4 of 4: EcoSex @ U Conn - Ryan and Jetha's Sex at Dawn - Student Responses: Rhiann's Take

Dear Earthlings:

The EcoSex course at U Conn is complete.  It was a great experience.  We spent time reading amazing books.  And here we resume posts to be shared with you.  Thinking out of the box and across disciplines.  Students had been sending their responses in, with discussion questions.  In class, we did connected the dots: a holograph of what we've read together, the "required readings."  Multiple perspectives and good synergy.  Here, we offer a glimpse.  Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha's Sex at Dawn was one of two cultural-theory theory books.  We got five responses: from Adam, Michael, Alexandra, and Rhiann. 

Here is Rhiann's take:

Response to Sex at Dawn

The topic I felt most compelled to respond to in the text, Sex at Dawn, was the section titled, “The Famously Flaccid Female Libido.” The section starts with a quote by Charles Darwin. 

It states, "the female... with the rarest exception, is less eager than the male...” The authors go on to say that, “hundreds, if not thousands, of studies have claimed to confirm the flaccidity of the female libido” (Ryan 52). A 1989 study done in Florida State University was explained to illustrate where the assumption that women are sexually flaccid derives from. In the study, an attractive college student would walk up to members of the opposite sex and offer a compliment and ask them to go to bed with them that evening. About 75% of males said yes and many who said no suggested a different night. On the other hand, not one female said yes to the same proposal. This study supposedly concludes that women are not interested in casual sex and do not have a sex drive. The text also suggests that these results are conducive to theories that woman “instinctively barter sex to get things from men” and in order to maintain said value of intercourse they abstain from casual sex (Ryan 52).

            My reaction to this passage was negative. I believe the authors would side with me and wrote this passage to shed light upon this assumption. I felt smothered as I read the quotes of these great thinkers. As I read this section, I realized that my personal struggles with my sexuality can be considered a product of these assumptions. The theory that women do not have a strong libido that has been proven by men and weak studies has shaped culture so much that it’s effects are reverberating through my life today. I personally, feel the need to make sure that my “number” of sexual partners is very low because I do not want to be perceived as promiscuous. On the other hand, I struggle with cognitive dissonance. Part of me wants to keep the amount of people I engage in intercourse with low and part of me wants to explore my sexuality. I find myself to a have a sexually open personality but have yet to attempt to explore this because I feel as if there is a societal demand to keep my “number” particularly low. I struggle with these two opposing thoughts all the time. After reading this section, I now realize how deep and old this assumption is that has affected how I perceive myself and monitor my own sexuality. To me, this is unfair to myself and all women. I can only hope that through this class I will start to let go of the societal demands I and other women succumb to on a daily basis.

Rhiann Peterson

Published with permission

WGSS 3998 - Ecosexuality and the Ecology of Love

Prof. Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio

U Conn, Storrs, Spring 2013

Course Announcement and Description

Dear Earthlings:

Let "nature" be your teacher in the arts of love.  Education is the heart of democracy, education to love.  Come back for more wonders: Students Responses have resumed, to appear now every Tuesday.  More Book Reports to be scheduled soon, every other Thursday.  

Namaste,
 

Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, PhD

Gilf Gaia Extraordinaire

Author of Gaia, Eros, and many other books about love Professor of Humanities

University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

   

Follow us in the social media

Poly Planet GAIA Blog: 
http://polyplanet.blogspot.com/ 

Website: www.serenagaia.com 

Be Appraised of Ecosex Community Project PostaHouse  Become a Fan: www.facebook.com/GaiaBlessings 

Author's Page/Lists all books: 

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001JS1VKA 

YouTube Uploaded Videos: http://www.youtube.com/SerenaAnderlini
 

 

3 of 4: EcoSex @ U Conn - Ryan and Jetha's Sex at Dawn - Student Responses: Alexandra's Take

Dear Earthlings:

The EcoSex course at U Conn is complete.  It was a great experience.  We spent time reading amazing books.  And here we resume posts to be shared with you.  Thinking out of the box and across disciplines.  Students had been sending their responses in, with discussion questions.  In class, we did connected the dots: a holograph of what we've read together, the "required readings."  Multiple perspectives and good synergy.  Here, we offer a glimpse.  Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha's Sex at Dawn was one of two cultural-theory theory books.  We got four responses: from Adam, Michael, Alexandra, and Rhiann. 

