtually guarantees. However, the prospect is quite appealing to anyone who faces the bleak reality on earth of being a complete reproductive loser.

      It is the combination of polygyny and the promise of a large harem of virgins in heaven that motivates many young Muslim men to commit suicide bombings. Consistent with this explanation, all studies of suicide bombers indicate that they are significantly younger than not only the Muslim population in general but other (nonsuicidal) members of their own extreme political organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah. And nearly all suicide bombers are single.
   5. Having sons reduces the likelihood of divorce

      Sociologists and demographers have discovered that couples who have at least one son face significantly less risk of divorce than couples who have only daughters. Why is this?

      Since a man's mate value is largely determined by his wealth, status, and powerwhereas a woman's is largely determined by her youth and physical attractivenessthe father has to make sure that his son will inherit his wealth, status, and power, regardless of how much or how little of these resources he has. In contrast, there is relatively little that a father (or mother) can do to keep a daughter youthful or make her more physically attractive.

      The continued presence of (and investment by) the father is therefore important for the son, but not as crucial for the daughter. The presence of sons thus deters divorce and departure of the father from the family more than the presence of daughters, and this effect tends to be stronger among wealthy families.


Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: roo_ster on July 05, 2007, 12:56:09 PM
Quote from: CONTINUED
   6. Beautiful people have more daughters

      It is commonly believed that whether parents conceive a boy or a girl is up to random chance. Close, but not quite; it is largely up to chance. The normal sex ratio at birth is 105 boys for every 100 girls. But the sex ratio varies slightly in different circumstances and for different families. There are factors that subtly influence the sex of an offspring.

      One of the most celebrated principles in evolutionary biology, the Trivers-Willard hypothesis, states that wealthy parents of high status have more sons, while poor parents of low status have more daughters. This is because children generally inherit the wealth and social status of their parents. Throughout history, sons from wealthy families who would themselves become wealthy could expect to have a large number of wives, mistresses and concubines, and produce dozens or hundreds of children, whereas their equally wealthy sisters can have only so many children. So natural selection designs parents to have biased sex ratio at birth depending upon their economic circumstancesmore boys if they are wealthy, more girls if they are poor. (The biological mechanism by which this occurs is not yet understood.)

      This hypothesis has been documented around the globe. American presidents, vice presidents, and cabinet secretaries have more sons than daughters. Poor Mukogodo herders in East Africa have more daughters than sons. Church parish records from the 17th and 18th centuries show that wealthy landowners in Leezen, Germany, had more sons than daughters, while farm laborers and tradesmen without property had more daughters than sons. In a survey of respondents from 46 nations, wealthy individuals are more likely to indicate a preference for sons if they could only have one child, whereas less wealthy individuals are more likely to indicate a preference for daughters.

      The generalized Trivers-Willard hypothesis goes beyond a family's wealth and status: If parents have any traits that they can pass on to their children and that are better for sons than for daughters, then they will have more boys. Conversely, if parents have any traits that they can pass on to their children and that are better for daughters, they will have more girls.

      Physical attractiveness, while a universally positive quality, contributes even more to women's reproductive success than to men's. The generalized hypothesis would therefore predict that physically attractive parents should have more daughters than sons. Once again, this is the case. Americans who are rated "very attractive" have a 56 percent chance of having a daughter for their first child, compared with 48 percent for everyone else.
   7. What Bill Gates and Paul McCartney have in common with criminals

      For nearly a quarter of a century, criminologists have known about the "age-crime curve." In every society at all historical times, the tendency to commit crimes and other risk-taking behavior rapidly increases in early adolescence, peaks in late adolescence and early adulthood, rapidly decreases throughout the 20s and 30s, and levels off in middle age.

