Having an Affair Is Going Out of Style

Senator Ben Sasse recently observed, apropos of Rousseau’s “Emile,” that it “turned out sex was really similar most centuries.” Sex is the cornerstone of human evolution, and evolution is an inherently conservative institution, killing far more innovations than it allows to thrive. So it would hardly be surprising if we humans stayed with the same basic standbys in bed.

Hardly surprising, either, that this assumption is widespread in both speculative and historical fiction. Open a historical novel, and you’ll find characters who would, sexually speaking, not have much difficulty fitting into the 21 century dating scene. Authors usually pay lip service to the era’s taboos, and sometimes use them as plot devices. But even there, the assumption is that what is being suppressed, or happening on the sly, is pretty much the same as what 21 century Americans enjoy, or wish they were enjoying. Humans have been having sex for millions of years. How different could it have been?