Here is Alexandra's take:

Response to Sex at Dawn

          

The following is a response to The Pervert’s Lament. The idea that testosterone increases libido is valid. That being said, estrogen, also increases libido. Thus, claiming

that men have a higher sex drive than women based on their hormones, which is implied by the man’s statement, “The most overwhelming feeling was the incredible increase in libido and change in the way I perceived women... Everything I looked at, everything I touched turned into sex... I felt like a monster... It made me understand men.” I do not deny that the man, recently undergone a sex change, felt this way. I argue that he either was experiencing the placebo effect, or had higher testosterone levels as a man relative to the testosterone levels he had as a woman. Men are not inherently “monsters” due to their biology, nor are men more sexually inclined than females. Thinking this increases a belief in a destructive social more that is often cited as the cause of rape culture. “Boys just can’t control themselves,” people say. This then excuses men from acts of rape and also demonizes them as the monsters who would partake in such acts. This is a self fulfilling prophecy. If we raise men to believe that they are inherently more sexual than women, they will act more sexual than women.

 While I agree that sexual oppression sparks many suicides I would argue that men commit more suicides than women not because they are more sexual than women, but because social standards for masculine gender are much more rigid than social standards for feminine. In a recent poll men and women were asked what they most feared. The majority of men said humiliation, while the majority of women said rape or murder. This reflects the intense pressure placed on men to fulfil a specific role in society. Humiliation stems from failure in business or in bed, and thus reflect failure of showcasing oneself as a man. This makes men more susceptible to small irritants and lower self esteem and happiness levels. Furthermore, men are not “allowed” to fear rapes or murders because it would reflect a certain unmanliness. “If you are strong, as legitimate men are, then you will be able to easily fend off assaults,” states society. I believe that such rigorous social constructs for the male gender create engendered rage. Men, feel trapped in a stagnant identity. If they try and escape said identity they are ridiculed not by females, but by other men. Men hate “feminine” characteristics in other men because they fear the “feminine” characteristics that rest in their own souls. This explains the high rates of homophobia in men. Thus, men both control and are slaves to societal norms. The only way out? Suicide.

Questions: Which do you think are more intense- gender norms for men or females?

Do you believe in inherent personality differences between men and women based on “sex” (biological aspects)?

Alexandra Mayer

Published with permission

WGSS 3998 - Ecosexuality and the Ecology of Love

Prof. Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio

U Conn, Storrs, Spring 2013

Course Announcement and Description

Dear Earthlings:

Let "nature" be your teacher in the arts of love.  Education is the heart of democracy, education to love.  Come back for more wonders: Students Responses have resumed, to appear now every Tuesday.  More Book Reports to be scheduled soon, every other Thursday.  

Namaste,
 

Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, PhD

Gilf Gaia Extraordinaire

Author of Gaia, Eros, and many other books about love Professor of Humanities

University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

   

Follow us in the social media

Poly Planet GAIA Blog: 
http://polyplanet.blogspot.com/ 

Website: www.serenagaia.com 

Be Appraised of Ecosex Community Project PostaHouse  Become a Fan: www.facebook.com/GaiaBlessings 

Author's Page/Lists all books: 

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001JS1VKA 

YouTube Uploaded Videos: http://www.youtube.com/SerenaAnderlini
 

 

2 of 4: EcoSex @ U Conn - Ryan and Jetha's Sex at Dawn - Student Responses: Michael's Take

Dear Earthlings:

The EcoSex course at U Conn is complete.  It was a great experience.  We spent time reading amazing books.  And here we resume posts to be shared with you.  Thinking out of the box and across disciplines.  Students had been sending their responses in, with discussion questions.  In class, we did connected the dots: a holograph of what we've read together, the "required readings."  Multiple perspectives and good synergy.  Here, we offer a glimpse.  Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha's Sex at Dawn was one of two cultural-theory theory books.  We got five responses: from Adam, Michael, Alissa, John, and Rhiann. 

Here is Michael's take:

Response to Sex at Dawn

           

I enjoyed Sex at Dawn as it provides an interesting bridge point between a lot of the ideas discussed by authors like Margulis in terms of evolutionary history and the history of

cooperation and those of authors like Diamond and the broader readings about eco-sexuality, polyamory, and sexual fluidity.

            One aspect that permeates the book though that I don’t necessarily agree with is their arguments about selfishness and cooperation and their criticism of Richard Dawkins’s seminal work The Selfish Gene. While Dawkins certainly does extrapolate his arguments about genetic evolution to explain selfishness in individuals, I think they misrepresent his article. The fundamental selfish actor in Dawkins hypothesis is DNA. He sees the ever-increasing complexity and superfluousness of genetic sequences in organisms as being the selfishness of DNA. He isn’t saying that humans possess a gene that encodes selfishness, but rather that life is the consequence of nucleic acid bases wanting to propagate themselves selfishly and that any selfishness we exhibit is a consequence of that.

            I further disagree with their notion that selfishness and cooperation aren’t both engrained into us on an evolutionary basis. Early humans had to cooperate within their clans but ultimately treated competing clans in a manner we’d deem selfish. I think ultimately it would be most beneficial if we treated everybody as a clan member and cooperated, but a selfish desire to propagate our clans DNA over that of another clan is something I think that has been a part of our nature for a long time and that we cannot escape.