      This curve is not limited to crime. The same age profile characterizes every quantifiable human behavior that is public (i.e., perceived by many potential mates) and costly (i.e., not affordable by all sexual competitors). The relationship between age and productivity among male jazz musicians, male painters, male writers, and male scientistswhich might be called the "age-genius curve"is essentially the same as the age-crime curve. Their productivitythe expressions of their geniusquickly peaks in early adulthood, and then equally quickly declines throughout adulthood. The age-genius curve among their female counterparts is much less pronounced; it does not peak or vary as much as a function of age.

      Paul McCartney has not written a hit song in years, and now spends much of his time painting. Bill Gates is now a respectable businessman and philanthropist, and is no longer a computer whiz kid. J.D. Salinger now lives as a total recluse and has not published anything in more than three decades. Orson Welles was a mere 26 when he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in Citizen Kane.

      A single theory can explain the productivity of both creative geniuses and criminals over the life course: Both crime and genius are expressions of young men's competitive desires, whose ultimate function in the ancestral environment would have been to increase reproductive success.

      In the physical competition for mates, those who are competitive may act violently toward their male rivals. Men who are less inclined toward crime and violence may express their competitiveness through their creative activities.

      The cost of competition, however, rises dramatically when a man has children, when his energies and resources are put to better use protecting and investing in them. The birth of the first child usually occurs several years after puberty because men need some time to accumulate sufficient resources and attain sufficient status to attract their first mate. There is therefore a gap of several years between the rapid rise in the benefits of competition and similarly rapid rise in its costs. Productivity rapidly declines in late adulthood as the costs of competition rise and cancel its benefits.

      These calculations have been performed by natural and sexual selection, so to speak, which then equips male brains with a psychological mechanism to incline them to be increasingly competitive immediately after puberty and make them less competitive right after the birth of their first child. Men simply do not feel like acting violently, stealing, or conducting additional scientific experiments, or they just want to settle down after the birth of their child but they do not know exactly why.

      The similarity between Bill Gates, Paul McCartney, and criminalsin fact, among all men throughout evolutionary historypoints to an important concept in evolutionary biology: female choice.

      Women often say no to men. Men have had to conquer foreign lands, win battles and wars, compose symphonies, author books, write sonnets, paint cathedral ceilings, make scientific discoveries, play in rock bands, and write new computer software in order to impress women so that they will agree to have sex with them. Men have built (and destroyed) civilization in order to impress women, so that they might say yes.
   8. The midlife crisis is a mythsort of

      Many believe that men go through a midlife crisis when they are in middle age. Not quite. Many middle-aged men do go through midlife crises, but it's not because they are middle-aged. It's because their wives are. From the evolutionary psychological perspective, a man's midlife crisis is precipitated by his wife's imminent menopause and end of her reproductive career, and thus his renewed need to attract younger women. Accordingly, a 50-year-old man married to a 25-year-old woman would not go through a midlife crisis, while a 25-year-old man married to a 50-year-old woman would, just like a more typical 50-year-old man married to a 50-year-old woman. It's not his midlife that matters; it's hers. When he buys a shiny-red sports car, he's not trying to regain his youth; he's trying to attract young women to replace his menopausal wife by trumpeting his flash and cash.
   9. It's natural for politicians to risk everything for an affair (but only if they're male)

      On the morning of January 21, 1998, as Americans woke up to the stunning allegation that President Bill Clinton had had an affair with a 24-year-old White House intern, Darwinian historian Laura L. Betzig thought, "I told you so." Betzig points out that while powerful men throughout Western history have married monogamously (only one legal wife at a time), they have always mated polygynously (they had lovers, concubines, and female slaves). With their wives, they produced legitimate heirs; with the others, they produced bastards. Genes make no distinction between the two categories of children.

      As a result, powerful men of high status throughout human history attained very high reproductive success, leaving a large number of offspring (legitimate and otherwise), while countless poor men died mateless and childless. Moulay Ismail the Bloodthirsty, the last Sharifian emperor of Morocco, stands out quantitatively, having left more offspring1,042than anyone else on record, but he was by no means qualitatively different from other powerful men, like Bill Clinton.

