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<span class="elementToProof">Dear Rainer,</span></div>
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<span class="elementToProof">Thanks for your support. Our evolutionary frameworks look indeed close.</span><br>
<span class="elementToProof">More precisely, how would you support the specific and important development of sexual pleasure by our pre-human ancestors to limit anxiety as a key part of our phylum evolution?</span><br>
<span class="elementToProof">Anxiety limitation with its various feedback (see drawing) is for me part of an evolutionary engine that brought us from LCAncestor to today humans. That engine is still active. I feel that the better we understand its nature, the
better we can address human possible future (ex: vs de-identification fueling some of our evil trends).</span><br>
<span class="elementToProof">A lot remains to be done, and it is interesting (and a bit surprising) to note that philosophy of mind has had so far little interest for our pre-human evolution. </span></div>
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<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size:11pt" color="#000000"><b>De :</b> Rainer Feistel (IOW) <rainer.feistel@iow.de><br>
<b>Envoyé :</b> mercredi 18 février 2026 18:24<br>
<b>À :</b> Christophe Menant <christophe.menant@hotmail.fr><br>
<b>Cc :</b> fis@listas.unizar.es <fis@listas.unizar.es>; pedroc.marijuan@gmail.com <pedroc.marijuan@gmail.com><br>
<b>Objet :</b> [Fis] Emergence of Human Sexual Behaviour. Anxiety management</font>
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<p>Dear Christophe,<br>
<br>
Thank you for your support and additional suggestions.<br>
It seems to me that your description is perfectly consistent with my scenario, and a possible fruitful extension.<br>
<br>
In my fictitious narrative, the transition to bipedal gait lowered the reproduction rate to a subcritical level.<br>
Only a series of severe transitions in sexual behaviour could keep hominins away from the brink of extinction.<br>
Among those have likely been the concealed oestrus of females and the resulting permanent sexual interest of males.<br>
The consecutive instabilities and innovations in this chain ended with the grandmother effect that ensured survival<br>
in a final stable sexual regime. This is actually the end of my narrative.<br>
<br>
This process had established frequent mating activities in excess of just a few required for siring offspring.<br>
As you say "it was possible for our ancestors to extend sexual pleasure by developing its occurrence independently of reproduction concerns".<br>
Sexual interaction, consequently, became a relevant part of the social life of hominins, to serve for emotional<br>
comfort, individual bindings, friendship and mutual assistance in feeding or personal hygiene, etc.<br>
Your list of sex-based relations and behaviours fits very well to this.<br>
<br>
Thank you for your contribution,<br>
Rainer<br>
<br>
<br>
Betreff: [Fis] Emergence of Human Sexual Behaviour. Anxiety management<br>
Datum: Wed, 18 Feb 2026 13:25:37 +0000<br>
Von: Christophe Menant <a class="x_moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:christophe.menant@hotmail.fr">
<christophe.menant@hotmail.fr></a><br>
An: <a class="x_moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:rainer.feistel@iow.de">rainer.feistel@iow.de</a>
<a class="x_moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:rainer.feistel@iow.de"><rainer.feistel@iow.de></a><br>
Kopie (CC): <a class="x_moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:fis@listas.unizar.es">fis@listas.unizar.es</a>
<a class="x_moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:fis@listas.unizar.es"><fis@listas.unizar.es></a>,
<a class="x_moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:pedroc.marijuan@gmail.com">pedroc.marijuan@gmail.com</a>
<a class="x_moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:pedroc.marijuan@gmail.com"><pedroc.marijuan@gmail.com></a><br>
<br>
<br>
Dear Rainer,<br>
Your focus on the transition to bipedal gait as supporting pre-human sexual evolution is original and interesting. It highlights a complex subject that may be influencing our human behavior much more than assumed. Regarding this last perspective, let me propose
a possible development of human sexuality based on sexual related pleasures that our pre-human ancestors may have been looking for in order to limit a specific pre-human anxiety.<br>
You may know the hypothesis about evolution of our ancestors toward self-consciousness bringing them to face new anxieties coming from identifications with suffering conspecifics (<a class="x_moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://philpapers.org/archive/MENEOS-5.pdf__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!SQF2gHWYFh9njsByOMSr4m7Rpm7tYEHM72nyYRS0HFa68DSPokEWZ2hNyAsYeKVnQaxdpRJWmWLt525MCIANDwgjZhYsPOix$" originalsrc="https://philpapers.org/archive/MENEOS-5.pdf">https://philpapers.org/archive/MENEOS-5.pdf</a>).
