Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May. . .woohoo
This topic submitted by Lisa Vogt and Brad (naiad127@hotmail.com) at 5:56 pm on 1/31/01.
Additions were last made on Wednesday, February 7, 2001. Section: Cummins.
Okay- for the first draft this is going to be a train-of-thought-paragraph containing some ideas to keep, expand on, kick around, whatever!
The topic of monogamy is a fascinating subject. How many people yearn for a monogamous relationship? Do any? Why? Is it a part of human "nature"?
Is it completely contrary to what oh-so-powerful evolution has planned for our sexual selves? What happens when it is looked at from a more feminine point of view?
And who gives who what to reach this shared till-death-do-us-or-another-lover part phenomenon? Who brings the roses and why? Does the wooing end not soon after the flower dies? Why is it so hard to break from this "social construct" if it is one and all of our core being is actually yearning to sow wild oats and reap their random benefits- and responsibilities?
Actually- more fun- would be to explore the origins and the perpetuation of the "old maid" character- and why this label- this description of one shrivelled up and "passed their prime" females is feared, or maybe today, falsely believed to still cause fear. Hm. Some kind of marriage-and-unmarriage-fear survey would be fun to distribute to Miami students. Or. . .something dealing with Miami MERGERS. Heehee. And how are today's old maid's sex lives? What are women attracted to, why. and why do some choose to not play the monogamy game in exchange for the possible assigned role of old maid - probably not so relevant now when single women ar more common. This would be great to explore in the past time. What did lonely victorian women do? My great aunt played with magic and spiritualsim. Does a subject have to be as interesting as making things fly to keep a woman busy and out of the nest?
We could also explore just attraction. Why, today, does social status not matter to women? Natalie Angier brings up a good point that maybe when women are with men they are at a disadvantage because they are women- women are generally at a disadvantage in this society. Yet, wouldn't women maybe more attracted to those of a lower status than themselves to feel empowered in a sense. Some women like the vulnerability, the devotion involved in a relationship where the power and stature of a man is less than other men- it somehow equalizes. They can both at some level of a disadvantage- she cites sources from examples of high status women who marry prisoners. The longer the sentence the better- in some way it ensures a certain amount of fidelity and worship. Interesting. She debunks Wright many times through research with chimps. So, what does a women want? What are our evolutionary motivations, wants, needs- even reaching towards compatibility of immune systems as detected in sweat and hair.
So, there's a few ideas- honing tomorrow guaranteed.
Scrap the old maid one.BooKS!- Woman: An Intimate Geography- Natalie Angier
The Moral Animal- Robert Wright
Sex Contract- Helen Fischer
Through a Window- Jane Goodall
The Lucifer Principle- Howard Bloom
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