Sex, Time, and Power
by Leonard Shlain
448 pages, US $17.00
A review by Cinthia Pacheco

Ranging from the orgasm to seeking true love, both sexes are aware of how their bodies naturally follow different paths. In Sex, Time, and Power, Leonard Shlain treads through the complex and fascinating interactions between men and women, observing the evolution of female and male sexuality from the prehistoric age through its effects on the progress of our species. It becomes very apparent that in order to understand the current state of male-female relationships, looking at Mother Nature’s original blueprints isn’t a bad idea.

The book provides the reader with a wide range of theories for certain sexual adaptations that seem to only exist in humans. Shlain proposes that one of the many reasons Homo sapiens rose above all other species was because our female ancestor, Gyna Sapiens, pushed him to adapt. Certain sexual behaviour, pressed onto her by Mother Nature, affected the relationship Gyna had with her body, and in turn, her sexual activity. Shlain provides many explanations for these adaptations.

Many women today feel that their period is an inconvenient burden. We can imagine that in prehistoric times, leaving blood trails wouldn’t have been a favourable adaptation, since attracting wild predators would have been dangerous. However, Mother Nature always seems to have an unexpected card up her proverbial sleeve. Because of the cyclic nature of menstruation and the moon, Shlain proposes that Gyna began to grasp the notion of what he calls deep time: being able to visualize possible future events. Gyna Sapiens began to draw the lines between her period, her sexual activity, getting pregnant, and the cycles of the moon. She saw that she could plan her future, which few other species did to such an extent. Once she confirmed these revolutionary thoughts with Homo, it also changed his perspective on his own existence. He suddenly became aware of his own mortality, or more importantly, the anticipation of it. He realized that if he stood by Gyna after having sex with her and helped her raise the born child, then a small part of him would continue on, long after his death. The importance of paternity to lessen the fear of mortality became evident in his life. Thus the family structure was born and Mother Nature understood that this would greatly improve the survival chances of the species, since both sexes had their own reasons for searching for a mate and maintaining regular sexual activity. Homo would protect Gyna from fearsome predators and Gyna would give Homo a lineage to pass on his genes.

Shlain does an amazing job of taking on the many aspects of this massive subject and gives us a clear picture of evolution over millions of years. He bravely examines various subjects, including homosexuality, masturbation, and incest. And although leaving some scientific loose ends, he really gives us a huge amount of information. While reading, many of the ideas seemed to make perfect sense in present day life and it personally changed my perspective on many stereotypical gender peculiarities revolving sexuality. Shlain skillfully puts us in the front row seat of Mother Nature’s evolutionary spectacle, depicting from the beginning all her evolutionary decisions to wire men and women so differently. Shlain explains how these decisions affect all aspects of our lives, including gender roles, to this day.

Cinthia Pacheco is a Canadian Expat living in Buenos Aires.

This book is available online at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sex-Time-Power-Sexuality-Evolution/dp/0142004677

Leonard Shlain’s blog, bio, and website are here: http://leonardshlain.com/blog/ and here: http://www.sextimeandpower.com/

Paperback edition (2004) from Penguin (Non-Classics). Hardcover edition (2003) from Viking.