Hormones and history

The evolution and development of primate female sexuality

Bibliographic Data

ID10219476
AuthorsKim Wallen (0000-0002-9999-7247, Emory University), Julia L Zehr (Emory University)
Year2004
Volume41
Issue1
Pages101-112
Publication date2004-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Sex Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-4499 • E-ISSN: 1559-8519
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00224490409552218
PMID15216429
PMCIDPMC1255935
OpenAlexW1967626323
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited59

Sexual behavior is required for reproduction in internally fertilizing species but poses significant social and physical risks. Females in many nonprimate species have evolved physical and behavioral mechanisms restricting sexual behavior to when females are fertile. The same hormones producing female fertility also control these mechanisms, assuring that sex only occurs when reproduction is possible. In contrast to nonprimate mammals, hormones do not regulate the capacity to engage in sex in female anthropoid primates, uncoupling fertility and the physical capacity to mate. Instead, in primates, sexual motivation has become the primary coordinator between sexual behavior and fertility. This dependence upon psychological mechanisms to coordinate physiology with behavior is possibly unique to primates, including humans, and allows a variety of nonphysiological influences, particularly social context, to regulate sexual behavior. The independence between hormonal state and sexual behavior allows sex to be used for social purposes. This complex regulation of primate sexuality develops during adolescence, where female monkeys show both hormonally influenced sexual motivation and socially modulated sexual behavior. We present findings from rhesus monkeys illustrating how social context and hormonal state interact to modulate adolescent and adult sexuality. It is argued that this flexibility in sexual behavior, combined with a tight regulation of sexual motivational systems by reproductive hormones, allows sexual behavior to be used for nonreproductive purposes while still assuring its occurrence during periods of female fertility. The evolutionary pressures that produced such flexibility in sexual behavior remain puzzling, but may reflect the importance of sexuality to primate social attraction and cohesion

Biology · Context (archaeology) · Developmental psychology · Fertility · Human sexuality · Population · Primate · Demography · Ecology · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Gender Studies · Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior · Primate Behavior and Ecology · Psychology