Primate Sex and Its Role in Pleasure, Dominance and Communication
Name
animals-12-03301-v2.pdf
Size
296.79 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
18c560fbd3438b1f58910697fdaae364
Author(s)
Clarke, Esther
Bradshaw, Katie
Drissell, Kieran
Kadam, Parag
Rutter, Nikki
Vaglio, Stefano
Date Issued
November 26, 2022
Publisher
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Citation
Animals 12 (23): 3301 (2022)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Sexual intercourse in the animal kingdom functions to enable reproduction. However, we now know that several species of non-human primates regularly engage in sex outside of the times when conception is possible. In addition, homosexual and immature sex are not as uncommon as were once believed. This suggests that sex also has important functions outside of reproduction, yet these are rarely discussed in sex-related teaching and research activities concerning primate behaviour. Is the human sexual experience, which includes pleasure, dominance, and communication (among others) unique, or do other primates also share these experiences to any extent? If so, is there any way to measure them, or are they beyond the rigour of scientific objectivity? What would be the evolutionary implications if human-like sexual experiences were found amongst other animals too? We comment on the evidence provided by our close relatives, non-human primates, discuss the affective and social functions of sex, and suggest potential methods for measuring some of these experiences empirically. We hope that this piece may foster the discussion among academics and change the way we think about, teach and research primate sex.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12233301
