What's Love Got To Do With It - Hardcover

Small, Meredith

3.68

87 ratings by Goodreads

9780385473170: What's Love Got To Do With It

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385473176 ISBN 13: 9780385473170

Publisher: Doubleday, 1995

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In an informal, engaging narrative, a distinguished anthropologist explores--from a feminist viewpoint--the latest research into the links between human sexual behavior and biological necessity, and shows how females govern the mating process. Tour.

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From the Publisher:

Why do we fall in love with the people we do? What are the signs and signals that we consciously or subconsciously send when we're sexually interested in someone? Is there a more "feminist" or alternative way to interpret traditional human sexual biology and evolution? Are human beings naturally monogmous? To what extent does culture override biology in modifying our sexual behavior? These are but a few of the questions that anthropologist Meredith Small addresses in her compelling new book on human mating, What's Love Got To Do With It ?

Romantic love very often has little to do with our sexual drives. Current research indicates that more powerful and urgent is the biological imperative of passing on our genes, and the adaptive behaviors that have evolved over time. What is particularly surprising are the new alternative interpretations of traditional science that imply an increased role on the part of human females in initiating sex, biologically encouraging or discouraging pregnancy, and more. Because so much of human sexuality until recently was studied and interpreted by men, the possibility of alternative interpretations of human sexual behavior is creating front-page news. Some scientists now see menstruation not as a "curse", but as a protection against bacteria. Additional new evidence shows that sperm can be manipulated by the female as well as the male in a silent war over who conceives with whom. These are just some of the new hypotheses explored in What's Love Got To Do With It ? that are forcing scientists to rethink the human sexual arena.

Written in down-to-earth conversational style, and filled with the kinds of insights and examples fom everyday life that make science writing not just accessible but fun, What's Love Got To Do With It ? is a fascinating, wide-ranging look at how sex and sexuality govern our lives and affect our life choices.

From the Back Cover:

Praise for What's Love Got to Do with It?

"Small joins...such writers as Robert Ardrey, Desmond Morris, and Lionel Tiger who have sought to make evolutionary biology the foundation sexual behavior...a refreshing rejoinder to the Darwinian boys' club."

-- San Francisco Chronicle

"An anthropologist's thorough, lucid, nontechnical descriptions of why we mate the way we do."

-- Playboy

"A personal feminist take on the mating game. [Small] adopts an intimate style [and] succeeds in conveying a flavor of what...scientific research is all about."

-- Scientific American

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