Thursday , March 01, 2007 at 10 : 07

Biology versus Law

In the days prior to Christ, many believed homosexuality and unnatural sex like sodomy were
horrendous crimes. Bible says that God even punished Sodom and Gomorra by fire from heaven,
because they practiced homosexuality and anal sex. During the times of Jesus Christ and before,
and in many countries even today, adultery is an offence punishable with death. Even the Indian
Penal Code holds anal sex, homosexuality and adultery, all as punishable offences.

But, ought these sexual offences really be offences at all? And will they remain as an offence,
fifty years from now? The answer to the first question to the vast majority of the masses could
only be a definite "yes". The answer to the second question could be a definite "no". The concept
of morality, right from the day when man moved out of his caves and lived as a society, evolved
around sex. In the early stages of civilization or may be till very recently, the mighty, the rich
and the powerful, always had the absolute freedom to enjoy any woman of his choice. Polyandry
was the order. Monogamy became a virtue with the spread of Christianity and with the
Europeans gaining control over the world by colonizing it. The Victorian Christian morality of
monogamy became the universal yardstick of morality, though, monogamy is completely at
variance with the way men's brains were "wired" or "programmed" by our genes.

Today scientists tell us that we humans have evolved from small mammals to monkeys, to ape to
man. We are also told that 96% of the genes of pigs, 97.5% of Gorillas and 98.4% of
Chimpanzees and of us are the same. We both men and women behave the way our brains have
been "wired" over the millions of years. Like any other mammal, say lion, stallion, bull, tusker, a
man too is aggressive. His first lookout is for food and then sex. Studies in mammals, say lions,
cheetahs, stallions, bull, etc. and in humans have shown that like mammals the brain of man too
is "wired" to impregnate as many healthy women as possible. A stallion, which is tired of mating
the same female, will still enthusiastically mount on a new mare, if offered. One needs to visit
the Pune's Stud Farms to observe this. A man who is happily married and had repeated satisfying
sex with his wife would still be readily willing to mate if a healthy young woman is available. If
he does not, it is not because he is not enthusiastic of the idea, but of external factors like, social
environment, morality, religion etc. If he does not get enthused, it could be that the testosterone
level in him is much lower. Almost 20% of men constitute this category of homosexuals and
men of abnormally low libido.
A woman is not as polygamous as a man, except, a nymphomaniac, who constitutes only a small
minority. The sexual drive in woman is low compared to a man. This is because the area devoted
to sex in her brain is only 40% of that of a man. The brains of men and women are different. A
man can have sex without love and can have a perfectly enjoyable sex with a woman who is a
total stranger to him. Otherwise, red light streets would have been empty. The areas of his brain
dealing with sex and love are different and unconnected unlike in women. The MRI/PET scans
establish this. He behaves exactly like any dominant male mammal like lion, bull, ox, dog or
rhino. All that his unconscious mind looks for is whether the woman is capable of conception.
And a woman with 7 to 10 ratio of waist to hips is the woman with right curves, the healthiest
and most ideal for conception. That is why belly dance where the curves are exposed is highly
popular among men. Sex in woman is more in her ears. For a man it is much in his eyes. That is
why men are so fond of nudity and throughout the history they were after pretty woman and
fought many battles to possess them. Not alone men even the Gods, for Gods after all is only an
imagination of man. A woman cannot think of sex without love for the areas of her brain relating
to love and sex are interconnected.

That is why she cannot condone her man who has an adulterous relationship with another woman
even when he swears that he has only a mere physical sex and no emotional relationship. She can
think of sex only if she loves a man. She therefore does not believe him and breaks the
relationship. Scientists say all relationships are initiated by men and broken by women.

A woman looks for emotional relationship, for a man who will protect her and her offspring
during her pregnancy and thereafter. It is believed that humans could evolve from monkeys to a
more intelligent species, homo sapiens, as over millions of years woman opted for intelligent
men to mate with, than those merely stout. In those days women did consider the physical
prowess of the men as well. Because the world then was full of dangers and her men ought to be
fit enough to fight or chase away predators. The modern women too look for the physical
strength in a man. Her unconscious mind can in 3 seconds decode the state of a man's immune
system and find him attractive only if his immune system is complimentary to or stronger than of
her own. She is attracted by men who are more resourceful, rich and powerful. That is why we
often find Presidents and Prime Ministers and business tycoons and celebrities embroiled in sex
scandal. High testosterone leads to success. Success leads to still higher testosterone levels. It is a
pity to see them fall in disgrace as they cannot control their sex drive.

