Sex at Dawn

“Sex at Dawn challenges conventional wisdom about sex in a big way. By examining the prehistoric origins of human sexual behavior the authors are able to expose the fallacies and weaknesses of standard theories proposed by most experts. This is a provocative, entertaining, and pioneering book. I learned a lot from it and recommend it highly.” — Andrew Weil, M.D. “Sex at Dawn irrefutably shows that what is obvious—that human beings, both male and female, are lustful—is true, and has always been so.... The more dubious its evidentiary basis and lack of connection with current reality, the more ardently the scientific inevitability of monogamy is maintained—even as it falls away around us.” — Stanton Peele, Ph.D. A controversial, idea-driven work of evolutionary psychology and anthropology that challenges everything you (think you) know about sex, monogamy, marriage, and family. In the words of Steve Taylor (The Fall, Waking From Sleep), Sex at Dawn is “a wonderfully provocative and well-written book which completely re-evaluates human sexual behavior and gets to the root of many of our social and psychological ills.” What if our struggles with monogamy, jealousy, and libido aren't a personal failure, but an evolutionary mismatch?- The Standard Narrative: A look at how the conventional story of human monogamy was built on flawed, outdated assumptions from the Victorian era.- Primate Politics: Why our peaceful, hypersexual bonobo cousins may be a better model for our ancestral past than the violent, hierarchical chimpanzee.- Foraging Societies: An exploration of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, who lived in fiercely egalitarian groups that shared food, child care, and even sexual partners.- Sperm Competition: How human anatomy—from testis size to the female orgasm—points to a prehistory of multiple mating partners for both sexes.- Modern Relationships: A new framework for understanding why passion fades, why so many struggle with monogamy, and what it means for our relationships today.

Christopher Ryan, PhD, is a research psychologist. He lives in Barcelona, Spain.