Sex at Dawn by Chris Ryan

This book has been getting rave reviews.  The favorite part of many seems to be the theory that the old adage, "It takes a village..." was the way we operated for most of our existence as homo-sapiens.  Small groups of about a hundred ate, hunted, gathered, learned and (most importantly) slept together.  There weren't households and couples with strict social rules and borders like we have today.  Procreation at a rapid rate was a necessity and the women knew it.  Can you imagine the fear they must have had of their tribe one day dying out?  I bet they took their sex real seriously.

Chris Ryan would agree.  In fact, he argues that the shape of a man's penis (roughly that of a plunger) is an evolutionary adaptation.  The reasoning for this is that the plunger created a suction of sorts, removing the sperm of his tribal competitor and replacing it with his.

Since the women traveled and gathered food together, they most definitely ovulated together, too.  Anyone who has ever lived in a college dorm for an extended period of time probably knows this.  Therefore rituals revolving around the cycle of the moon must have been extremely important.  Ovulation rituals.  Rituals to perpetuate their namesake.  Rituals to survive.  Sex rituals.

I can just imagine the full moon parties full of freshly hunted game, wildfires, magic mushrooms (McKenna goes into this subject in particular in depth), maybe some kind of fermented drink and, of course, sex.  Lots of it.  Though short, there were probably some real thrills that came along with the lifestyle of ancient man.  Surviving is indeed living.

Below are two of Ryan's interview from The Duncan Trussell Family Hour.  Great stuff.