by Sarah Strutt

Created on: March 22, 2007   Last Updated: May 11, 2007

As much as we think we are civilized in this the 21st century, some things are still pretty basic urges! Men have been programmed for thousands of years to continue the species by mating with as many females as possible. How can we expect this programming to stop cold turkey in a matter of decades? As a woman I feel for the modern day man. He is expected to feel all manner of things that are most likely completely unnatural for him. When humans first came down from the tress and were hunter- gatherers, the men did the hunting, the women the gathering. Men had to be fit and strong, while the women were nurturing and protective of the young. For any species to continue it has to reproduce. So man had to select numerous females to bear his offspring. In the harsh Stone Age times would it have been in man's best interest to mate with the overweight female who had few skills around the cave? I doubt it. He would naturally have gone for the slimmer, more capable amongst his tribe, after-all she would not be lagging behind to be eaten by other predators! Hence his offspring would also live to continue his genetics. By mating with as many females as possible he would ensure "survival of the fittest" and counteract the numerous casualties of harsh environment and day to day hazards.

Modern times have many other aspects of course, such as social expectations to conform, trends of fashion etc etc, however fundamentally the primal urges remain the same. Men, I am sure, are still eager to continue the species with as as many mates as they can acceptably manage, and us women are still mostly more content to raise and nurture the offspring. Some extreme feminists would call this degrading. But is it really? Or is it just basic human instincts that have been around for many thousands of years?

Should we then expect our modern man to completely renounce his natural urges and conform to the practice of mating for life with one partner, ignoring any of her better physical attributes? Obviously it would be irresponsible to encourage the opposite and base choice on physical beauty alone. Instead we should be raising our young men to value both. Physical attraction is hard to ignore, but it should be balanced by regarding other characteristics of his potential mate. All these things are extremely subjective, thus different men will find different women attractive for different reasons. Society probably does need to rein in the emphasis that is placed on physical beauty these days, and paint other attributes in a more positive light. But let us not completely berate the male populous for doing something that fundamentally just comes naturally.

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