      The question many asked in 1998"Why on earth would the most powerful man in the world jeopardize his job for an affair with a young woman?"is, from a Darwinian perspective, a silly one. Betzig's answer would be: "Why not?" Men strive to attain political power, consciously or unconsciously, in order to have reproductive access to a larger number of women. Reproductive access to women is the goal, political office but one means. To ask why the President of the United States would have a sexual encounter with a young woman is like asking why someone who worked very hard to earn a large sum of money would then spend it.

      What distinguishes Bill Clinton is not that he had extramarital affairs while in officeothers have, more will; it would be a Darwinian puzzle if they did notwhat distinguishes him is the fact that he got caught.
  10. Men sexually harass women because they are not sexist

      An unfortunate consequence of the ever-growing number of women joining the labor force and working side by side with men is the increasing number of sexual harassment cases. Why must sexual harassment be a necessary consequence of the sexual integration of the workplace?

      Psychologist Kingsley R. Browne identifies two types of sexual harassment cases: the quid pro quo ("You must sleep with me if you want to keep your job or be promoted") and the "hostile environment" (the workplace is deemed too sexualized for workers to feel safe and comfortable). While feminists and social scientists tend to explain sexual harassment in terms of "patriarchy" and other ideologies, Browne locates the ultimate cause of both types of sexual harassment in sex differences in mating strategies.

      Studies demonstrate unequivocally that men are far more interested in short-term casual sex than women. In one now-classic study, 75 percent of undergraduate men approached by an attractive female stranger agreed to have sex with her; none of the women approached by an attractive male stranger did. Many men who would not date the stranger nonetheless agreed to have sex with her.

      The quid pro quo types of harassment are manifestations of men's greater desire for short-term casual sex and their willingness to use any available means to achieve that goal. Feminists often claim that sexual harassment is "not about sex but about power;" Browne contends it is bothmen using power to get sex. "To say that it is only about power makes no more sense than saying that bank robbery is only about guns, not about money."

      Sexual harassment cases of the hostile-environment variety result from sex differences in what men and women perceive as "overly sexual" or "hostile" behavior. Many women legitimately complain that they have been subjected to abusive, intimidating, and degrading treatment by their male coworkers. Browne points out that long before women entered the labor force, men subjected each other to such abusive, intimidating, and degrading treatment.

      Abuse, intimidation, and degradation are all part of men's repertoire of tactics employed in competitive situations. In other words, men are not treating women differently from menthe definition of discrimination, under which sexual harassment legally fallsbut the opposite: Men harass women precisely because they are not discriminating between men and women.
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: The Rabbi on July 05, 2007, 01:07:23 PM
Bunch of total BS.  People actually get paid to produce this?
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: RevDisk on July 05, 2007, 01:31:48 PM
Bunch of total BS.  People actually get paid to produce this?

Gods preserve me.  The Rabbi and I are in perfect agreement. 

I took some evolutionary psychology courses.  Likely, we physiologically crave sweets and fats because they are calorie dense.  Okey, I can buy that.  Yes, generally speaking, men look for greater hip to waist ratio (approximately 0.70 is the mean 'perfect' ratio), women look for taller men.  Some folks have gone out on a limb and claimed symmetry is one of the biggest keys of human beauty, as it can be indicative of general health.  Still, I'm rather skeptical of even the less dramatic claims.  Any claim of genetic memory or whatnot should make folks skeptical.
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: Sergeant Bob on July 05, 2007, 03:08:27 PM
Quote
It is no coincidence that blond hair evolved in Scandinavia and northern Europe, probably as an alternative means for women to advertise their youth, as their bodies were concealed under heavy clothing.

It took two Ph.D's to come up with this tripe? What, do they have an "if you're wearing heavy clothing your hair will be blond" gene?
OK, then why the he!! aren't Inuit women blond?

I'm in complete agreement with Rabbi and RevDisk! Whoooooaaaaaa!!!
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: gunsmith on July 05, 2007, 03:19:53 PM
can I still be in love with Michelle Malkin if she doesn't have the bluest eyes?
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: Thor on July 05, 2007, 05:18:03 PM
can I still be in love with Michelle Malkin if she doesn't have the bluest eyes?

