Sex and Culture by J.D. Unwin
Review by Kirk Durston.
Unwin examines the data from 86 societies and civilizations to see if there is a relationship between sexual freedom and the flourishing of cultures. What makes the book especially interesting is that we in the West underwent a sexual revolution in the late 1960’s, 70’s, and 80’s and are now in a position to test the conclusions he arrived at more than 40 years earlier.
https://www.kirkdurston.com/blog/unwin
A few days ago I finished studying Sex and Culture for the second time. It is a remarkable book summarizing a lifetime of research by Oxford social anthropologist J.D. Unwin.[1] The 600+ page book is, in Unwin’s words, only a “summary” of his research—seven volumes would be required to lay it all out.[2] His writings suggest he was a rationalist, believing that science is our ultimate tool of inquiry (it appears he was not a religious man). As I went through what he found, I was repeatedly reminded of the thought I had as a philosophy student: some moral laws may be designed to minimize human suffering and maximize human flourishing long term.
zoistic: Entirely self-focussed on day-to day-life, wants, and needs, with no interest in understanding nature. Described as a “dead culture” or “inert”.
monistic: Acquire superstitious beliefs and/or special treatment of the dead to cope with the natural world.
deistic: Attribute the powers of nature to a god or gods
rationalistic: Use rational thinking to understand nature and to make day-to-day decisions.
Unwin’s degrees of sexual restraint
Degrees of sexual restraint were divided into two major categories—prenuptial and postnuptial.
Prenuptial categories were:
- Complete sexual freedom—no prenuptial restraints at all
- Irregular or occasional restraint— cultural regulations require an occasional period of abstinence
- Strict Chastity —remain a virgin until married
Postnuptial categories were:
- Modified monogamy: one spouse at a time, but association can be terminated by either party.
- Modified polygamy: men can have more than one wife, but a wife is free to leave her husband.
- Absolute monogamy: only one spouse permitted for life (or until death in some cultures)
- Absolute polygamy: men can have more than one wife, but wives must “confine their sexual qualities (i.e., activity) to their husband for the whole of their lives.”
Page 145
So far as sexual regulations are concerned we shall continue to confine our attention to pre-nuptial regulations, for if the members of any society permit pre-nuptial sexual freedom the character of their post-nuptial regulations does not seem to affect their behaviour: if the young men and women have been allowed to satisfy their impulses as soon as they reach puberty, their mental processes have been shaped already into a zoistic mould; if they have been compelled to suffer an irregular or occasional continence, their mental processes have been shaped into a manistic mould; if pre-nuptial chastity (in my sense of the word) has been the rule, the mental processes have been shaped into a deistic mould.
Page 400
A cultural advance is not uniform throughout a society, and in a developed society the members of an organised profession can often throw dust in the eyes of the mob.
Page 477
Dr Freud says: “We believe that civilization has been built up by sacrifices in gratification of the primitive impulses, and that it is to a great extent for ever being recreated as each individual repeats the sacrifice of his instinctive pleasures for the common good. The sexual are amongst the most important of the instinctive forces thus utilized: they are in this way sublimated, that is to say, their energy is turned aside from its sexual goal and diverted towards other ends, no longer sexual and socially more valuable.”
ref: W.H.R Rivers, Instinct and Unconscious
Page 526
In a society which has permitted pre-nuptial sexual freedom for at least three generations, any young female can indulge in any sexual play of any kind whatever; she can also have intercourse with any young male. Mutual consent is the sole consideration. Both the female and the male are free from any restraint; they are not troubled by any of those strong emotions which arise in the hearts of those whose adolescent impulses have been checked. From earliest childhood they indulge in any sexual play that attracts them; they notice the contempt which their elders express for the boy or girl who fails to attract the opposite sex; they hear the joking remarks which are passed by adult members of the community when a young female feels and obeys an urge towards any young man or has any sexual play with him. They live in an atmosphere of care-free indulgence; and if they feel a desire they satisfy it at once.
Page 562
The repressed desires of its leading members are manifested in a lust for power; ardent men explore new countries which hitherto have remained unvisited because the necessary urge was absent; vigorous individuals dominate their fellow citizens and lead them forward on a career of conquest and triumph; the eyes of thoughtful men are lifted beyond the horizon which their fathers regarded as the limits of the earth.
Page 634
If, however, the unsatisfied requirements are those of sex, and if these cannot be directly satisfied, some satisfaction must be sought elsewhere. And the evidence is that the effect of this dissatisfaction is to awaken the potential powers to which I have referred, and to create what I have called human energy.
Page 645
Furthermore, no man has yet proved that human energy is a desirable thing.
Page 665
note 16: The question of ‘group-marriage’ and/or ‘sexual promiscuity’ has been discussed by
E. Westermark, History of Human Marriage. i. 103-25; iii. 223-66;
R. Briffault, The Mothers. i. 614-781;
J.G. Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy. iv. 139 ff., 151;
idem, Folk-Lore in the Old Testament, ii.203 f., 229 ff.,
ON MY KINDLE: https://read.amazon.com/?asin=B081734V5W&language=en-US