You lost me with (e). The theory i heard was that women grew breasts because of the introduction of missionary style coitus, and the breasts mimick the buttocks. Sex at Dawn says in bonobo culture, the females prefer missionary style while the male prefer doggie fashion. Bonobos gaze into each others' eyes during sex play, as humans do (while other apes do not).
Yaaaas, this is a theory that Morgan debunks as well. (I ought to state here that I'm not saying that Mogan
has to be right: Morris theorises, Morgan theorises. It's just that I, personally, find Morgan's theories better thought out and more believable. I think that it's a shame that they aren't given more attention than they are. [You have to remember that all the "Tarzanists" - the ones who wrote books on the subject - were/are accredited professional evolutionists. Morgan was primarily a journalist and writer for television. So her theories came up against an elitist clique mentality: "Who does this amateur think she is, anyway?!"])
Why would babies prefer large breasts? They love mama's boobies no matter the size. Not all women have large breasts, there are many Acups and Bcups out there, and they all provide milk perfectly.
OK, you've challenged me on this, so I'm going to go into it in more detail. You have yourself (
as well as me) to blame:
From here on, to save trouble, I use the word "man" to also mean "man's ancestors".
1) Tarzanists: "In order to hunt, man had to run. Running with all that hair was hot work! So he got rid of it. That's why man is 'The Naked Ape'. However, at night the temperature really dropped! Early man didn't have insulated houses. So - to keep himself warm at night - he developed a 'blanket' of fat: excellent insulation!"
Morgan:
RIDICULOUS! What's the fastest running mammal? The cheetah. Has a cheetah shed her hair to keep cool while running?
+ What's the blooming point of shedding your hair for the sake of keeping cool on the hunt, while - at the same time - putting on a layer of fat to keep you warm at night??? A layer of fat that
not only is going to be a LOT more uncomfortably hot while running than any amount of hair would be,
but also is going to slow you down with all the extra kilos. Back to the cheetah: not a gram of useless fat on her.
Soooo... What kind of mammal has shed their hair (as being useless and - even more - an actual disadvantage) as well as putting on a layer of fat to keep warm (not only at night but at all times)?
Hmmm: whales, dolphins, seals, manatees... You get the picture?
In the water, being covered in hair is worse than useless, while - for warm-blooded mammals - a layer of fat is practically essential.
2) Morgan: This theory about fatty breasts being substitutes for fatty bums to keep the male interested in sex in the "missionary position" - evolution is a process that takes thousands of years. If a male didn't like the "m.p." because he couldn't see that arse
, the female
didn't have time to grow breasts to keep him on the job. Male primates are generally bigger and stronger than their females. If caveman really wanted to see arse, he would have snarled and flipped her over, "You'll do it my way and
like it!!!"
Added to that: just take a look at a chimpanzee's arse. Or a gorilla's. No fat for future breasts to mimic! The fat was getting deposited on the body at the same time. Some body parts got more than others. Why? Read on...
3) Evolution doesn't "just happen". You have to keep in mind that the first step in an evolutionary change is a mutation from the norm: an aberration... in fact – from the point of view of unmutated members of the species (at the very beginning of the process, the great majority) – a deformity. It is
only when this deformity causes its “sufferers” (or their children) to have a better chance of surviving (or having more children than the neighbours) that it stands any chance of becoming the norm – over a period of tens of thousands of years in the human race, though flies in a laboratory can be evolved at the will of the scientists within a few months. (The Nazis also carried out an attempt at controlled, speeded-up evolution to create their Master Race by the killing or forced sterilisation of “defectives”.)
4) So, to get back to your question, "Why would babies prefer large breasts? They love mama's boobies no matter the size." No question about it: They do! (Me too!
) It's not that babies prefer big breasts (or ever did): it's that at a crucial time in our prehistory, the children of larg(er)-breasted women had a better chance of survival... or perhaps an artist's role in their development.
Imagine this time when the evolving humans were living a semi-aquatic life, sitting around on stony beaches. (
Very interesting aside here: this explains the "missing link": ocean waves would have pulverised any skeletons left behind in this period. Carcasses would have been eaten by crabs or washed out to sea and been devoured by fish.) Fat is - over thousands of years - building up on men
and women. Those who chance to put an extra bit on the butt sat more comfortably on the rocks. Comfort leads to health leads to less sickness leads to longer life leads to more children leads to a bigger percentage of the gene pool.
Remember the concurrent loss of body hair? Let's go back and look at the hairy apes. Have you seen a picture of a baby ape suckling? What are its fingers doing? Right! They're entwined in mama's body hair holding on. Loosening hold means slipping off the tit more often means cranky babies means colicky babies means weaker children means more infant mortality and weaker resulting adults who died earlier. Now let's return to the beach and our "naked apes": What's baby to hang onto? The hair's fast disappearing (fast = thousands of years). Those mutant mothers who put on a little extra fat around the nipples ("We're putting on fat anyway: why not a bit extra here?") had happier, better-fed, healthier children... less infant mortality, healthier adults who lived longer, had more children, and a bigger percentage in the gene pool.
It's not inconceivable that the babies, tugging at the tit while fat was deciding where to deposit itself, acted as "body sculptors" as well.
This is a whole book I'm talking about and I'm only dealing with a few details. Morgan does an excellent job of weaving it all together. Consider the fact that I haven't had my hands on a copy of this book for decades! I'm paraphrasing from memory. That's the impression it left on me. Why do we squint? Why do we have protruding noses and not 2 holes in a flat face like other apes? (The proboscis monkey - which spends a good deal of time in water - is another exception to the rule.) Why do we have webbing between our fingers and toes instead of loooong separations that would be much more useful for almost any kind of work? (Clue:
except for swimming!) Why does women's hair get thicker and stronger during pregnancy? (And - in line with that last question - why does
MrFarFromRight refuse to shave off his unsightly beard {or at least keep it
trim}? [Because he loves babies!])
As I wrote earlier, if you're interested in the theories of "Sex At Dawn" [and I
do want to read it: my last post was rather tongue-in-cheek], I think that you'll be fascinated by "The Descent Of Woman".