During the primitive days like in mammals, many men who were not strong and dominant
enough were to die as virgins. Among mammals only the strongest alone can enjoy sex. And it
has to prove itself to be so. They in the process get seriously maimed or even get killed as right
to sex is exclusive to the winner. Females among some mammals like rhinos, dogs, etc. would
still demand the successful male further establish the quality of its genes by making it further run
for hours before sex. The nature may be cruel but it has a purpose. It wants the best genes alone
to go down so that the species could continuously improve its strength and quality so that it does
not get extinct. It also wants the strongest male with the best genes to sow it as vast as it could by
impregnating as many females as possible. This has precisely happened in human as well. Had
the weak and the meek equal sexual rights as the strong and powerful, the human species would
not have survived. Today DNA helps us to trace the ancestry of a man to hundreds of years in the
history. Scientists today could trace the DNA to the great warrior,Genghis Khan Mangolia. It
appears that, during his life he had mated hundreds of women and he had thousands of children.

Science also tells us that woman seduces man and more so during ovulation and virtually jumps
on him at that point of time where she has the highest chance of conception. How does a woman
seduce a man? Her "unconscious mind" tells her that for a man what is paramount in him is not
her richness, background and education but her curves, her healthy body. A man thinks about sex
every 58 seconds and young men in their early 20s, with the high flow of testosterone in the
blood, gets erection at every 5 minutes. So a woman seduces a man with her body, exposing her
nakedness and showing her curves. Scientists have observed that woman on ovulations wears the
most sexually explosive or seductive dress. She would wear the shortest of skirt and the top that
would expose her assets. All this is not done by her conscious mind.

The seduction she resorts to she may not be realizing. Like animals, though in much lesser
degree, we humans too have ability to assess the quality of genes of the opposite sex. An
unconscious mind of a woman can gauge the immunity system of a man. Like that men too
unconsciously get attracted to a woman who is ovulating. Our unconscious mind makes most of
these decisions, both in men and women. However, we are unaware of that. Our society which is
unduly influenced by the conservative Victorian Christian values and Islamic influence cannot
reconcile with these basic biological factors.

Sex is the most passionate instinct in humans, next only to food. All the laws which the society
had imposed on him are against his biology. Human beings are no longer the cave men; we
cannot allow our behaviour to be solely guided by biology. If that were so, like the mammals, we
will fight, kill or maim the competitor for sex. Even the word 'competitor' is incorrect. Male
mammals, say a lion, stallion, bull or a monkey, which is closely related to humans, will fight to
death for sex even when plenty of females are around for both the fighting males to mate with.
Here, the nature wants only the strongest alone to procreate so that the best genes are passed
down and the species constantly improve.

It is the very testosterone which is the cause for all sexual crimes and aggressiveness that has
helped the human species to survive, fighting and killing enemies and dangers. However, in the
modern world, unlike primitive days, testosterone has much less utility. Man today is facing a
role reversal. He cannot succeed in life with aggressiveness. In many a business and profession
to be successful, he needs to learn to handle things with smoothness and gentleness, the womanly
skills. In the jungle world, his survival depended on his physical strength. Today his success
depends on his ability to communicate soothingly. However, his brain is not wired for that.
Millions of years he has spent in the jungles speechlessly for hours waiting for his prey. Today,
the men's brain which is wired to lead a life in the jungle, hunting animals, is unsuitable for most
of the modern day avocations. His spatial skills' use is limited to jobs requiring navigational
skills. He could be good in engineering, mathematics, science, driving, sports, etc. But, in all
other areas, men stand to great disadvantages. The government and the societies should
recognize this biological incompatibility of a modern man with the surroundings he lives. And
the laws should be shaped accordingly.
Unfortunately, the Courts and the law makers are completely disconnect with this reality. The
Supreme Court, disturbed by the "growing" sexual harassment in work places, made a law
banning sexual harassment in its celebrated judgment in Visakha's case. It defined sexual
harassment as an "unwelcome, sexually determined:
(a) physical contact and advances,
(b) demand or request for sexual favors and
(c) sexually colored remarks or any other physical/verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual
nature".

This judgment of the Supreme Court is a much hailed one. It certainly is entitled for such
acclaim going by the accepted social norms. But the said judgment is in complete disconnect
with the biology. All men ogle at woman. And in terms of the Supreme Court's dictum, it is a
sexual harassment. Woman too ogles at men. But they are never caught, because women with
their wider peripheral vision can see all of a man without being seen as staring at him.

Men commit most crimes, murder, robbery, etc. He is unable to shape himself to the requirement
of modern society. Because of the way his brain is wired, he continues to violate the sexual
mores of the society. Even eminent men like John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton etal are accused of
being adulterous. Young men harass and sometimes even rape women. No law made by the
society, however stringent, could be a solution. Repressive laws and social ethos can only
aggravate the situation. Testosterone needs an outlet. That is good sex. And good sex is a health
tonic too. Where sexual opportunities are repressed, the men find an outlet in aggression, crime
and destructiveness.

