Physician/author to discuss women's sexuality in Tempe
By BETTY WEBB
Get Out
Oct. 24, 2003

Dr. Leonard Shlain’s “Sex, Time and Power: How Women’s Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution” is certain to rile the almost unrile-able.
In his latest book, Shlain, also the author of “The Alphabet Versus the Goddess,” makes the case that women evolved reason before men did. He also says that women’s monthly cycles created the aspect of time, and that misogynistic religions and societies are not only the result of men’s fear of death, but also fear of women’s sexual power.

“There seems to be no middle ground in peoples’ approach to my books, especially this one,” says Shlain, a surgeon practicing in Mill Valley, Calif. “Those that hate ‘Sex, Time and Power’ say I should stick to medicine. Those that like it say that for the first time, someone has actually explained why human beings mate so differently than do the animals.”

Shlain points out that at some point during human evolution, females noticed that shortly after intercourse, they became pregnant. They also noticed that the pregnancies frequently ended in death for the woman.

“Woman figured out pretty early that sex could kill them, or that at the very least, they’d wind up saddled with a tiny little creature that depended on them for everything. So women began to withhold sex until they could judge the character of the males who wanted to mate with them. Which male would stick around and help out? Which one just wanted to have fun, and then disappear? Once a woman had a likely candidate, she needed to find a way to negotiate him — so speech was born.”

This means that the first human conversations were most probably about sex, Shlain says.
Soon, though, men began to resent the power women had over them. After all, if men didn’t prove adept at bringing home the bacon (or mammoth meat), their chances for obtaining females — and subsequently, offspring — weren’t good.
“So men began saying things like, ‘Okay, I’ll stick around and take care of you and feed you and the babies, but the babies had better be mine. If they’re not, I’ll stone you to death.’ ”

Not surprisingly, patriarchal religion developed not long after the bargain was struck.

HEAR DR. SHLAIN

Dr. Leonard Shlain discusses and signs his book, “Sex, Time and Power: How Women’s Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution,” 7 p.m. Tuesday at Changing Hands, 6428 S. McClintock Dr., Tempe, .