No, only I can !!!
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: Perd Hapley on July 05, 2007, 06:31:12 PM
I'm more attracted to brunettes than blonds.  I'm also more attracted to women much younger than I, rather than women my age or older.  So, what do I make of that?

And then I married a blond who's slightly older than I.  So confused. 
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: Loucks on July 05, 2007, 07:33:35 PM
Quote
The other key ingredient is the promise of 72 virgins waiting in heaven for any martyr in Islam.

Do people really still believe this? It's been debunked repeatedly.  rolleyes
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: Phantom Warrior on July 05, 2007, 10:01:55 PM
As soon as I read that "men are naturally attracted to blonds", I was skeptical.  I'm VERY attracted to brunettes and only rarely attracted to blonds.  Also, after the first girl I had a crush on, who was taller and a little heavier than most women and thus naturally large breasted, I've found myself more interested in smaller breasted women.

I've always been skeptical of the mythic "evolutionary memory" that somehow makes us act the way we do.
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: The Viking on July 05, 2007, 11:11:51 PM
Guess there must be something wrong in my head then.
I prefer tomboyish girls smiley
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: Cromlech on July 06, 2007, 12:25:22 AM
While I will agree with you guys that some of these claims need more backing up than is provided, it is not like a few personal experiences could discredit the claims (provided the authors had enough to back it up themselves).

Some of them on there are pretty funny, whether true or not.

P.S I also prefer Brunette or Auburn haired women. Cheesy

Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: The Viking on July 06, 2007, 12:41:57 AM
P.S I also prefer Brunette or Auburn haired women. Cheesy


Redheads are nice too grin
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: LadySmith on July 06, 2007, 12:53:39 AM
From the authors' evolutionary standpoint...I don't exist.  sad
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: Cromlech on July 06, 2007, 01:48:19 AM
While I do not know what 'category' you would fall into, people who do not have the 'most desired' characteristics for reproduction may not attract mates as easily, they often still reproduce. There are exceptions to the rule, in that some men/women do not find themselves attracted to particularly physically fit and healthy people. Some people are just 'wired' differently.

I should not say too much more on this subject, as my knowledge is fairly limited.  smiley
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: roo_ster on July 06, 2007, 03:08:09 AM
My personal rule of thumb is, regarding psychology and other fuzzy sciences, if they conclude that folks will naturally act in a selfish manner, I give them more credence.

If they conclude that men will act like high school football players in a locker room without supervision, I give them a bit more credence.

If they conclude that women will stab just about anyone in the back to get what they want, they get a little more of my attention.

Yeah, my view of human nature is not one of fluffy puppies and sugarplums.
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: MechAg94 on July 06, 2007, 06:17:07 AM
I don't think he got the Muslim part.  Islamic countries are extremely strict about premarital sex.  I have actually heard that homosexuality is very widespread in the middle east.  I mentioned it to a former boss who spent time working in Saudi and Bahrain and he just said it was rampant.  So I don't think I agree with the conclusion about it or the supposed cause.
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: Matthew Carberry on July 06, 2007, 12:07:48 PM
I just read a news story about Iran in which one of the senior clerics called for more liberal use of "temporary marriage".  Basically you get hitched for a week or so, so you can have lawful, morally acceptable, pre-(real) marital sex.  It is a pragmatic solution to adultery and pre-marital sex in a very sexually restrictive culture.

The authors are correct that when you have a large number of young, unmarried men you have to keep them busy with something or they will tear your society apart.  Strict sexual mores can be a hindrence.

If you aren't going to stick them in the military and use them up in wars, you have to let them breed somehow.
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: Perd Hapley on July 06, 2007, 12:33:40 PM
I just read a news story about Iran in which one of the senior clerics called for more liberal use of "temporary marriage".  Basically you get hitched for a week or so, so you can have lawful, morally acceptable, pre-(real) marital sex.  It is a pragmatic solution to adultery and pre-marital sex way to bed pretty girls without having to really marry them, in a very sexually restrictive culture.

