I Wonder: was sex used by evolving humans to deal with rigors of daily life?

It's an interesting question, but I think recreational sex(as we know it) is a product of our environment, with the advent of society and a simplified life, we have free time and in that free time we started to develop art, culture, music, etc. I would think that back then they would be too concerned with survival, not being eaten for example to even think of sex as a form of pleasure. Now I'm sure some stray males would try to have there way with unprotected females as in the animal kingdom now but even that is basically for procreation.

 

When mankind adopted agriculture as the main form of sustenance, a whole host of societal changes came with it, including the imposition of monogamy. Most major religions, i.e. the ones that have tended to spread beyond the small hunter-gatherer groups mentioned in this book have appeared with the appearance of agriculture. One could speculate that questions of inheritance, status and succession have required the monogamous framework (most hunter-gatherer tribes were egalitarian).

I don't think the book argues that sex was a way to diminish stress or to serve as a kind of substitute for addictive behaviours, to the contrary, sex was enjoyed in order to strengthen tribal ties and perhaps to bring newcomers into the tribe as well.

I am reminded of the well-reported sharing of wives in Inuit culture, for them, it was a way of sharing something intimate and pleasurable. As for needing something to deal with the rigors of daily life, here is an interesting insight from an old article that was incredibly interesting with regard to agriculture:

The article argues, quite profoundly, that the rigors of life were made much harsher with the adoption of agriculture...

 

There is plenty of evidence that humans have always used drugs, including alcohol. Psilocybin mushrooms, DMT containing plants, nicotine, coca leaves, cannabis and especially opium have been used throughout history in their native areas. Sex was almost certainly also part of their pleasures, would be strange to think it wasn't. I bet they even had some version of rock'n'roll.

Terence McKenna had some interesting theories on our ancestors and drugs, but I don't think there is a lot of evidence to back his theories. He was a very entertaining guy though and it is worth a read. :lol:

 

I agree with this. Also life has become anything but simplified, it is more complicated than ever as greatwhale pointed out earlier. As a child I spent some of my summer weeks on an island several tens of miles from any civilization. My great grandmother lived there and she lived on fishing and other very basic things, she did farm potatoes for herself but it was not exactly modern agriculture. :lol: We worked like 2 hours every day at most to get our food and the rest was leisure time, compare that to working 8 hours a day with 2 hours wasted on just the commute.

 

So that is why I always wake up in the middle of the night! This happens frequently to me, and I vote for sex during that time to become a thing again. :lol:

 

Was a quick response to an interesting question before I headed out for work, will have to have a better read, if I have time tonight when I get home.

And I wasn't "dumbing down" earlier societies, I could have just as easily said "Vacuming, playing cards or networking" or anything for that matter that we have now that evolving humans didn't have back in Africa. And actually if we're talking about that time period almost everything we know about there lives is an assumption. Educated guesses even.