From Human Rutting Periods To Permanent Sexual Life

( Originally Published 1940 )

When in the course of evolution the sexual form of reproduction appeared as the latest novelty, it was certainly at first quite an exceptional phenomenon, such as very primitive organisms even now only occasionally display. And even later, amongst the more highly organised creatures, the sexual life does not function in a continuous manner.

The majority of phanerogamous plants bloom only once in their lives, others only once a year, and many animal species mate only once in their life; most of them only once or twice a year. That is the period of their greatest development of energy; many species of insects only get their wings at that time, many birds then display their brightest colours, it is then that we hear in their music their song of joy in the intoxication of passion.

Even the highest species of animals are then so dazzled by his passion and tire themselves out so thoroughly that in a very short time they are quite exhausted. Many males die off as soon as the reproductive duty of their lives has been accomplished; and in any case after this extreme exhaustion a considerable time elapses before the males have regained their usual strength, and before the females have recovered from egg-laying or bearing and suckling their young. So it is easily comprehensible why in the case of most animal species such long rest-periods are necessary, and sexual excitement and activity manifest themselves in a new rutting period only after a considerable interval. Then the sexual life emerges with overwhelming force, but does not last long, and the whole species sinks into sexual apathy once more.

In domesticated animals, i.e., those living in a tame condition, whose impulsive reflexes have been inhibited for ages, we observe a quite different picture. Here there is no such violent sexual crisis nor such exhaustion, but the act occurs much more frequently. When the females of our domestic animals are in heat and a single coitus does not bring about the desired result, phenomena analogous to menstruation may be observed periodically every 3 or 4 weeks, until, as a consequence of repeated copulation, pregnancy occurs. We observe the same menstrual phenomena regularly in the anthropoid apes, the gorilla, chimpanzee and orang-utang, in the zoological gardens.

So it is not surprising that in human beings with our milder manner of living and regular customs, and a certain amount of self-control, our women-folk show the same menstrual type. And their capacity for pregnancy and their sexual desire are normally constantly present, even if less evident in the middle of the inter-menstrual period.

As a reminiscence of the oestrus or heat period, many women even now only feel desire during their menstruation; which was of old their time for intercourse and increased fertility.

The same story of evolution, this shortening of the interval, is almost more manifest in man than in woman; and it is the more striking because amongst animals the male is the more aggressive and impulsive in his wooing. While they live in the wild state this is only true of them at the rutting period; otherwise they are impotent and sexually apathetic. Our domesticated animals, however, such as the stallion and the house dog, "always libidinous and ready to cover." So in human beings the frequency of the sexual act may be very high at all times, sexual excitability is almost constantly present. Yet only man has learnt that he can control himself without outside compulsion, and when required can either live in abstinence or be sexually active.

Man appears, however, to have reached this highest stage of sexual evolution only relatively late, so that we are still able to observe in historic times a reminiscence of the more primitive period. Amongst the most primitive savage races, and also amongst ourselves in some isolated districts many reminiscences may still be found of the folk-festivals of earlier times in which, amongst the members of certain groups or tribes a sort of promiscuity (freedom of sexual intercourse between all the parties) was the custom, as though it were a fixed law of nature, intimately connected with the original social organisation of group-life. Because these public festivals took place from time immemorial at certain sea-sons of the year, they also indicate a sort of official rutting period for human sexual intercourse in the primitive epochs, at certain seasons. In some parts of the world the nature-festival was held in spring or early summer, when the whole of nature awakens to renewed life; in other places, however, in autumn with its abundance of food and drink. Frequently these fairs were met with in both seasons.

Thus we see the rutting period in primitive human society occurring twice in the year; we see a reminiscence of this today in registry office records, at least in Rotterdam, where the birth statistics point to two periods of the year in which the number of conceptions falls to a minimum, viz.: the depth of winter and the height of summer.

But in the course of time man became less animal, the group organisation gradually changed into a geographical communal organisation; conscious behaviour took the place of instinctive acts to a greater extent, and this sexual resemblance to animals naturally tended to disappear. Culturally man became more domesticated. With his higher reasoning powers he has learnt to control his desires and thus to increase and multiply his pleasure. No longer a solitary bestial intoxication as in these annual festivals, followed by a year of dull depression, but always cheerful and sexually excitable.

This controlling of the sexual impulse, one might almost say, this normalisation of the sexual passion, is one of the greatest victories of the human over the animal. The energy and excitation of animals is a fierce flame of but very short duration, but a normal man is always excited, industrious, full of energy and sympathy. Man's whole appearance points to this. His upright carriage, an attitude that dates from the tree-climbing period and was later perfected by the use of weapons of offence and defence, an attitude which is only assumed by our domestic animals at the moment of the procreative act, is frequently to be observed among the higher species of apes, but the upright posture first became habitual in mankind, always energetic, ready for the fight or for procreation. So this attitude is always a symbol of our lofty dignity. Only the child, being asexual, still crawls on four legs, as his ancestors once did.