I remember watching an episode of Connections where James Burke said that at one time in England, everyone slept … and did everything else … in the Great Hall, to share warmth during the Little Ice Age and so forth. I also remember hearing or reading that the children of peasants living in a one room hut or cottage tended to grow up knowing exactly how sex was done because they had seen mom and dad doing it.
I think it’s a matter of acculturation. Most cultures prefer privacy for the reasons listed, but if there are good reasons to have sex in public, or no reason not o, people will do it.
I also seem to recall reading somewhere that Romans weren’t at all shy about fucking their slaves whenever the mood hit them. And of course, many ancient culture (such as Rome and Egypt) not only weren’t ashamed of genital, male and female, but celebrated them in their everyday art. All Roman homes had a lucky phallus to touch when you entered. Egyptians routinely made pots whose spouts were shaped like female labia. The only reason this isn’t more widely known is that Victorian archaeologists hid all the sexy stuff away (or in some cases, destroyed it) because they didn’t want the public getting all excited, y’know. (Source: “History of Sex” series from the Discovery Channel.)
And of course the Romans DID like their orgies. If there were a widespread problem with public sex, I don’t think orgies would have been at all common, eh?
I have read accounts (I’m sure they’re online) of early explorers in America who were stunned that members of various Indian tribes had no sexual modesty. Coitus was practiced fairly openly by married couples. Here in Alabama Indian’s summer houses were little more than tents- here’s one- while their winter and cool-weather houses- outside / inside- were one room that might contain a dozen people (including several adults) and had openings to the outside that wouldn’t stop noises, so if you wanted privacy you closed your eyes. The Indians considered the whites weird because they did have such a need for privacy (though at the same time in cabins with one room and 5 kids and 2 parents, privacy meant a sheet and quilt).
The Creek Indians were also flip-flop of the Europeans where marriage was concerned. To the European settlers, marriage was a huge deal, a virgin bride was highly prized, and once wed you were not to divorce except under the most extreme of situations, but adultery (especially for men) was generally ignored so long as it was reasonably discreet. To the Creeks, virgin brides were not particularly prized or not prized- it wasn’t terribly uncommon for a girl to have a child by the wedding, and the ceremony was informal (exchange of gifts basically, after which the husband moved in with his wife and her family). Divorce was also very informal and had little or no stigma (a man just didn’t go home or a woman put her husband’s possessions outside in front of witnesses) and after the next harvest festival both could remarry (the mother always keeping the children). However, adultery was punishable by mutilation or death and this was strictly enforced.
I’ve wondered before how much architecture affected the casual attitudes about sex among the Creeks and the relative prudishness and in turn how much these affected their views on marriage.
I have had sex in public. More than once. It didn’t bother either of us, and apparently nobody called the cops. I would do it again, and have no problem with other people doing it. Same with nudity. I understand some people’s objections, but disagree.
Sperm competition. If you ejaculate inside a woman’s vagina, then another man does likewise shortly after, there is a chance his sperm could impregnate her instead of yours.
Sexual mating varies depending on the species. Bonobos are much more open than we and chimps are and they openly copulate with each other, as well as with members of different groups (unheard of in chimps).
Chimps, because of the status thing, will mate privately in order to avoid detection. Chimps are very interested in who is mating who and the more dominant males will harass both less dominant males and the females mating with them.
I read this one account of a female chimp who had a problem because she got very excited during sex and would often squeal, thus alerting other chimps to what she was doing and getting herself and her partner in trouble. She had to learn to be quiet during sex and she would put her hand over her mouth to stop herself from making noise.
Other primate species who live in hierarchical societies have similar patterns. In fact, we humans share a similar pattern with macaques in that the older, dominant males tend to last longer while younger males tend to ejaculate quicker. It has been hypothesized that younger males ejaculate quicker because they need to get off faster because they will typically engage in more clandestine matings.
Of course, human society varies greatly, but I image that most of us would not mate in public for the same reason the macaques and chimps don’t.
I understand basic reproductive strategies. I just don’t see the why a woman who recently was seen having sex would be a more attractive target than one who wasn’t. any statistical effect would be negligible.
