[alt.aquaria] Sex and Science

pa1179@sdcc15.ucsd.edu (pa1179) (11/15/88)

In article  <406@h-three.UUCP>, james@h-three.UUCP (james) writes:
>I have always thought that a side effect (benefit?) of castration as
>punishment was supposed to be that the reduced level of testosterone
>reduced the agressiveness of the offender.
>
>If this is true, then it might work anyway.  The offender would have
>less urge to do something violent.
>
>Everybody knows ( :-) ) that if you have a cat that goes out and gets
>in lots of fights and you get him fixed he stops wandering off and
>generally becomes much calmer.

First of all, human beings are not cats--not rats, dogs, or apes
either.  I'm not saying that all animal studies are stupid, just
lets be a little more careful before we stretch our conclusions way
out of proportion.  Testing drugs for potentially harmful side
effects is not the same thing as predicting human behavior from
animal behavior.  The next thing you know, we will be aquitting
rapists because they "couldn't help themselves".  (Studies have been
done on rape in insects and ducks with conclusions relating to human
rape.  And a woman was released from a murder charge in England
because of PMS.)

Human females do not go into heat.  (Please leave out all the stupid
comments here.)  The point is, biologically, women do not go into
heat like a cat does.  The mating behavior of men also is not the
same as cats.  It certainly hasn't been "proven" (if such a thing is
poosible) that human males get into fights because of testosterone.
I'm not saying studies haven't been done that may claim this.  All
you have to do is push any semi-controverial conclusion that
mentions SEX and you get to be on Geraldo.

In the name of science, we are turning people into objects instead
of subjects.  No I'm not knocking science, just how we are making
science into a kind of god.  I think if we spent more time
concentrating on the people we are making love to and less time on
the act itself, we might not have these sexual hangups that cause us
to have to think rape is a sexual crime instead of a violent crime.
Chemicals may be involved, but people make and experience love.

						Johnny Quest

mmccann@hubcap.UUCP (Mike McCann) (11/16/88)

Newsgroups: alt.sex,alt.aquaria,comp.sys.mac
Subject: Sex and Science (Was Re: Rape: Sex or Violence)
Message-ID: <730@sdcc15.ucsd.edu>
Date: 15 Nov 88 06:12:33 GMT
References: <10875@cup.portal.com> <4509@boulder.Colorado.EDU> <406@h-three.UUCP>
Reply-To: pa1179@sdcc15.UUCP (John)
Organization: University of California, San Diego
Lines: 41

In article  <406@h-three.UUCP>, james@h-three.UUCP (james) writes:
>I have always thought that a side effect (benefit?) of castration as
...content deleted...

First of all, human beings are not cats--not rats, dogs, or apes
...content deleted...
						Johnny Quest
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

My question is:  Why in the @#&! was this trash posted to
comp.sys.mac???


-- 
Mike McCann                        Internet = mmccann@hubcap.clemson.edu 
Poole Computer Center (Box P-11)       UUCP = gatech!hubcap!mmccann
Clemson University                   Bitnet = mmccann@clemson.bitnet
Clemson, S.C. 29634