Do you agree with their interpretation of jealousy in popular music?

Mchael Maranets

Published with permission

WGSS 3998 - Ecosexuality and the Ecology of Love

Prof. Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio

U Conn, Storrs, Spring 2013

Course Announcement and Description

Dear Earthlings:

Let "nature" be your teacher in the arts of love.  Education is the heart of democracy, education to love.  Come back for more wonders: Students Responses have resumed, to appear now every Tuesday.  More Book Reports to be scheduled soon, every other Thursday.  

Namaste,
 

Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, PhD

Gilf Gaia Extraordinaire

Author of Gaia, Eros, and many other books about love Professor of Humanities

University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

   

Follow us in the social media

Poly Planet GAIA Blog: 
http://polyplanet.blogspot.com/ 

Website: www.serenagaia.com 

Be Appraised of Ecosex Community Project PostaHouse  Become a Fan: www.facebook.com/GaiaBlessings 

Author's Page/Lists all books: 

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001JS1VKA 

YouTube Uploaded Videos: http://www.youtube.com/SerenaAnderlini
 

 

1 of 4: EcoSex @ U Conn - Ryan and Jetha's Sex at Dawn - Student Responses: Adam's Take

Dear Earthlings:

The EcoSex course at U Conn is complete.  It was a great experience.  We spent time reading amazing books.  And here we resume posts to be shared with you.  Thinking out of the box and across disciplines.  Students had been sending their responses in, with discussion questions.  In class, we did connected the dots: a holograph of what we've read together, the "required readings."  Multiple perspectives and good synergy.  Here, we offer a glimpse.  Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha's Sex at Dawn was one of two cultural-theory theory books.  We got five responses: from Adam, Michael, Alexandra, and Rhiann. 

Here is Adam's take:

Response to Sex at Dawn

            I had already purchased and owned “Sex at Dawn” years before I knew it would be on the list of readings required for a college class. Probably my favorite book that we

have read so far, “Sex at Dawn”, by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá, is informative, multi-disciplinary, well-written, and ultimately a funny read which caused me, at multiple times, to sit back, look at myself and my surroundings, and reflect.

            “Sex at Dawn” discusses both the evolutionary and cultural roles of sex through time, much like Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan did in “Mystery Dance”, though Margulis and Sagan might be annoyed that the authors primarily only looked at the sexuality of primates. In addition, the book covers an emotional/psychological perspective, similar to the way that Deborah Anapol does in “The Seven Natural Laws of Love”. The healthy dualism sprinkled with feminist perspectives and ideals made “Sex at Dawn” truly enjoyable for someone of my background and beliefs; I could identify with much of what was brought up with ease.

             Many critics say “the book downplays ways that monogamy can be evolutionarily adaptive,^[1] and that the book over-exaggerates human promiscuity and similarity to bonobos” (Wikipedia article on Sex at Dawn), points with which I disagree. The authors never say that monogamy is essentially wrong or estranged from the human condition; they merely make the argument that we evolved from polyandrous roots and, in many ways, still have polyandrous needs and desires. To the “similarity with bonobos” argument, the authors say that we share an obscene amount of genes with bonobos, generally have similar social tendencies, and that, until about 200,000 years ago, were likely indistinguishable – all points with which I agree.

            In the beginning, one of the authors, presumably Christopher Ryan, recalls a story in which he temporarily reverted back to his primal, animalistic defense instincts in order to protect himself and his girlfriend from an attacking monkey. My question is – do you distinctly recall a time or times when you succumbed to your base, primal instincts? And if so, how did you feel and what were the responses of those who witnessed your exhibition, if any people did?

Adam Kocurek

Published with permission

WGSS 3998 - Ecosexuality and the Ecology of Love

Prof. Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio

U Conn, Storrs, Spring 2013

Course Announcement and Description

Dear Earthlings:

Let "nature" be your teacher in the arts of love.  Education is the heart of democracy, education to love.  Come back for more wonders: Students Responses have resumed, to appear now every Tuesday.  More Book Reports to be scheduled soon, every other Thursday.  

Namaste,
 

Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, PhD

Gilf Gaia Extraordinaire

Author of Gaia, Eros, and many other books about love Professor of Humanities

University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

   

Follow us in the social media

Poly Planet GAIA Blog: 
http://polyplanet.blogspot.com/ 

Website: www.serenagaia.com 

Be Appraised of Ecosex Community Project PostaHouse  Become a Fan: www.facebook.com/GaiaBlessings 

Author's Page/Lists all books: 

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001JS1VKA 

YouTube Uploaded Videos: http://www.youtube.com/SerenaAnderlini