We need a liberal approach to sexual morality as we cannot bring down the crimes and
aggressiveness in our men by injecting estrogen, a soothing female hormone, except may be in
the case of aggressive prisoners. It is equally unscientific to control the aggressiveness, crimes,
particularly relating to sex by laws which are absolutely in disconnect with our biology. The
Supreme Court in banning ogling, touching, sexually coloured remarks, etc., has completely
ignored the biology. It is like expecting a lion not to taste meat. The biology of man requires him
to take the initiative in a sexual relation with a woman. The woman's biology welcomes it.
"Oxytocin", a hormone in women, generates a desire to be touched. Woman welcomes and
enjoys all the sexual initiative by men, unless it denigrates into a crass behavior. Being ignored
by men could even affect the psyche of a woman very badly.

The whole judgment was based on the Victorian concept of sexuality. The whole world today
value the liberal sexual mores of India, the land of kamasutra and Ajanta caves. The fact that
human beings are also mammals guided by our genes and our sexual behavior is guided by our
unconscious mind based on the wiring of our brain was completely forgotten. Our unconscious
mind which works at a supersonic speed cannot be influenced by any law or any judgment. The
judgment of the Supreme Court has not helped in any manner in reducing sexual harassment at
work places. And it will not. But, what is required is an attempt to evolve our social values in
consonance with our biology and to make laws recognizing it. Our laws need to be completely
overhauled. The all emphasis ought not to be on punishing people. Or in defining more heads of
sexual offences or prescribing harsher punishment. The remedy lies in promoting liberal
thinking. Accepting sex as a fact of life and not as a sin. And bringing in sexual education from
upper primary classes and evolving a healthy concept of sex. Sex is so complex that no society
could ever be free of sex related problems. Sexual problems and disorders ought to be accepted
with a broader mind. Many sexual problems are amenable for treatment. They can be cured by
medication and also by psychotherapy. The root cause of sexual offences should also be
addressed. Rejection and lack of touch and love and violence at young ages produces sex
offenders. Even pet patting therapy has worked wonders among sex offenders.

No law can suppress sexual desire or aggressiveness. On the contrary, a liberal society can better
manage the male aggressiveness. Prostitution is the oldest of professions. It is made a crime in
India. Not because, the Indian culture and tradition disapproved it. Prostitution was made an
offence because of the British. British did so in those days because of the influence of the
medieval Christianity on the then British society. For the medieval Christianity, sex was a sin.
And the only exception was sex for procreation. Homosexuality was forbidden. Sodomy was
unnatural sex. Oscar Wild had to go to jail for homosexuality. The British have changed with the
times. Homosexuality is no more an offence. Sodomy is no more an unnatural sex and
prostitution is not a great taboo. But India, after independence, refused to evolve into a liberal
society. The British are only strict about pedophilia. But we are least concerned about that. We
are concerned more about the morality of dance bars. We need to make an honest introspection.
We must take a break from our hypocrisy. All men commit adultery at heart. They cannot be
blamed for that because that is in their genes. But we must show the honesty to publicly standby
what privately we swear. Those who for moral reasons still cannot think of legitimization of
prostitution need only think of the words of Christ "whichever among you who have not sinned
shall throw the first stone at her".

In India, Bombay is a case in hand. Unlike Delhi, prostitution is open and accepted by all, though
not yet by law. And Bombay has fewer sexual crimes than Delhi where tracking prostitution in
hushed up places is a lucrative business for the Police. Pedophilia, to my mind, is the most
horrendous crime. They do it because of genetic disorders. They cannot distinguish between a
matured woman and a child. But whatever be the reason, we cannot allow a pedophile to be let
loose. The Police and the society must protect our innocent kids and girls from Pedophiles,
rapists and other sex maniacs as if from a poisonous snake. Keep them in jail, treat them
recognizing that their crime is because of their genes or upbringing, both. And don't release them
till they are completely cured even if it means a life imprisonment.

Moralists and conservatives could ask: Are we humans mere animals? Hasn't God given us the
power of knowing evil and good? The answer is: All will depend upon our genes. If our genes
have that ability, we will. If not, not. May be, nature could also play a small role. Christ did not
endorse any punishment by man. He abhorred judging another. Great as he was, he knew the
futility of punishment and asked for forgiveness of the sinner. He practiced it to perfection by his
last words on the cross: Lord forgive them for they know not what they are doing.

(Mathew Nedumpara is a corporate lawyer and lives his life shuttling between Mumbai, New
Delhi and Cochin)