“1/15/2010, 12:36am EST”
re: 20 Weird Sex Facts
thatswhatlarssaid (excerpt):
- Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure
This is false, and it is a wonderful example of the hubris of our culture. We have intentionally or unintentionally popularized various myths that pad our egos and more or less consciously (but always conveniently) rationalize our brutal domination of other species.
Take it away, Wikipedia:
It is a common myth that animals do not (as a rule) have sex for pleasure, or alternatively that humans, pigs (and perhaps cats, dolphins and one or two species of primate) are the only species which do. This is sometimes formulated “animals mate only for reproduction”.
Science cannot say at present conclusively what animals do or do not find “pleasurable”… The urban myth website Snopes.com considers this particular view in depth. Its conclusions are broadly that the statement is true, but only using a very specific definition of “sex for pleasure,” in which sexual acts tied to a reproductive cycle or for which an alternative explanation can be asserted, are ignored, as is all sexual activity that does not involve penetration. Animals put themselves at risk to engage in sex, and as a result, most species have evolved sexual signals (usually scent and behaviour) to indicate the presence of receptive periods. During these, sex is sought, and outside these it is usually not sought (or is sought but not permitted). Snopes comments that this is not in fact a reflection of whether sex is pleasurable or not, but rather a reflection of whether individuals have sex at arbitrary times.
There’s much more substance if you follow the link. It’s quite funny that we would believe that most other animals only engage in sex because they know there is a chance at reproduction, at the same time that we do not grant them the ability to understand the concept of reproduction.
This sex-for-pleasure myth is similar to many other myths we conveniently hold about other animals. For example, there is the more widely debunked but still prevalent myth about language — that other animals don’t vocalize and understand specifically meaningful language. Not only is this false, but it should be fairly obvious that this is a chauvinistic assumption. Just because they don’t speak a language we recognize or even perceive does not mean they don’t do it, and to the larger point, it does not mean that we are categorically different from them.
Clearly we are currently acting under many extremely false assumptions. How else could most of us support prolonged pain and suffering that we ourselves would do everything in our power to avoid? The reason why triangulates between ego, convenience, and power. Truth and morality do not enter the equation except as cloaks for our unequivocally evil behavior.
Never leave home without it.
