Sapiens: a brief History of Humankind

particular purpose. If we use our limbs and organs for the purpose envisioned by
God, then it is a natural activity. To use them di erently than God intends is
unnatural. But evolution has no purpose. Organs have not evolved with a
purpose, and the way they are used is in constant ux. There is not a single organ
in the human body that only does the job its prototype did when it rst appeared
hundreds of millions of years ago. Organs evolve to perform a particular function,
but once they exist, they can be adapted for other usages as well. Mouths, for
example, appeared because the earliest multicellular organisms needed a way to
take nutrients into their bodies. We still use our mouths for that purpose, but we
also use them to kiss, speak and, if we are Rambo, to pull the pins out of hand
grenades. Are any of these uses unnatural simply because our worm-like ancestors
600 million years ago didn’t do those things with their mouths?
Similarly, wings didn’t suddenly appear in all their aerodynamic glory. They
developed from organs that served another purpose. According to one theory,
insect wings evolved millions of years ago from body protrusions on ightless
bugs. Bugs with bumps had a larger surface area than those without bumps, and
this enabled them to absorb more sunlight and thus stay warmer. In a slow

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evolutionary process, these solar heaters grew larger. The same structure that was
good for maximum sunlight absorption – lots of surface area, little weight – also,
by coincidence, gave the insects a bit of a lift when they skipped and jumped.
Those with bigger protrusions could skip and jump farther. Some insects started
using the things to glide, and from there it was a small step to wings that could
actually propel the bug through the air. Next time a mosquito buzzes in your ear,
accuse her of unnatural behaviour. If she were well behaved and content with
what God gave her, she’d use her wings only as solar panels.
The same sort of multitasking applies to our sexual organs and behaviour. Sex
rst evolved for procreation and courtship rituals as a way of sizing up the tness
of a potential mate. But many animals now put both to use for a multitude of
social purposes that have little to do with creating little copies of themselves.
Chimpanzees, for example, use sex to cement political alliances, establish intimacy
and defuse tensions. Is that unnatural?
Sex and Gender
There is little sense, then, in arguing that the natural function of women is to give
birth, or that homosexuality is unnatural. Most of the laws, norms, rights and
obligations that de ne manhood and womanhood re ect human imagination
more than biological reality.
Biologically, humans are divided into males and females. A male 
Homo sapiens
is one who has one X chromosome and one Y chromosome; a female is one with
two Xs. But ‘man’ and woman’ name social, not biological, categories. While in
the great majority of cases in most human societies men are males and women are
females, the social terms carry a lot of baggage that has only a tenuous, if any,
relationship to the biological terms. A man is not a Sapiens with particular
biological qualities such as XY chromosomes, testicles and lots of testosterone.
Rather, he ts into a particular slot in his society’s imagined human order. His
culture’s myths assign him particular masculine roles (like engaging in politics),
rights (like voting) and duties (like military service). Likewise, a woman is not a
Sapiens with two X chromosomes, a womb and plenty of oestrogen. Rather, she is
a female member of an imagined human order. The myths of her society assign
her unique feminine roles (raising children), rights (protection against violence)
and duties (obedience to her husband). Since myths, rather than biology, de ne
the roles, rights and duties of men and women, the meaning of ‘manhood’ and
‘womanhood’ have varied immensely from one society to another.

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