The Birds And The Bees

Disclaimer: The missive to follow is a bit tongue in cheek and in no way an attempt to justify infidelity.

I'm 53 now. Finished with that change of life thing. Hormones don't rule me on a monthly basis. I don't have to scrounge for feminine products every 28 days. There are other not so fun things that come with aging but I can roll with those. Life is good.

But what I want to talk about is nature. Biology. Men and women. Now that my hormones are all dried up, I see many things differently. I'm past the days when there's a biological clock ticking in my head. But I clearly remember when I heard that ticking. I look at the choices that I made back then and wonder what the hell I was thinking. I married the wrong man for the wrong reasons. Sure, many of my bad decisions were based on psychological and societal influences but now I know that the foundation of all that crap was nature. Biology. Maybe I watch too much Animal Planet. Although humans are the most evolved animals on this earth, the long and the short of it is that we're animals first. Ruled by the drive to continue the species. Hence our sex drive. I used to wonder why God made men and women so different in nature. Going back to Genesis, was it Eve's temptation and sin? At the risk of offending folks, I think that is a fable. The reason is biology. God given biology of course. Quantum physics is evidence of God; evidence of a divine plan, but I digress.

Nature creates the urge to continue the species and keep it strong and healthy. This applies to homo sapiens as well. I believe that woman, who carries the offspring, is innately programmed to sustain the strength of the species. Woman is wired to be selective. She needs her child to be strong. So she selects the best mate to assure that strength. Man, however, is wired to spread his seed and offspring in as many places as he is allowed. Man's contribution to this whole deal is to have sex as often as possible with as many women as possible.

So here we are, men and women thinking that we're so different. We are. It's not to punish one another. It's just the way we're programmed to perpetuate the species. When a man is inclined to sleep with a variety of women, it's said that he's a dog. Can't keep his penis in his pants. He can't help it. It's nature. Women are different. Women must be selective and sometimes that screening process includes that men possess certain characteristics. If they don't have them, then there's no sex. It can be said of women that all they want is to get married. Or she's a prude. Or there are always strings attached when a woman wants to have sex. It's nature.

As I said earlier, we are the most evolved animals on earth. And that's where the problems begin. We're pack animals and therefore have a society. And societies have rules. Our human society has created some convoluted, wackadoodle rules that make us all crazy sometimes. Both sexes. I'm not necessarily saying that our pack rules are wrong. But I think we all would benefit from being cognizant of what's happening on our very basic level of existence. Could it be that men and women would understand one another just a little better if we were more aware of our biology?