Everything a man does he does to get laid

Everything a man does he does to get laid

10 Dec 2009

Initial Vote: Agree 265, Disagree 178, Undecided 82

Final Vote: Agree 199, Disagree 330, Undecided 34

This debate was our third ever live-streamed event on this website.

Rod Liddle begins the case for the proponents of the motion. He highlights the attitudes of different genders towards sex, noting that whilst women have become less chaste in recent times, men are more single-minded in their will to sleep with as many different partners as possible. Liddle sees the concept of 'romantic love' as a veneer used by humanity - and by men in particular - to convince ourselves that we are not biologically and mechanistically driven towards sex, but insists that ultimately men are gentically driven towards this pursuit.

In opposing the motion, Rowan Pelling targets the British man in particular in her argument, noting that in Britain, it is frustrated women who will do almost anything to get laid. She begins by outlining the British male's characteristic ambivalence toward sex in literature and other media, from Sherlock Holmes to Dr Who. At heart, she says, men want to live with their best friends, not with women - just look at all the things men do to make themselves less atrractive to women - trainspotting, computer games, etc. All of Britain's great historical figures, from Shakespeare to Churchill, achieved what they did because they delib erately avoided spending too much time with women.

Arguing in favour of the motion, Satoshi Kanazawa points out that as humans are no different to any other species in being governed by the laws of nature, they too are driven, through evolutionary urges, towards 'reproductive success'. However, the fact that mating is essentially a female choice means that males are driven to great lengths to impress women, by writing symphonies, authoring books, or conquering lands.

Rejecting the motion, Howard Jacobson begins by stating that in Britain, men do not "get laid' - "they make love". He makes the point that if all you wanted to do was "pull a bird", then there are easier ways to do it than painting the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel. Humanity has also discovered sexual activites that hold no possibility of reproduction - a man having sex with another man is not striving for reproductive success, for instance. For men, sex is something that has to be done only so it is over with, leaving them free to do other things.

David Buss draws on his experience of teaching evolutionary psychology to suggest that, for females, there are many variables to consider when choosing a mate - males look for a more limited range of qualities. Men are also more inclined to sleep with strangers, and often exaggerate their athletic, intellectual, or physical prowess to impress women. Buss suggests that these differences arose because men can afford to sleep with as many mates as possible - indeed, it is in their evolutionary interests to do so. However, whilst the male's contribution to a pregnancy might only last minutes, the female has to consider her choice of mate carefully before beginning a nine-month pregnancy. This difference in attitudes towards reproduction means that men try to propagate their genes as frequently as possible.

Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic argues that the motion is impossible to prove or disprove scientifically. He suggests that it has no predictive value, as most of the time when people do things with a view to get laid, they don't end up achieving their goal anyway. As Chamorro-Premuzic points out, Sigmund Freud suggested that Leonardo da Vinci achieved so much because he was asexual.

We apologise that due to technical difficulties at the venue, there is only audio for the final third of this IQ2 video. We would also like to extend our apologies to the audience watching the debate live online, who experienced similar problems.