It's evolution, my genes cannot help it!

The perfect excuse for cheating men and single men who prefer to pay for sex rather than enter into long-term relationships has just become available courtesy of a study conducted by Michael Gumert of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Gumert studied the behaviour patterns of long-tailed Macaques monkeys in the forests of Central Kalimantan...The study found that on average the female of the species had sex or offered sex at a rate of about 1.5 times per hour. However, this is not the most interesting part of the study!

The study found that the rate increased significantly if the female had been groomed by the male Macaque seeking the sexual favour...Yet, the study gets even more interesting when it explores the basic economics of supply and demand in sexual transactions. Simply, when there was an over-abundance of females in the immediate vicinity the cost of sex would drop to eight minutes of grooming. However, when there were limited females present in the area the female understood the value of her service and the grooming required before sexual favours become available jumped to 16 minutes.

I wonder does dinner and a movie equate to grooming in the Macaque? If it does then I guess a great majority of us would be guilty of either paying for sex or accepting payment for sex...then again if the courtship is a lot longer than one dinner and one movie maybe then both parties are entitled to a long-term monogamous partnership / marriage? Maybe I should have continued in my psychology studies after the first year of university way back when so that I could be a chance of figuring this out...Nevertheless, sexual behaviour of humans has been well-documented, particularly since the release of the Kinsey Report in 1948.

So, what does the study tell us? That sex for money is not only the oldest human profession but perhaps the oldest profession amongst our primate relatives! But is it really as simple as economic principles of supply and demand; do Macaques really care about economics?

It seems the perfect excuse has been found--it's in the evolutionary genes, men cannot help themselves (well, maybe some can but there are always exceptions to the rule, right?)...To each their own. I guess if you need an excuse you now have one!