Čím se lišíme a co máme společné? Lidská sexualita v evoluční perspektivě

Humans as a species have numerous unique characteristics. Do they also include sexuality? Here we use cross-cultural approach to find out whether some traits could be labelled as highly prevalent or nearly universal. We further employed comparative perspective to analyze whether these traits are uni...

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Main Authors: Jan Havlíček, Martina Konečná
Format: Article
Language:ces
Published: AntropoWeb 2010-04-01
Series:AntropoWebzin
Subjects:
Online Access:http://antropologie.zcu.cz/webzin/index.php/webzin/article/view/95
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author Jan Havlíček
Martina Konečná
author_facet Jan Havlíček
Martina Konečná
author_sort Jan Havlíček
collection DOAJ
description Humans as a species have numerous unique characteristics. Do they also include sexuality? Here we use cross-cultural approach to find out whether some traits could be labelled as highly prevalent or nearly universal. We further employed comparative perspective to analyze whether these traits are unique in humans or whether they are shared with our evolutionary relatives. This led us to formulate eight broad spheres which are reported cross-culturally. These include 1) building long-term sexual relationships and expected or enforced sexual exclusivity; 2) sexual activities not restricted to fertile period and 3) prevalent through the year which suggest other than reproductive functions of the sex in humans; 4) in contrast to chimpanzees attractiveness is relatively stable across the cycle; 5) humans appear to be the only species with exclusive male homosexual orientation; 6) similarly, presence of menopause is unique to human females, which was linked to relatively risky delivery and extreme altriciality of human children; and finally, 7) humans do not commonly perform sexual activities in the presence of others. All of the addressed phenomena are interpreted in the evolutionary perspective.
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spelling doaj.art-8b1aa530a7634258bc36aa481d6938692022-12-21T18:49:59ZcesAntropoWebAntropoWebzin1801-88072010-04-0162737792Čím se lišíme a co máme společné? Lidská sexualita v evoluční perspektivěJan Havlíček0Martina Konečná1Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Humanities Charles University in PragueDepartment of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia in České BudějoviceHumans as a species have numerous unique characteristics. Do they also include sexuality? Here we use cross-cultural approach to find out whether some traits could be labelled as highly prevalent or nearly universal. We further employed comparative perspective to analyze whether these traits are unique in humans or whether they are shared with our evolutionary relatives. This led us to formulate eight broad spheres which are reported cross-culturally. These include 1) building long-term sexual relationships and expected or enforced sexual exclusivity; 2) sexual activities not restricted to fertile period and 3) prevalent through the year which suggest other than reproductive functions of the sex in humans; 4) in contrast to chimpanzees attractiveness is relatively stable across the cycle; 5) humans appear to be the only species with exclusive male homosexual orientation; 6) similarly, presence of menopause is unique to human females, which was linked to relatively risky delivery and extreme altriciality of human children; and finally, 7) humans do not commonly perform sexual activities in the presence of others. All of the addressed phenomena are interpreted in the evolutionary perspective.http://antropologie.zcu.cz/webzin/index.php/webzin/article/view/95sexreproductionhuman evolutionmenopauseovulationhomosexualityattractiveness
spellingShingle Jan Havlíček
Martina Konečná
Čím se lišíme a co máme společné? Lidská sexualita v evoluční perspektivě
AntropoWebzin
sex
reproduction
human evolution
menopause
ovulation
homosexuality
attractiveness
title Čím se lišíme a co máme společné? Lidská sexualita v evoluční perspektivě
title_full Čím se lišíme a co máme společné? Lidská sexualita v evoluční perspektivě
title_fullStr Čím se lišíme a co máme společné? Lidská sexualita v evoluční perspektivě
title_full_unstemmed Čím se lišíme a co máme společné? Lidská sexualita v evoluční perspektivě
title_short Čím se lišíme a co máme společné? Lidská sexualita v evoluční perspektivě
title_sort cim se lisime a co mame spolecne lidska sexualita v evolucni perspektive
topic sex
reproduction
human evolution
menopause
ovulation
homosexuality
attractiveness
url http://antropologie.zcu.cz/webzin/index.php/webzin/article/view/95
work_keys_str_mv AT janhavlicek cimselisimeacomamespolecnelidskasexualitavevolucniperspektive
AT martinakonecna cimselisimeacomamespolecnelidskasexualitavevolucniperspektive