THE NAKED APE

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of privacy between the members of the mated pair? Part of the answer to this is our very high level of sexuality, which demands constant expression and outlet.It was developed to keep the pair together, but now, in the stimulating atmosphere of a complex society, it is constantly being triggered off in non-pairbond situations. But this is only part of the answer. Sex is also being used as a status device-a well-known manoeuvre in other primate species. If a female monkeywants to approach an aggressive male in a nonsexual context, she may display sexually to him, not because she wants to copulate, but because by so doing she will arouse his sexual urges sufficiently to suppress his aggression. Such behaviour patterns are referred to as re-motivating activities. The female uses sexual stimulation to re-motivate the male and thereby gain a non-sexual advantage. Similar devices are used b our own species. Much of the artificial sexual sign y_ is being employed in this way. By making themselves attractive to members of the opposite sex, individuals can effectively reduce antagonistic feelings in other members of the social group. There are dangers in this strategy, of course, for a pair-bonding species. The stimulation must not go too far. By conforming to the basic sexual restrictions that the culture has developed, it is possible to give clear signals that 'I am not available for copulation', and yet, at the same time, to give other signals which say that `I am nevertheless very sexy'. The latter signals will do the job of reducing antagonism, while the former ones will prevent things from getting out of hand. In this way one can have one's cake and eat it. This should work out very neatly, but unfortunately there are other influences at work. The pair-bonding mechanism is not perfect. It has had to be grafted on to the earlier primate 'system, and this still shows through. If anything goes wrong with the pair-bond situation, then the old primate urges flare up again. Add to this the fact that another of the naked ape's great evolutionary developments has been the extension of childhood curiosity into the adult phase, and the situation can obviously become dangerous. The system was obviously designed to work in a 80
ituation where the female is producing a large family of overlapping children and the male is off hunting with other males. Although fundamentally this has persisted two things have changed. There is a tendency to limit artificially the number of offspring. This means that the mated female will not be at full parental pressure and will be more sexually available during her mate's absence. There is also a tendency for many females to join the hunting group. Hunting, of course, has now been replaced by 'working' and the males who set off on their daily working trips are liable to find themselves in heterosexual groups instead of the old all-male parties. All too often it collapses under the strain. (The American figures, you will recall, indicated that 26 per cent of married females and 5o per þcent of married males have experienced extramarital copulation by the age of forty.) Frequently, though, the original pair-bond is strong enough to maintain itself during these outside activities, or to re-assert itself when they have passed. In only a small percentage of cases is there a complete and final break-down. To leave the matter there would overstate the case for the pair-bond, however. It may be able to survive sexual curiosity in most cases, but it is not strong enough to stamp it out. Although the powerful sexual imprinting keeps the mated pair together, it does not eliminate their interest in outside sexual activities. If outside matings conflict too strongly with the pairbond, then some less harmful substitute for them has to be found. The solution has been voyeurism, using the term in its broadest sense, and this is employed on an enormous scale. In the strict sense voyeurism means obtaining sexual excitement from watching other individuals copulating, but it can logically be broadened out to include any non-participatory interest in any sexual activity. Almost the entire population indulges in this. They watch it, they read about it, they listen to it. The vast bulk of all television, radio, cinema, theatre and fiction-writing is concerned with satisfying this demand. Magazines, newspapers and general conversation also make a large contribution. It has become a major industry. And never once throughout all this does the sexual observer actually do anything. 81
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THE NAKED APE by Desmond Morris A B
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book is intend
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INTRODUCTION THERE are one hundred
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some respect. If they were healthy,
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CHAPTER ONE ORIGINS THERE is a labe
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we put it, it looks out of place. E
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The primate group, to which our nak
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Faced with a new environment, our a
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complex manoeuvres could be develop
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The brightest stars in the carnivor
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a pack of African hunting dogs it i
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the night, but the contrast is neve
Page 25 and 26: in the dirt of the den or lair. Aft
Page 27 and 28: was a process of differential infan
Page 29 and 30: eating it, each have their own part
Page 31 and 32: Male and female hunting apes had to
Page 33 and 34: feature was its naked skin, which l
Page 35 and 36: home bases, its dens became heavily
Page 37 and 38: vital missing links in our ancient
Page 39 and 40: first appears. A great deal will de
Page 41 and 42: CHAPTER TWO SEX SEXUALLY the naked