Fixed that for you.  I wonder if this is happening to women who would have had such relationships, anyway, or if girls are getting hoodwinked into this. 
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: ilbob on July 06, 2007, 12:40:09 PM
Guess there must be something wrong in my head then.
I prefer tomboyish girls smiley

Perhaps you are gay and don't even know it. Smiley
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: The Rabbi on July 06, 2007, 01:16:27 PM
It's not premarital sex if you have no intention of getting married.
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: The Viking on July 06, 2007, 03:44:22 PM
Guess there must be something wrong in my head then.
I prefer tomboyish girls smiley

Perhaps you are gay and don't even know it. Smiley
My friends have suggested that too grin.
But no, no homosexual experiences so far. Only girls smiley
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: Matthew Carberry on July 06, 2007, 03:53:15 PM
Guess there must be something wrong in my head then.
I prefer tomboyish girls smiley

Perhaps you are gay and don't even know it. Smiley
My friends have suggested that too grin.
But no, no homosexual experiences so far. Only girls smiley

Nice that you're keeping an open mind. grin
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: The Viking on July 07, 2007, 02:34:15 AM
Guess there must be something wrong in my head then.
I prefer tomboyish girls smiley

Perhaps you are gay and don't even know it. Smiley
My friends have suggested that too grin.
But no, no homosexual experiences so far. Only girls smiley

Nice that you're keeping an open mind. grin
Why shouldn't I? There are more important things to worry about smiley
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: ilbob on July 07, 2007, 07:40:09 AM
I think there is a lot of truth in what the authors stated, but maybe not for the reasons they thought. My take:

Quote
1. Men like blond bombshells (and women want to look like them)
I think it is probably true that more men prefer blonds than other hair colors. I have no idea why. Women dye their hair blond to attract men.

Quote
2. Humans are naturally polygamous
Probably true. It is only Judeo-Christian religious practices that have constrained us so far. Where those practices are less in force, monogamy is less common.

Quote
3. Most women benefit from polygyny, while most men benefit from monogamy
Probably true.

Quote
4. Most suicide bombers are Muslim
I know of no significant number of suicide bombers who are not Muslim, so this is undoubtedly true. Why it is true is another story.

Quote
5. Having sons reduces the likelihood of divorce
I think it may be true. It certainly is not PC to say so but sons need their fathers more than daughters do.
Fathers are likely to respond to that.

Quote
6. Beautiful people have more daughters
No idea.

Quote
7. What Bill Gates and Paul McCartney have in common with criminals
It is absolutely true that men tend to have their flashes of brilliance early in their life and than taper off. Could be related to hormones. Would not surprise me any.

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8. The midlife crisis is a mythsort of
It would surprise me not one bit if this was so. Men are more interested in sex after middle age than women are. If they don't get it at home, they are more likely to get it somewhere else.

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9. It's natural for politicians to risk everything for an affair (but only if they're male)
Politics is a risky business. Many politicians engage in all kinds of risky activities. I think they like the adrenaline fix.

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10. Men sexually harass women because they are not sexist
I have often wondered why it is OK to harass fellow employees and subordinates as long as it is not toward someone of a different gender or perceived gender. Women often seem to be more vicious to other women than men are to each other or toward women.
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: RocketMan on July 07, 2007, 09:59:34 AM
From the authors' evolutionary standpoint...I don't exist.  sad
That's okay, LadySmith. What those authors think doesn't matter.  We APS folks know you exist.  smiley
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: The Viking on July 07, 2007, 10:20:37 AM
From the authors' evolutionary standpoint...I don't exist.  sad
That's okay, LadySmith. What those authors think doesn't matter.  We APS folks know you exist.  smiley
Has anyone on the boards actually met LadySmith? How do we know "she" isn't just some rogue AI who finds it amusing to discuss things on various forums? cheesy

Well, it could be! cheesy grin
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: Bogie on July 07, 2007, 12:32:50 PM
Heck, I have to agree with some of it...
 
