Peter B. Gray - Evolution and Human Sexual Behavior [2013][A]

Book Description
Few things come more naturally to us than sex—or so it would seem. Yet to a chimpanzee, the sexual practices and customs we take for granted would appear odd indeed. He or she might wonder why we bother with inconveniences like clothes, why we prefer to make love on a bed, and why we fuss so needlessly over privacy. Evolution and Human Sexual Behavior invites us into the thought-experiment of imagining human sex from the vantage point of our primate cousins, in order to underscore the role of evolution in shaping all that happens, biologically and behaviorally, when romantic passions are aroused.
Peter Gray and Justin Garcia provide an interdisciplinary synthesis that draws on the latest discoveries in evolutionary theory, genetics, neuroscience, comparative primate research, and cross-cultural sexuality studies. They are our guides through an exploration of the patterns and variations that exist in human sexuality, in chapters covering topics ranging from the evolution of sex differences and reproductive physiology to the origins of sexual play, monogamous unions, and the facts and fictions surrounding orgasm.
Intended for generally curious readers of all stripes, this up-to-date, one-volume survey of the evolutionary science of human sexual behavior explains why sexuality has remained a core fascination of human beings throughout time and across cultures.

Reviews
I am convinced this book will become a classic, and I don't use this term lightly. It is a superb overview and synthesis of the literature, along with discussion of the newest data from a remarkably wide range of academic disciplines. I am impressed. (Helen Fisher, Ph.D., Biological Anthropologist and Research Professor, Rutgers University)

In addition to excellent writing, this book is appropriately and impressively thorough--including a great amount of cutting-edge research. Further, this book is deeply integrative in its disciplinary scope. It includes research from physiologists, cross-cultural anthropologists, social psychologists, historians, and more. The scholars are masters of interdisciplinary work--and this fact emerges clearly and effectively in this book. (Glenn Geher, Ph.D., Director of Evolutionary Studies and Professor of Psychology, SUNY New Paltz)

Comprehensive and charming, Evolution and Human Sexual Behavior is bound to become a classic. A fine starting point for productive debates. (Elaine Hatfield, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, University of Hawai'i)

A great integration of animal evidence and habits from a wide variety of species, in discussions ranging from the mechanisms of romantic attraction, to comparisons between bonobo and human sexual play during development, to digit length comparisons in rats and human beings linked to hormone exposures that may in turn be linked to sexual orientation. A marvelous contribution. (Elisabeth Lloyd, Ph.D., Arnold and Maxine Tanis Chair of History and Philosophy of Science, Indiana University)

A very good book…A strong case can be made that real sex education would go beyond Plumbing 101 and emulate this book--actually teaching about sexual behavior from an evolutionary perspective. With backgrounds in anthropology…the authors do an especially good job describing what William James might have called the varieties of sexual experience. (David P. Barash Chronicle of Higher Education 2013-10-14)

An intriguing treatment of an intriguing subject. (S. M. Valente Choice 2013-12-01)

About the Authors
Peter B. Gray, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Justin R. Garcia, M.S., Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Gender Studies and Research Scientist at The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction at Indiana University, Bloomington.