# When did man realize that pregnancy was a direct result of sex? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-man-realize-that-pregnancy-was-a-direct-result-of-sex/503016 "2009-07-14T18:57:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-man-realize-that-pregnancy-was-a-direct-result-of-sex/503016/61 "2012-11-13T07:00:04Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > OK, you don’t have a cite. That was all I was asking for. I have, and gave, a cite for what I claimed as fact, as the premise to my argument. If you do not have have a counter-argument against the very plausible inference I drew from the facts then my conclusion - that ignorance of paternity probably survived until fairly recent times in matrilineal societies - stands. Your demand for a cite (which you well know is, around here, a way of saying “I don’t believe you”) is disingenuous. If someone asserts [1] _p_ –\> _q_ [2] _p_ Therefore _q_ and backs up [1]and [2] with cites, then it is absurd and intellectually dishonest to reject _q_ just because they cannot provide a _direct_ cite for it. Of course, my argument was neither as simple nor as impregnable as _modus tollens_ (although neither was it horrendously complex). The most I would claim for it is that it was cogent. Nevertheless, having provided cites for my only controversial premise, you should either accept my conclusion or address my argument. Asking me to admit that I do not have a cite for the conclusion itself is nothing but a rhetorical dirty trick. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-man-realize-that-pregnancy-was-a-direct-result-of-sex/503016/62 "2012-11-13T11:54:36Z")
I don’t find your inference to be plausible at all. Sorry. I don’t see why you need to take it so personally. Frankly, if it were a plausible inference, you might be able to find an actual anthropologist making that claim in the literature. I thought maybe you had read something somewhere. That’s all. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best one-- no need to speculate about nefarious motives. Bottom line, though, this forum is for facts. Sure, we speculate a lot, but speculation is always up for criticism and requests for cites. If I were really interested in pursuing the matter further, and interested in trying to pick apart your argument, I’d open a GD or IMHO thread to debate it. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-man-realize-that-pregnancy-was-a-direct-result-of-sex/503016/63 "2012-11-13T13:45:25Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > If you do not have have a counter-argument against the very plausible inference I drew from the facts then my conclusion - that ignorance of paternity probably survived until fairly recent times in matrilineal societies - …But that right there is a claim, and that’s what remains unsupported, even by a WAG. Why do you think that matrilineal societies don’t know about paternity? What makes you think that’s a “plausible inference”? (Especially considering that two of the most recent matrilineal societies that we actually know a whole lot about - Jews and Navajos - certainly understand paternity.) ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-man-realize-that-pregnancy-was-a-direct-result-of-sex/503016/64 "2012-11-13T23:25:04Z")
Somewhere on Netflix is a documentary of some dudes trip to New Guinea, probably in the 70s when these color documentaries of naked peoples started showing up in the art theaters, wherein the narrator claims that the reason the women wore skirts was because they believe that spirits would enter their orifices if not covered and cause pregnancy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-man-realize-that-pregnancy-was-a-direct-result-of-sex/503016.md?page=3)