And I like this guy...
 
http://www.john-ross.net/advice.htm
 
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: Moondoggie on July 07, 2007, 01:34:15 PM
I think that if you throw enough rocks, sooner or later you're bound to hit something.  These guys are just taking shots in the dark based upon their personal observations.  I don't ascribe any greater validity to their thesis than anyone else who's given the subject more than a casual glance.

I once read a book "Princess" by a female member of the Saudi royal family.  She wrote the book after she left the ME and got out from under the thumb of her family.  The details she shared about the juxtaposition of male and female roles in an Islamic society were extremely enlightening for me.  I came away with the understanding that first, it's about power, and then it's about insecurity and cowardice on the part of the males.  Islamic men are extremely hypocritical when it comes to the restrictions upon women vs. the men's personal freedoms in sexual matters.  I could go into a lot more detail, but suffice it to say that I view muslim men as total scumbags when it comes to the way they treat women.

I've been involved with quite a few women in my life.  Some (like my first wife) were absolute knockouts.  I've also been involved with 2 tomboy types.  My wife of 28 yrs is one of those.  She's very attractive and has no problems attracting men, but the practical side of her makes her worth 3 of any of the other women I've known.  "A pretty face don't mean a pretty heart"...Robert Palmer.
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: De Selby on July 07, 2007, 04:17:41 PM
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Islamic men are extremely hypocritical when it comes to the restrictions upon women vs. the men's personal freedoms in sexual matters.  I could go into a lot more detail, but suffice it to say that I view muslim men as total scumbags when it comes to the way they treat women.

Is this somehow different than here in the US, where a guy is "cool" if he sleeps with lots of women, but a woman is called cheap if she does the same?


"Islamic men" isn't a category, anyway.  I know in Pakistan that if a man has a reputation for womanizing, or if he gets divorced, not only will no half-decent family ever consider allowing him to marry in, his brothers' chances of getting married will plummet from the stigma as well.  To believe that all Islamic countries only have rigid sexual mores for women is simply wrong, and you can find plenty of men who learned that lesson the hard way.
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: The Rabbi on July 07, 2007, 05:39:47 PM
I

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2. Humans are naturally polygamous
Probably true. It is only Judeo-Christian religious practices that have constrained us so far. Where those practices are less in force, monogamy is less common.


Actually Judaism is basically polygamous.

But I would venture, just based on gut instinct, that more societies are monogamous than polygamous.
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: Matthew Carberry on July 07, 2007, 06:08:45 PM
Monogamy does make it easier to track inheritance in patriarchal societies.  One husband, one wife, children inherit in order of birth, less politiking by senior/junior wives to gain advantage for "their" children.



Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: Moondoggie on July 07, 2007, 06:11:11 PM
Well Shootingstudent, how does stoning a rape victim to death for the crime of adultery float your boat?  That's right, the teenage victim of a gang rape was considered to be an adulteress simply because she had sex outside of marriage.  The circumstances were immaterial.

The woman who wrote "Princess" detailed how the Saudi men (married/single)had planeloads of prostitutes flown in from Europe for them to enjoy, while the religious police would beat a woman on the street for not strictly observing their rules of chastity.

Do we want to get into a discussion of the practice of female genital mutilation in muslim countires when comparing/contrasting western civilization's treatment of women?

"Power corrupts" would be the subtitle when the subject is muslim men vs. women.

YMMV.
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: De Selby on July 07, 2007, 06:11:54 PM
Monogamy does make it easier to track inheritance in patriarchal societies.  One husband, one wife, children inherit in order of birth, less politiking by senior/junior wives to gain advantage for "their" children.





That makes a lot of sense. Divorce also seems to be much easier to administer in a monogamous society.
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: De Selby on July 07, 2007, 06:15:55 PM
Well Shootingstudent, how does stoning a rape victim to death for the crime of adultery float your boat?  That's right, the teenage victim of a gang rape was considered to be an adulteress simply because she had sex outside of marriage.  The circumstances were immaterial.