Page 43 and 44: phase, privacy is sought and the su
Page 45 and 46: summatory act of sperm ejaculation
Page 47 and 48: the arteries pumping blood into the
Page 49 and 50: activity. Once the climax has been
Page 51 and 52: old females will have experienced o
Page 53 and 54: stay put and mind the babies while
Page 55 and 56: -the female remains responsive to t
Page 57 and 58: mucous surfaces permanently exposed
Page 59 and 60: areas in other animals where there
Page 61 and 62: Any body relationship, they feel, s
Page 63 and 64: At some point, back in our ancestry
Page 65 and 66: sexual contacts. In this particular
Page 67 and 68: This may also explain why the male
Page 69 and 70: lengths to render her as sexually r
Page 71 and 72: ised his sex life. The contemporary
Page 73 and 74: apology being proportional to the d
Page 75: enlarges it, imitating in this way
Page 79 and 80: and avoids being attacked. A subord
Page 81 and 82: object lacking these signals. Secon
Page 83 and 84: is that the prolonged period of inf
Page 85 and 86: on the fundamental sexual structure
Page 87 and 88: CHAPTER THREE REARING THE burden of
Page 89 and 90: is not enough for the infant's lips
Page 91 and 92: mother, either instinctively or by
Page 93 and 94: apid during the first two years of
Page 95 and 96: onwards. It may even clasp on to he
Page 97 and 98: unlike the verbal signals, they eme
Page 99 and 100: mother's face and to distinguish he
Page 101 and 102: oth frighteningly odd and at the sa
Page 103 and 104: friendly, but if we greet them by l
Page 105 and 106: We develop the vital bond of attach
Page 107 and 108: andom and unco-ordinated. The cryin
Page 109 and 110: CHAPTER FOUR EXPLORATION ALL mammal
Page 111 and 112: But the reverse is actually the cas
Page 113 and 114: are combined, one with another, to
Page 115 and 116: equired no reward-it was its own re
Page 117 and 118: Writing, a formalised offshoot of p
Page 119 and 120: and clothing, in furniture and cars
Page 121 and 122: contacts immensely difficult and wi
Page 123 and 124: epeatedly bite themselves, or pull
Page 125 and 126: on the other hand, of vital signifi
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in respiratory activity. Breathing
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under the extreme conditions of agg
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formalised into rhythmic twistings
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sdditional energy on it, and it is
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the grooming itself. Monkeys make g
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signal. (With the arm bent and held
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intensities of it are expressed in
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mechanisms. Many moths have a pair
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largely confined now to a form of s
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such a situation can be seen to per
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the policeman into a position of im
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attacker and his enemy, and it is t
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intelligence that must get us out.
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frequent accompaniment of wailing o
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of the `pomp and circumstance' will
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in profusion. This is usually expla
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personal acquaintances listed there
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grounds. It is a predominantly masc
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elements of challenge, luck and ris
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Another interpretation is that we h
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If they appeal to our old primate w
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disposal, we might be expected to r
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giving an impression of great conce
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the female can then fondle it and c
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is it aesthetically pleasing. Its f
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significance of the hair. In its re
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co-operativeness, specialised groom
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it is a strong dose of security tha
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If the environment becomes too cold
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CHAPTER EIGHT ANIMALS UP to this po
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prey-predator relationship, since i
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substitute space-traveller. No othe
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interferes with the efficient runni
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point of view, are fully justified
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small objects (chimpanzee, monkey,
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The unexpected discovery here is th
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on its back. It must be stressed he
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This cannot be explained solely on
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spiders being nasty, hairy things.
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symbolically, scientifically or aes
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tendencies; that if we have to beco
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Heart-beat response: Salk, 1966. Gr
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BIBLIOGRAPHY AMBROSE, J. A., `The s
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MILES, W. R., 'Chimpanzee behaviour
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Mimikry der Primaten'. Die Naturwis
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