How different would civilization be if humans had "mating season" ? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 3 months ago by Ziggurat@sh.itjust.works to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Let's imagine, a world where 10 month a year, men and women don't care about each other. However, twice a year, during 2-3 weeks, non pregnant women produce pheromone that men can't resist and start calling every boy around to breed with them.

How would this impact the civilisation ?

I know about David Brin's *glory season * but not sure whether any other writer explored that idea.

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[-] intensely_human@lemm.ee 64 points 3 months ago

It would be a very large undertaking to describe the changes since hidden breeding cycles are one of the things that separates humans from other apes.

Human women being able to choose when and with whom to mate, secretly, is one of the most significant aspects of what it means to be human.

Humanity is one of the few species whose evolution is primarily driven by sexual selection and not just the “I survived long enough to find a female so I reproduced” strategy we know of as natural selection.

[-] billgamesh@lemmy.ml 11 points 3 months ago

Yeah. Note a very fun answer, but I'd go so far as to say this was critical enough in hominem development that there wouldn't be human society if humans had a mating season. So many of critical points in human development seem to hinge on very social developments, and this may have played a large role in that.

[-] IsoSpandy@lemm.ee 8 points 3 months ago

Boink once a year, get no fire or wheel.

[-] billgamesh@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

some would even argue no modified stone tools

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this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2024

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