Evo Psych and menstruation

[communicator]

I've done a few posts on this blog about Evolutionary Psychology, which I despise. I don't disagree that evolution has had an impact on our psychology, but the way that EvoPsych describes that impact is quite wrong in my opinion. And, like economics and philosophy, it is tainted by modern politics

Comments

[happytune]

Agree with this. I have an example of how primal it is too.

Recently, a Facebook friend (a somewhat naive chap in his 40s with no sisters or longer term girlfriends/partners, and orthodox in his religious orientation) posted about this device he'd found out about called a Mooncup. Bless him, he's not aware Mooncups and similar have been around for years.

What was interesting was the response of his female friends, many if whom are well-educated and would probably call themselves some version of feminist. 'Ugh', 'gross', 'what if it spilt, wouldn't that be revolting' etc. I stuck my head over the parapet and suggested that those focus who use these devices, for cost and environmental reasons, don't find them gross at all, that as mothers we have a duty to provide a rational model of menstruation to our daughters rather than a more hysterical one that implied that menstrual blood is revolting (didn't use those words but you get the drift). Well that struck a nerve and the ensuing posts vehemently denied that they found menstrual blood

[communicator]

I think it is very common to cope with the anxiety that is universal to human beings by projecting the weakness or sin outwards onto someone less powerful than yourself. Women, black people, lower caste, working class: 'those people' are irrational, greedy, dirty, over-sexual, fleshy. It's so obviously the things we fear in ourselves. I mean, that man is himself full of blood.

I'm not criticising him in particular, it's common to all people.

[happytune]

To be fair the page owner was posting Mooncups as a great idea, rather than in a voyeuristic way, but he backed right away from the exchange as soon as any actual discussion of the processes involved began. It was the /women/ responding who were doing the sort of projection you're talking about here, which is interesting in itself...

[kerravonsen]

Your explanation makes a LOT more sense.

I also think that Evo Psych, by emphasising functional reproduction and de-emphasising social and emotional issues, is itself a way that men hide their own vulnerability. It is itself a strategy to reduce anxiety.

The Evo Psych of Evo Psych? (smirk)

[communicator]

I do think so. And I think that's why in the past I have had very angry reactions from men to criticism of evo psych. Why so they get to upset about this issue and not about all the other annoying things I say all the time :-)

[emmzzi]

I did not know e.p. existed and am glad I didn't.

Some men find menstrual blood icky. A few don't. In fairness its a strong colour and I can see it drying on your penis being mildly uncomfortable. And there's more laundry to do after than usual.

I'm going to suggest sex during menstruation continues to be avoided by liberated men who do their own laundry in a kind of evolutionary domesticity way. Evo Dom also explains the rise of the dishwasher and Nespresso machine. And the mini break; inevitably more sex will be had in a room someone else is cleaning with food someone else made.

[communicator]

'inevitably more sex will be had in a room someone else is cleaning with food someone else made'

This has been my experience to date

[steepholm]

The traditional Evo Psych explanation of the taboo against sex during menstruation you describe makes no sense at all. Yours does make sense, but it still seems fairly speculative. It's not too difficult to come up with others, e.g. that the possibility of consuming menstrual blood during cunnilingus associates it (and by extension sex during menstruation in general) with the taboo against cannibalism. This scientific theory took me all of 10 seconds' Deep Thought, and while there are probably good objections to it it illustrates my more general worry about Evo Psych - which is that even once you've brought in considerations of internal coherence and what sparse data we have from paleontology and present-day biology, the field for speculation seems too wide for much science to happen.

[communicator]

My 'blood/sex' conflict theory is an overshoot of an overarching theory which is that a great deal of human behaviour is about limiting anxiety, which would otherwise overwhelm us. I think that being an intelligent animal in a flesh body is an almost intolerable state. Your mention of cannibalism is really part of the same continent of mind, I think. Flesh, meat, pain, blood, death, sex. More accurately I think we are living on top of an emotional volcano, just trying to keep it under control.

But this is not scientific. I am not sure that science has the tools to make sense of this mess.

[steepholm]

I think that being an intelligent animal in a flesh body is an almost intolerable state.

Scientific or not, this rings very true.

[watervole]

Makes sense to me. I'd always assumed the taboo was blood related.

An evolutionary reason of avoiding 'unproductive sex' is even less likely as many women would have spent most of the lives pregnant or breast feeding and menstruation would have been relatively rare.

[communicator]

I never thought of that, but yes, it makes evolving a new module of mind from scratch even less likely.