31 July, 2007

Why we have sex

In an entertaining article, “The Whys of Mating: 237 Reasons and Counting,” John Tierney points us to a study by Cindy Meston and David Buss titled “Why Humans Have Sex” (pdf link). Some of the reasons are quite joyous—for example:

I thought it would make me feel healthy.

The person had beautiful eyes.

I saw the person naked and could not resist.

I wanted to see what all the fuss is about.

I wanted to get a raise.

I wanted to be used and degraded.

It would damage my reputation to say no.

I wanted to hurt an enemy.

And so on. The most infrequent reasons for having sex are also noted, and No. 1 for women is “I wanted to give someone else a sexually transmitted disease (e.g., herpes, AIDS).” That’s a relief.

You will note, of course, that all this is just proximate causation.

PS: Tierney’s piece also has a sidebar linking to Andrew Marvell’s magnificent poem, “To His Coy Mistress.” Lovely. No one should be coy.