That strikes me as barbaric.  It's also not anything to do with "Islamic law" or "Muslim men"--rape victims find themselves brutalized all over again around the world.  It is a disgusting and sadly cross-religious phenomenon; it's also something that most religions rightly (including Islam) condemn.

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The woman who wrote "Princess" detailed how the Saudi men (married/single)had planeloads of prostitutes flown in from Europe for them to enjoy, while the religious police would beat a woman on the street for not strictly observing their rules of chastity.

Again, the point being that this has to do with them being corrupt, filthy rich Saudis.  What this has to do with them being "Islamic men", when under the laws of Saudi Arabia they would be whipped nearly to death for doing this, is hard to see.  Because it's a corrupt country, the richest break the law.  But you can be sure that poor men can and do get beaten for exactly this crime.

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Do we want to get into a discussion of the practice of female genital mutilation in muslim countires when comparing/contrasting western civilization's treatment of women?

"Power corrupts" would be the subtitle when the subject is muslim men vs. women.

YMMV.

This is like comparing child molestation in "Christian countries" to the rest of the world.  It's the wrong way to categorize the analysis, because the practice has zero to do with the religion.
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: Moondoggie on July 07, 2007, 06:54:13 PM
It's all symptomatic of muslim men exercising draconian power over women out of cowardice and insecurity.  It is a fact of life in muslim society, and especially what the radical islamists want to impose upon every human being on the planet.  It's a 6th century mentality.
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: De Selby on July 07, 2007, 10:01:36 PM
It's all symptomatic of muslim men exercising draconian power over women out of cowardice and insecurity.  It is a fact of life in muslim society, and especially what the radical islamists want to impose upon every human being on the planet.  It's a 6th century mentality.

So again, how do you explain say...the huge differences between Muslim countries, and the fact that Islamic law gives men the exact same punishment as women for fornication?

I don't see why you are analyzing this in terms of "Muslim society" and "radical islamists."   
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: Bogie on July 08, 2007, 08:05:29 AM
Yeah, well, you don't see youtubes of the guys getting stoned to death for gettin' lucky.
 
That, and the culture seems to be fundamentally bleeped, and unwilling to advance beyond the tribalism of the middle ages. Buncha backwards-assed trailer trash, basically.
 
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: De Selby on July 08, 2007, 07:43:12 PM
Yeah, well, you don't see youtubes of the guys getting stoned to death for gettin' lucky.
 
That, and the culture seems to be fundamentally bleeped, and unwilling to advance beyond the tribalism of the middle ages. Buncha backwards-assed trailer trash, basically.
 


Which culture are we talking about here? "Islamic men" isn't a culture.  I don't get how you all are coming up with these summaries of "that culture" whichever it is. 


I did see, for example, the story about the girl in Iraq who was stoned recently....but she wasn't Muslim and neither were the people who stoned her.  You can find plenty of articles about men being lashed in Saudi Arabia (or worse)-it happens all the time.  But how do you get from Saudi Arabia to a claim about "islamic men" generally?
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: Bogie on July 08, 2007, 09:44:20 PM
Backwards-assed buncha tribalistic camel-ridin' folks who havent' managed to fight their way out of the years that didn't at least have four numbers.
 
Howzabout that?
 
Overall, the culture sucks. The religion is kinda cool, but the general culture seems to be "it's mine, it's mine, and if you ain't one of mine, we'll either make you mine, or we'll kill you."
 
How many people of middle eastern descent have you known? I went to college at a school that was big into ag, among a few other things. And the sons of the desert came to learn how to make the desert bloom.
 
Damn, but those guys sure knew how to find the local disco... Didn't hang out at the other pubs, but they sure loved to strut... And to partake of the infidel women...
 
In some cases, whether the women were all that agreeable. I remember one case where the miscreant was damn near lynched before the po-po showed... And this was on a college campus.
 