For most people it tends to feel like a personal and private thing. Add into that the “sex is bad” and “think of the children” memes, as well as religion in general.
I don’t think it’s a big deal, but I’m comfortable with protecting the rights of people who don’t want to see people having sex in public if it’s avoidable. The simple solution is just to zone it. There’s already nude beaches, on or near some of which there is unofficially public sex. I don’t see a problem with having areas where it’s allowed and other areas where it’s not allowed. It’s probably best to keep it out of areas that are unavoidable like town square, unless it’s a town that is promoting itself as bohemian like New Orleans or Paris. But even in areas that aren’t specifically zoned for it, I don’t think it should be a big deal if it’s a secluded area like a forest off the trail or a parked car behind a building. A warning or small fine is sufficient for that - all this ‘sex offender’ crap is ridiculous.
When we’re talking about evolutionary psychology, keep in mind we aren’t talking about modern people, but proto-people who are a little earlier in the chain of ancestry, there’s no sense imagining Homo sapiens copulating on the streets of Victorian England.
As to the increased likelihood, we know that human males are visually stimulated and are more aroused by sexual imagery, and that the female, once in a state of sexual arousal, might be conducive to mating again immediately. So by having sex in public, a male might risk his already-aroused mate being induced to have sex with another male who was aroused by the spectacle. He is then at risk of losing in a contest of sperm competition.
And the statistical advantage is greater than you think… computer models have shown that an reproductive advantage of even a fraction of a percent can take over a population in a relatively short amount of time.
I wonder whether this may be in part in instance of what seems to be a pretty common misunderstanding concerning privacy between cultures where privacy, in a particular situation, is established by a physical barrier in the one culture, and by manners in the other culture.
I.e. it may have been that the Indians’ view was: We are not fing in their plain view. We are within our huts’ posts and One Does Not Notice what happens within ths posts of other people’s huts. *(or some similar arrangement of manners).
I believe that some part of why we have sex in private as opposed to in public is that we’ve got the option – you are more vulnerable during intercourse, and the public display of it is likely to arouse jealousy, plus you get a social bonding bonus with your partner, which is conducive to monogamy, which in turn helps to share the burden of child-rearing.
As to why other mammals not often exhibit a similar need for privacy, well, it’s not like they’ve got any bedrooms to close the curtains of (and indeed, especially for herd animals, staying in a group no matter what is a major survival strategy); but still, most will look for a reasonably secluded place, I believe.
I know this is slightly different to what is mainly being discussed but I’ll throw it in just in case.
How do we figure things like sex/swingers clubs? There’s a particular sex club I go to where it’s essentially one big free for all. It’s less organised than an orgy, in that people are in a nightclub doing stuff you’d expect like drinking/dancing/socialising, but most people are either close to nude or have their genitals exposed and people can be having sex anywhere and everywhere. Fine, I’ll accept the charge that such an environment falls under the category of exhibitionism, but part of it is also enjoying the opportunity for easy sex and sexual variety and really not being too worried if people are watching and/or joining in.
Don’t truly have time to elaborate - I well know that wiki sites are not reliable, but in this case they act as an easy summary of stuff I have in fact read elsewhere.
Problem with clothing is that it deteriorates, so hard evidence is lacking. However, genetic studies of human body lice (which can only survive on relatively hairless humans by roosting in their clothes) put the origins of widespread clothing usage from 100,000 - 500,000 years ago: Clothing - Wikipedia
Homo Sapiens -our species - originated in Africa some 200,000 years ago:
So it may well be the case that clothing predates our species; or, in my view, that the two are linked (along with a bunch of other technologies).
I hope I’m not hijacking this thread, but the more interesting question to me is why don’t groups of teenagers start banging the moment parental supervision ceases? They’re completely driven by hormones, in a sexually experimental phase, and are prevented from having pretty much any sexual contact by their authorities. I suppose young adults (18-22) could be asked the same question.
They don’t generally breed unless they have fought off or driven off competing males. In that sense, their copulation is “private” because nothing will intrude.