To limit that mental suffering our ancestors may have been obliged to look for new anxiety limitation processes. Pleasure, as naturally limiting anxiety, could have been a candidate for various developments in that perspective. More precisely, it was possible
for our ancestors to extend sexual pleasure by developing its occurrence independently of reproduction concerns. Developing and amplifying sexual relations could have been an easy, and quite natural, way for our ancestors to limit the anxiety increase they
were facing.<br>
What is proposed here is that our ancestors have capitalized on sexual pleasures to develop sources of anxiety limitation. This could have led pre-human sexuality to become highly ritualized and very different from chimpanzee’s sexual behaviours.<br>
For instance, here are some human sexual specificities the implementation of which could illustrate the search for more pleasure by our pre-human ancestors:<br>
- No mating season, sexual pleasure possible at any time. Permanent breast as signal.<br>
- Sexual behaviors embedded in symbolic, emotional, and cultural systems. More emotional sharing by face mating.<br>
- Sexual pleasure layered with self-consciousness, fantasy, attachment, anxiety, and meaning.<br>
- Sexual pleasure more intense as psychologically deeper, more elaborated and more cognitively amplified.<br>
The above hypothesis brings sexuality and anxiety limitation to be at the forefront of human motivations. This subject is not new but deserves being developed a bit more, I feel.<br>
Thanks again Rainer for having introduced it.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</p>
<div class="x_moz-cite-prefix">Am 18.02.2026 um 14:25 schrieb Christophe Menant:<br>
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<span class="x_elementToProof">Dear Rainer,</span><br>
<span class="x_elementToProof">Your focus on the transition to bipedal gait as supporting pre-human sexual evolution is original and interesting. It highlights a complex subject that may be influencing our human behavior much more than assumed. Regarding this
last perspective, let me propose a possible development of human sexuality based on sexual related pleasures that our pre-human ancestors may have been looking for in order to limit a specific pre-human anxiety.</span><br>
<span class="x_elementToProof">You may know the hypothesis about evolution of our ancestors toward self-consciousness bringing them to face new anxieties coming from identifications with suffering conspecifics (</span><span class="x_elementToProof" style="color:blue"><u><a data-auth="NotApplicable" data-linkindex="2" originalsrc="https://philpapers.org/archive/MENEOS-5.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Protégé par Outlook : https://philpapers.org/archive/MENEOS-5.pdf. Cliquez ou appuyez pour suivre le lien." class="x_x_OWAAutoLink x_moz-txt-link-freetext" id="OWA4549a4e5-43fc-cf0f-9d30-7ad6665feba3" target="_blank" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://philpapers.org/archive/MENEOS-5.pdf__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!SQF2gHWYFh9njsByOMSr4m7Rpm7tYEHM72nyYRS0HFa68DSPokEWZ2hNyAsYeKVnQaxdpRJWmWLt525MCIANDwgjZhYsPOix$" originalsrc="https://philpapers.org/archive/MENEOS-5.pdf" style="color:blue; margin:0px">https://philpapers.org/archive/MENEOS-5.pdf</a></u></span><span class="x_elementToProof">).
To limit that mental suffering our ancestors may have been obliged to look for new anxiety limitation processes. Pleasure, as naturally limiting anxiety, could have been a candidate for various developments in that perspective. More precisely, it was possible
for our ancestors to extend sexual pleasure by developing its occurrence independently of reproduction concerns. Developing and amplifying sexual relations could have been an easy, and quite natural, way for our ancestors to limit the anxiety increase they
were facing.</span></div>
<div class="x_elementToProof" style="margin:0cm; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<span class="x_elementToProof">What is proposed here is that our ancestors have capitalized on sexual pleasures to develop sources of anxiety limitation. This could have led pre-human sexuality to become highly ritualized and very different from chimpanzee’s
sexual behaviours.</span><br>
<span class="x_elementToProof">For instance, here are some human sexual specificities the implementation of which could illustrate the search for more pleasure by our pre-human ancestors:</span><br>
<span class="x_elementToProof">- No mating season, sexual pleasure possible at any time. Permanent breast as signal.</span><br>
<span class="x_elementToProof">- Sexual behaviors embedded in symbolic, emotional, and cultural systems. More emotional sharing by face mating.</span><br>
<span class="x_elementToProof">- Sexual pleasure layered with self-consciousness, fantasy, attachment, anxiety, and meaning.</span><br>
<span class="x_elementToProof">- Sexual pleasure more intense as psychologically deeper, more elaborated and more cognitively amplified.</span><br>
<span class="x_elementToProof">The above hypothesis brings sexuality and anxiety limitation to be at the forefront of human motivations. This subject is not new but deserves being developed a bit more, I feel.</span><br>
<span class="x_elementToProof">Thanks again Rainer for having introduced it.</span></div>
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<pre class="x_moz-signature" cols="72">--
Note: New Email Address: <a class="x_moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:rainer.feistel@iow.de">rainer.feistel@iow.de</a>
Dr. rer. nat. habil. Rainer Feistel
Physicist (emeritus)
PS Gustav Hertz Prize, Berlin 1981
CITAC Best Paper Award, Paris 2011
IAPWS Honorary Fellow, London 2013
BIPM Metrologia Highlight Articles, Paris 2016
EGU Fridtjof Nansen Medal, Vienna 2018
LS Daniel Ernst Jablonski Medal, Berlin 2021
IAPWS Gibbs Award, Boulder, Co., 2024</pre>
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