The prehistory of sex : four million years of human sexual culture / Timothy Taylor.
Material type: TextPublication details: New York : Bantam Books, 1997.Edition: Bantam trade pbk. edDescription: xiv, 353 p. : ill. ; 22 cmISBN:- 055309694X
- 055337527X (pbk.)
- 9780553375275 (pbk.)
- 306.7
- GN484.3 .T39 1997
Item type | Current library | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Book | Stonewall Non-Fiction | GN 484.3 TAY 1997 | 1 | Available | 05533752751 |
Originally published: 1996.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [301]-341) and index.
Taylor draws on recent archaeological discoveries such as skeletons of Amazon women, golden penis sheaths, the charred remains of aphrodisiac herbs, and a wealth of prehistoric erotic art to trace practices such as contraception, homosexuality, transsexuality, prostitution, sadomasochism, and bestiality back to their ancient origins. He makes the startling claim that although humans have used contraceptives from the very earliest times to separate sex from reproduction, techniques to maximize population growth were developed only when farming began - a revolution involving control of animals' sex lives, widespread oppression of women, and an attitude to nature that continues to have devastating ecological consequences. He draws the radical conclusion that the evolution of our species has been shaped not only by the survival of the fittest but by the very sexual choices our ancestors made.
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