you are wrong heider!

The anthropologists just piss me off. I acknowledge that cross-culturally, individuals differ, but for anthropologist, Heider, to argue against Freud astounds me. Freud’s hydraulic theory says that sexuality is an innate, internal pressure, and when suppressed the pressure builds and will pop up in other forms. This seems accurate to me. Well, Heider says that this sexual pressure is culturally determined, therefore varies between cultures. Well, I would love to know his explanation for this.

I see sexual desire as a biological/ ecological entity of organisms. The manner in which a species is able to maintain a sustainable population size to prevent outcompetition, risk of predators, loss of genetic material, and the spread of recessive mutations, just to name a few, is through the production of viable offspring, hence reproduction. This includes humans, especially since we are a mere twig on the tree of life. What happens after the population takes a toll from great wars and epidemics? We want to repopulate the species, not to mention the pleasure involved for many mammals. So I ask again, how is sexual desire cultural?

Now let me discuss the pressure aspect.

Have you ever spent time with a sexually repressed post-pubescent individual? Well, you can tell, you can sense the tension, and they are probably going to bitch about it. Of course they are, sexuality is biological, all humans want it, and when suppressed it presents itself. I cannot convince myself that another female with a clitoris on the other side of the world, the same sexual organ that I have, would not want to enjoy her sexuality. My cultural upbringing probably has a different view on sexuality than this female’s culture on the other side of the world, but let’s face it: we both want to have an orgasm, or five.

Freud? Heider? Hmmm….