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: De Selby on July 08, 2007, 09:55:42 PM
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Howzabout that?
 
Overall, the culture sucks. The religion is kinda cool, but the general culture seems to be "it's mine, it's mine, and if you ain't one of mine, we'll either make you mine, or we'll kill you."

Well, that cultural attitude seems to apply pretty well worldwide.  But I'm interested in which culture we're talking about here.  It's not like you can make some claim about Saudi Arabia and then say "Islamic men are like this!", because a Malaysian or Singaporean is not likely to be culturally anything like a Saudi prince.

I'm not surprised you found rowdy middle eastern students while you were at college.  Seems to me that partaking of the women in college is the American pastime-maybe they just wanted to fit in.  I'm just interested in how some guy from who-knows-where (or a group of them) come to represent "Islamic culture".
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: Art Eatman on July 09, 2007, 06:25:17 AM
While I don't know as I'd jump on the acceptance bandwagon for the boy/girl ratio conclusions, a lot of it fits in with my observations about people and behavior.

The only biological reason for sex is continuation of the species.  That we can enjoy sex outside that purpose is beside the point.  Males are hardwired to be attracted to women who most likely could have children.  That some of us have other tastes is, again, beside the point.  The issue is the majority of all males, not any one male.  The wide hips deal certainly makes sense.   

The commentary about suicide bombers is not unique to these writers.  Whle homosexuality may be rampant and a form of sexual relief, it's also a death-penalty offense under Sharia--which must create intolerable psychological pressures.  "Damned if you do, damned if you don't."  Note that even so, it takes an outside influence such as a mullah to preach/teach/brainwash that self-destruction is the answer, so long as an Infidel goes along for the ride.  Islam/Sharia provides a unique and fertile field for suicide bombers.

Which leads to the commentary about the problems with post-puberty into early adulthood.  This is well-known, old-hat stuff.  Our violent crime rates here peaked around 1993, right along with the peak in the 16-24 age group.  Both declined until around 2005, with a subsequent increase now occurring.

As far as the Scandinavian natural selection, I'd guess that it's more a matter of light blue over darker blue.  SFAIK, the tendency toward blue-eyed blonds in the population quite possibly predates the movement of the people into that part of the world.  If what's claimed about reading the eyes as a source of information for a level of interest is correct, then light blue would convey more to an observer than a darker blue.  A guy works on what information he can get...

Something that runs concurrently through much of the list is that power is an aphrodisiac for women.  Physical power, financial power, political power:  All these are attractive to most women.  Sure, not all women--but why would one expect "all"?  We're people.

Wandering off a bit:  Clinton's an interesting case study for both fitting in with the authors' conclusions and being different.  That is, he joked about indoor-outdoor carpet in the bed of his pickup, and getting knee burns.  He strove for political power from a fairly early age.  Little conscience with his high sex-drive, based on insider comments about him.  Yet he married a fairly plain woman who apparently didn't care to have more than one child--as she had and has the same drive for power, albeit possibly for different reasons (I don't know).  Power guy tend to have more kids; maybe a pair of power people deliberately stop at one?  Ah, well;  more questioning than concluding, here...

Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: Tallpine on July 09, 2007, 07:42:55 AM
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The only biological reason for sex is continuation of the species.  That we can enjoy sex outside that purpose is beside the point.

If guys didn't enjoy it then it would never happen.  Otherwise we would spend all our time hunting, fishing, riding horses over fences, flying biplanes upside down and that sort of thing (as opposed to mowing the lawn, taking out the garbage, and paying child support).

Human evolution would come to an abrupt and permanent end within a generation if it wasn't for the "enjoyment" factor.
Title: Re: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
Post by: brimic on July 09, 2007, 07:46:54 AM
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1. Men like blond bombshells (and women want to look like them)

Interestingly enough, I have very little interest in blondes and the theory doesn't even account for the existance of redheads who are also mostly of northern european descent.