Yes, gay in the modern sense is a cultural thing. So, for that matter, is straight: neither romantic love nor the idea that a mixed-sex couple should be good friends is anything like universal. That said, I think you're oversimplifying: the cultures (and it's a lot of different cultures, several hundred years of Europe and the Mediterranean aren't a single thing--and that's one of my pet peeves) supported significant numbers of people who had publicly chosen ways of living that meant they would never bear or sire children. There was room in various of these cultures for Vestal Virgins, celibate priests, desert hermits, and an assortment of monastic orders, some of which took in pre-adolescent children at the request of their parents.
Also, of course, there were people (men had more choice in such matters, for most of the cultures we know about) who had heterosexual intercourse only to the extent necessary to produce heirs, but whose hearts and/or lusts lay elsewhere. If a man's wife (or wives) is pregnant, it doesn't matter, in terms of population growth, whether he has sex with her, with another man, or with nobody at all for the next few months.
Another relevant point is that if the goal is to raise the maximum number of children to adulthood, a baby a year isn't usually the best way to do it ("usually" because modern medicine makes it far more likely that someone who bears 12 children will see them all grow up). Spacing the births out, and nursing each infant for at least a year, maybe two, increases the survival rate. Not only do orphans have a reduced survival rate (and bearing that many children wore women out), but prolonged nursing improves infant health, while spacing births lets the women regain body mass and reduces the chances of miscarriage.
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rambling about childbirth rates
Date: 2004-01-21 02:13 am (UTC)Also, of course, there were people (men had more choice in such matters, for most of the cultures we know about) who had heterosexual intercourse only to the extent necessary to produce heirs, but whose hearts and/or lusts lay elsewhere. If a man's wife (or wives) is pregnant, it doesn't matter, in terms of population growth, whether he has sex with her, with another man, or with nobody at all for the next few months.
Another relevant point is that if the goal is to raise the maximum number of children to adulthood, a baby a year isn't usually the best way to do it ("usually" because modern medicine makes it far more likely that someone who bears 12 children will see them all grow up). Spacing the births out, and nursing each infant for at least a year, maybe two, increases the survival rate. Not only do orphans have a reduced survival rate (and bearing that many children wore women out), but prolonged nursing improves infant health, while spacing births lets the women regain body mass and reduces the chances of miscarriage.