July 1, 2001

11:47 AM

Make love not war. Amoung humans closest relatives, these monkeys solve conflict by makeing love. A lot. Female dominate society they have no homicide and tensions in the group are non existent.
posted by stbalbach (17 comments total)

The Bonobos are apes, not monkeys. More about their sexual habits here.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 12:08 PM on July 1, 2001

Well, a search of stbalbach's posts suggests that English is not his/her primary language - and in many languages, there is no distinction between apes and monkeys.
posted by palnatoke at 12:25 PM on July 1, 2001

How about I come over to Denmark and settle this conflict German style palnatoke.
posted by stbalbach at 12:45 PM on July 1, 2001

Women running the world? I don't think we could stand a nuclear war once a month...

Just kidding. Seriously! Hey! Stop it with the rotten vegetables already! Jeez! *cring*
posted by SpecialK at 1:38 PM on July 1, 2001

"They solve all their problems by making love,"

Yeah, but I bet they don't want to cuddle and talk afterwards...

Ow, throw those at SpecialK, he started it!
posted by machaus at 1:54 PM on July 1, 2001

these monkeys solve conflict by makeing love

do monkeys really "make love"? also, hasn't the female sexuality always dominated men? i don't think that revelation is any breakthrough.
posted by suprfli at 4:52 PM on July 1, 2001

Actually, it is very surprising. One of the really interesting differences between humans and nearly every other mammalian species is that human females are sexually receptive even when they're not fertile. Even among gorillas and chimps, copulation only takes place once per year or so.

But in the Bonobos, sex in some form is a multiple-time-per-day event and has little to do with reproduction (though it does serve that purpose). It's the only other mammalian species known where sex plays a role other than reproduction -- and it's our closest living relative. From an evolutionary point of view it is extremely significant.

Another interesting thing is that homosexual sex and heterosexual sex are equally common among the bonobo when it comes to non-reproductive sex.

Read this article, and you'll see that they really are using sex as a way of avoiding conflict.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 5:54 PM on July 1, 2001

I had heard that chimpanzee females (I don't know about the males) engage in homosexual sex, as well. - rcb
posted by rebeccablood at 6:20 PM on July 1, 2001

Dr.Susan Block thinks we can learn a lot from the bonobos, and appears to practice what she preaches.
posted by chino at 6:33 PM on July 1, 2001

Women running the world? I don't think we could stand a nuclear war once a month...

The article mentions said of the female-dominated bonobos, "their societies are remarkably peaceable" and do not resort to aggression to solve conflicts.

What part of this implied that societies in which women are more powerful have more violent aggressive ways of sorting out their problems?
posted by valerie at 9:47 PM on July 1, 2001

What part of this implied that societies in which women are more powerful have more violent aggressive ways of sorting out their problems?

ah, bad joke backfired... i'd explain if
1.) i didn't feel so akward doing so and
2.) i was for sure she wasn't being sarcastic
posted by lotsofno at 9:51 PM on July 1, 2001

just keep them away from organs....monkeys that is.
posted by clavdivs at 7:32 AM on July 2, 2001

The article mentions said of the female-dominated bonobos, "their societies are remarkably peaceable" and do not resort to aggression to solve conflicts.

What part of this implied that societies in which women are more powerful have more violent aggressive ways of sorting out their problems?

Oh my goodness... take a joke, please. I live with two women. Their... erm... "cycles" are set to the same place after living together for so long, so they both get bitchy at the same time a month. You can tell when it is, I clock 12 hours a day at work.

Please, don't be so serious all of the time...!
posted by SpecialK at 9:07 AM on July 2, 2001

If starting a fight ensured that you'd get a good seeing to, I think there'd be a lot more provocation about.
posted by wackybrit at 9:44 AM on July 2, 2001

"It's the only other mammalian species known where sex plays a role other than reproduction"

That's a bit of a stretch. Ever seen a dog hump someone's foot (or a pillow), or a male dog mount another? Dogs (at least) are well-acquainted with sex-for-pleasure and sex-as-dominance.
posted by MrMoonPie at 10:27 AM on July 2, 2001

"It's the only other mammalian species known where sex plays a role other than reproduction..."

Nope. Dolphins. Ever seen a documentary about them? They have tons of sex. Heterosexual and homosexual. Seemingly whenever they feel like it. Unfortunately for them, it doesn't last very long.
posted by DyRE at 10:59 AM on July 2, 2001

I think some apes use sex for dominance as well. In fact, I heard someone say once that "Of all the primates, man is the only one in which one male doesn't attempt to sexually mount another one to prove his dominance. instead, we just say 'fuck you.'" Of course, just because I once heard someone say it doesn't make it correct.
posted by kindall at 1:20 PM on July 2, 2001