Primate Sex and Its Role in Pleasure, Dominance and Communication
Author(s)
Clarke, Esther; Bradshaw, Katie; Drissell, Kieran; Kadam, Parag; Rutter, Nikki; Vaglio, Stefano; ... Show more Show less
Downloadanimals-12-03301-v2.pdf (296.7Kb)
Publisher with Creative Commons License
Publisher with Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution
Terms of use
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
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.
Date issued
2022-11-26Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and PhilosophyPublisher
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Citation
Animals 12 (23): 3301 (2022)
Version: Final published version