Anthropology Flashcards
Why are humans characterized as ‘slightly polygynous’?
20% of societies don’t allow it; and where it is allowed, it is only for the exceptional few. The vast majority of us are monogamous the vast majority of the time. Also our testes are only slightly bigger than gorillas’ indicating only a slight amount of sperm war in our deep history
Who was that emperor- the bloodthirsty one- who set the record for most children?
Moulay Ismael the Bloodthirsty (1645-1727) Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif Moroccan sultan. Harem of over 500 women; sired 888 children. In Voltaire’s Candide
How does intersocietal violence impact the intimacy or aloofness of marita relationships in a society?
War, or the likelihood of war, breeds brothers in arms, and a culture of men lodging together and extensive away time
What is the impact of patrilocality vs matrilocality on female sexual freedom
More matrilocal (women stay with their family, men leave) = more sexual freedom
Women are protected from cruelty and coercion by their relatives. When women marry far from home they get veiled, chastity belted, genital mutilated, beaten, imprisoned, supervised, and subjugated.
Do all cultures favour chastity in women?
Yes, but with considerable variation in degree: chastity is very highly valued by Indians, Indonesians and the Chinese, but not highly valued by the French and Scandawegians (Buss, 89, 03)
[confounded by youth; not highly valued is different from not preferred all things being equal; it may be something that changes as a function of attachment- we don’t care at first, but then as we fall in love we develop retroactive jealousy…]
What’s the SOI, what does it measure, and which countries score highest and lowest in it?
Sociosexual orientation inventory
Measures how sexually open (vs restricted) someone is
Highest: Finland, NZ, Lithuania, Slovenia
Lowest: Taiwan/Hong Kong, Bangladesh, South Korea, Zimbabwe
What are the (3) factors accounting for variance in sociosexual attitudes and practices in various countries
Operational sex ratio (OSR): more women to men = more male oriented SOI, ie more fun, open sex
More fertility = more kids, which is bad for SOI
Higher ‘human development’ = more women living long and prospering (educating themselves and working) and hence not rushing in to marriage/kids and hence chilling about sex
Which country has the most frequent sex and which has the most infrequent sex?
Greece: 87% weekly
Japan: 34% weekly
From Durex, condom manufacturer, 06
How many times a year, on average, do Aka and Ngandu couples have sex? What about American couples?
Aka: 439
Ngandu: 228
US: 86
