Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Are We Naturally Monogamous? Consider "The Coolidge Effect!"

Many of us living in this modern-day Western civilization take monogamy for granted. This is especially true for most Christians... even though Abraham, King David, Solomon, and other Bible heroes were polygamous.

Regardless of whether you believe in polygamy, polyamory, or swinging, chances are, most people you know outside of your subculture regard your non-orthodox lifestyle as an aberration. Welcome to the club.

Consider "The Coolidge Effect"

One of the biggest challenges to the notion that humans are naturally monogamous is what is known in scientific circles as "The Coolidge Effect." In biology and psychology, this term describes a peculiar phenomena seen in nearly every species whereby males show continuously high sexual performance given the introduction of new receptive females.

The term "Coolidge Effect" originated as a joke. Legend has it that President Coolidge and his wife were visiting a chicken farm. Mrs. Coolidge asked her tour guide how often their roosters have sex.

"Several times a day," was the reply.

"Be sure to tell that to my husband," the First Lady insisted.

Later, the tour guide relayed her message to the president.

"Mr. President, your wife asked me to give you this message. She insisted that I tell you that our roosters have sex several times a day."

"With the same hen?" President Coolidge asked.

"Oh no, Mr. President... with different hens. Roosters like variety."

"Well, you be sure to tell THAT to the First Lady."

Many Christians who are critical of multi-partner love styles might agree that most men, and even many women, have a natural proclivity for a variety of sex partners. But they would also insist that that proclivity is a result of The Fall. They claim that God made us monogamous, but when we inherited Adam's sinful, fallen nature, a lust for variety became a part of our fallen state.

I, on the other hand, believe that variety is the spice of life, not only in other aspects of life, such as food, entertainment, and other pastimes, but for sexual partners as well. Of course, sexual variety must be used responsibly.

That's my opinion. What's yours?


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