Cover of Why Is Sex Fun?

Why Is Sex Fun?

by Jared Diamond · first published 1997

8mentions
3recommended by
3HN commenters
2007–2011first – last mentioned

100% recommend

To humans, the sex lives of many animals seem weird. In fact, by comparison with other animals, we are the ones with the weird sex lives. How did that come to be? We are the only social species to insist on carrying out sex privately. Stranger yet, we have sex at any time, even when the female can't be fertilized (for example, because she is already pregnant, post-menopausal, or between fertile cycles). A human female doesn't know her precise time of fertility and certainly doesn't advertise it to human males by the striking color changes, smells, and sounds used by other female mammals. Why d

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What Hacker News says

  • Tichy · Jan 28, 2008 · Recommends

    Well, I would recommend the book "Why is sex fun" by Jared Diamond. I don't know all the theories anymore, but the gist is that there is/was a biological arms race between men and women. For example, the reason that women have to be inseminated inside…

    on “Ask YC: Are there any black or latino founded startups?” ↗
  • Tichy · Mar 14, 2010 · Recommends

    …read in women's magazines as well. Even if you provide evidence, it would still be interesting to discover a reason for the things being like they are. At least I think so. Have you read Jared Diamond "Why is sex fun" or "The Third Chimpanzee"? I didn't have the impression that what he said about the competitions of the sexes were just-so stories, although in some cases there were several different theories. I would…

    on “Why Do Some Relationships Fail?” ↗
  • radu_floricica · Apr 10, 2009 · Recommends

    It's the sex separation thing: men and women do stuff differently. Evolutionary speaking it's a very interesting and complicated game. I recommend "Why is sex fun?" by Jared Diamond for a crash course. Any short answer I'd give would be wrong in some way, so I'll just say once again: sexes are different. Don't make the mistake to think this is less important in…

    on “Making it Easy for "Sugar Daddies" to Connect With "Sugar Babies" ” ↗
  • Tichy · May 19, 2010 · Recommends

    This seems like a good opportunity to recommend the book "Why is sex fun?" by Jared Diamond.http://www.amazon.com/Why-Sex-Fun-Evolution-Sexuality/dp/046... (Or apparently "The Third Chimpanzee", some reviewers claim that is a superset of the book).

  • dedalus · Oct 3, 2010 · Recommends

    People nicely covered it here. A few other additions: (a) Why is Sex Fun (http://www.amazon.com/Why-Sex-Fun-Evolution-Sexuality/dp/046...): covers the history of human sexuality (b) The Prophet: http://www.katsandogz.com/gibran.html (c) Demon Haunted World by Sagan http://www.amazon.com/Demon-Haunted-World-Science-Candle-Dar...…

    on “Ask HN: Good books?” ↗
  • Tichy · Sep 6, 2011 · Recommends

    Well read Jared Diamonds "The Third Chimpanzee" or "Why Is Sex Fun" for some actual research on gender differences. That we don't know how Hormones affect us is pretty irrelevant in that context. There are other forces at play, hormones are just mechanisms for changing…

    on “Don't dumb girls down” ↗
  • Tichy · Jun 13, 2009 · Mentions

    Well the startup gave you a chance at becoming a millionaire and have lots of women. I don't see that chance on etsy. There was an interesting bit (though a bit speculative) in "Why is sex fun" by Jared Diamond: it said that gathering was actually more effective than hunting. But men would hunt because if they came home with prey they were able to have a big party, share meat with neighbors…

    on “Trying To Make a Living At Etsy? Think Again.” ↗
  • Tichy · Jul 23, 2007 · Mentions

    In "why is sex fun" I read that gathering is actually much more efficient than hunting (and people worked an average of 6 hours/day - for the society in that study anyway). One theory then stated that the point of hunting…

    on “Supporting Your Family: So Easy a Caveman Could Do it” ↗

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