Currently Chasing: The Book End.

The Canadian has left the base. He did, however, leave me with a book that he thought I might enjoy: The Red Queen - Sex and evolution of human nature. Why he thought I would enjoy this book, is beyond me. It’s possible he was talking to me about it one day and I was nodding and smiling, but actually zoned out and staring at his muscles, and it all may have led him to believe that I was more interested than I really was.
Here are a few of the chapters:
Genetic Mutiny and Gender
Polygamy and the nature of men
Monogamy and the nature of women
The self domesticated Ape
There are indeed some great quotes in this book. “If women didn’t exist, all the money in the world would have no meaning.” –Aristotle.
And the book has a lot of good points. “If powerful men had their way, women would probably live in harems like seals; that is certainly the lesson of history. If most women had their way, men would be as faithful as albatrosses.”
However, according to the book…women are more faithful for really one reason…every time they have sex, they could get pregnant. And women can only have a child with one man at a time. The fear of becoming pregnant by another man other than their partner and their loyalty to family keeps them faithful.
A man can also plant a seed every time he has sex…only he doesn’t have to worry about a watermelon growing in his abdomen. He can just continue to move around, relatively fearless. The number of single moms across the country prove that men don’t feel like having a baby means they have to stop bedding other women.
This book also had a particular section I found interesting regarding gay men.
“Although homosexual men, like most people, usually want to have intimate relationships, such relationships are difficult to maintain, largely owing to the male desire for sexual variety; the unprecedented opportunity to satisfy this desire in a world of men; and the male tendency toward sexual jealousy. “
Basically heterosexual men would be as likely as homosexual men to have sex most often with strangers, to participate in anonymous orgies in public baths, and to stop off in public restrooms for five minutes of fellatio on the way home from work if women were interested in these activities.
Then it went on later to talk about being thin.
“Thin became a prejudice in the 1950s, a myth in the 1960s, an obsession in the 1970s, and a religion in the 1980s.” – Roberta Seid.
So one thing seems obvious; there is no preference for average. However, a female can be rendered infertile by a body fat content of below 15 percent. So if you’d like to avoid getting pregnant…just get super skinny.
It used to be that thinness was a sign of poverty…now we are breaking our banks to appear broke? According to the book, thinness has become what fatness was: a sign of status.
Overall the book seems to be interesting…although it only seems to reinforce what I’ve known for some time. Men cheat. Women want to cheat but are scared of getting pregnant. Women continue to want to lose weight. And men don’t know what they want.
I don’t know that I want to continue reading this book. It’s scary if it’s true. When I first began reading the book it caused me to wonder if he and I really had anything in common. It led to this conversation.
Me: So, I was looking at that book and, wow. I don’t even really understand enough of the words to know if I like the book.
Him: You get the idea of it though right?
Me: Well, yeah, but there are so many ideas of it. Why are you reading stuff like this?
Him: It interests me.
Me: If you and I went to a bookstore together and met back at the counter, you’d have Encyclopedia volumes and a book about the history of your nation and I’d have a book on how to be a stand-up comedian and a thin for dummies guide.
Him: Is that your idea of a joke?
So yeah, intellectually, not much in common. He’s young … but definitely not dumb. I’m not half as interested in reading the rest of the book, as I am in visiting him to return it.