Genetics versus Culture
The Quest for Fidelity

Prologue…
What separates man from the animals? Nothing – absolutely nothing! Man (Homo sapiens sapiens) is an animal. Staying within the bounds of popular thinking, the first man was Australopithecus ramidus. This ancestor of modern man had his chance on the planet from about 5 million years BCE (Before the Current Era) through 4 million years BCE.

Our species, as it has evolved, has spent some 5 million years living in caves – or worse – and less than three thousand years out of the caves. Let's put that another way to better illustrate the vast difference here. Humans have spent almost 2 Billion days eking out their survival in caves, and a mere 1 Million days living outside of them.

While we humans like to think we are civilized and have highly evolved cultures, the real truth of it is actually something completely different. Millions of years of incomparable engineering and design revisions by Mother Nature are eminently more powerful than a few Johnny-come-lately cultural rules! The encumbrances of culture and civilization are designed to conceal the animals we are, and make us appear to be something else – something we clearly are not. Sort of like putting a designer shirt and tie on a monkey and calling it civilized.

Our genetics and our cultures often clash – sometimes violently. We tell our children to discuss their differences, that fighting is never the answer. And yet, as I write this article there are at least four wars going on around the globe. Whether the clashes are violent or just humorous, they are always revealing and edifying.

Now, let's take a look at one of the most common clashes of genetics and culture…

The compulsion to reproduce is in our genetic makeup. In our DNA. It is not something we decide on or think about. We are driven to it – quite potently – by a collection of very robust and effective chemicals that have evolved over billions and billions of years – since long before the first human took a step. We have only a very rudimentary understanding of these chemicals, some of which are hormones like testosterone and estrogen.

When a human male animal sees a human female animal that satisfies a certain set of parameters specific to that one male, then these indomitable chemicals are introduced into his body. The introduction of these chemicals into his system causes him to want to breed. That's right, "breed," as in "reproduce." The fact that we now refer to the act of intercourse as love making, does not alter the fact that the act was designed by nature for the purpose of reproduction – not as something to express an emotional attachment. Even a mere four thousand years ago, intercourse was reserved for reproducing – and nothing else.

For some reason, which is, and likely always will be under debate, culture decided that the reproductive relationship between male and female human animals should be monogamous and emotionally-laden. And so the problems began…

The need for male animals to find a suitable female of the species and reproduce is exceptionally well documented. When we humans view the animal kingdom (conveniently excluding ourselves, of course) we have no trouble at all recognizing what is going on. But when we look at ourselves, at our species, we get lost in our arrogance – another trapping of culture.

Males finding a mate and breeding is much more than a matter of choice. Take the male black widow spider, for example. This stalwart fellow is but a fraction the size of the massive female of his species, and he carries no venom, unlike his deadly female counterpart. He approaches the female very cautiously, and even so, knows that his chances of surviving the mating encounter are less than 1:10. Still, he cannot stop himself – he must go forward and try to breed with the selected female. This one example inescapably attests to the potency of the chemicals that force male animals to breed. Another good example of how potent the need to breed is can be seen in the Praying Mantis. The male of this species approaches his female knowing that she will most likely finish with him, then bite off his head and eat his tiny, lifeless body. By the way, female animals have chemicals that are just as potent, but they are not the centerpiece of this article.

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