Reproduction: Hardwired or upgradeable software?

The “nature vs. nurture” debate has generated much discussion in the past thousand of years. Most scientists would probably agree that both are accountable for human behaviour. Sociologists, my kind of scientists, would argue that nurture explains it better.

An instinct is an “inborn biological force that motivates a particular response or class of responses” (Shaffer, 1999). Instinctual behaviours are hardwired. Hunger is considered an instinct. What about reproduction?

I often hear people (well, women) say that having a child is so instinctual, so natural. I believe that these women are confusing the cause with the effect. Sex is the cause, babies are the effects.

Human beings seek pleasure. Sex is fun. Human beings naturally want sex. Sex is therefore an instinctual drive. In turns, sex leads to diseases and reproduction. Catching a STD is not instinctual. By that logic, having babies is not instinctual either.

Seriously, how long do you think it took the prehistoric man to realize that sex and reproduction were related, especially given the 9 months delay between the two? Hundreds of years later, when man finally put one and two together, his quest for contraception started.

Having children because of an urge to love is a product of our leisure society. Before, and still in many culture, much more practical reasons led people to have children. Among others, children were free labour and care for aging parents. The most egoistical reason of all, which is still very popular today, is that children carry your bloodline and your name. Yay, for Mini-Yous.

Because most people do reproduce at some point in their life, it is easy to wrongly assume that it is instinctual. In fact, society (e.g. culture, religion) puts an enormous amount of pressure on people to have children. After graduating, getting married, and buying a house, it is the next logical step. As our society becomes more liberal, the fertility rate decreases. It is certainly not because reproduction is any less ‘instinctual’ than it once was. Medicine and liberalism are allowing people to make a choice.

“Only humans rely on culture rather than instinct to ensure the survival of their species” -Marvin Harris, 1987.