The noughties version of the devil made me do it?

My recent posts have been about my thinking and preparation for an evangelistic talk on the topic ‘Free for sex or living in bondage?’. Obviously the title assumes that if you don’t have a Christian view of humanity and sexuality, you are living in bondage. So is there any argument to be made that the modern secular view of sex is, in fact, bondage of some kind?

Given the language of liberation that goes hand in hand with the modern story of sex, it’s tempting to be swept away by the rhetoric. After all, I suspect that it is a good thing that people are able to be open and honest about sex. As part of God’s good creation, I don’t think there are particular reasons to speak about it in hushed tones. However, I can’t help feeling that that story ultimately leaves us in slavery to our sexuality. The rational for ‘everything goes’ sex is being increasingly found in what I would call biological determinism—the idea that we’re genetically programmed to act in particular ways.

In order to understand biological determinism, we need to turn to the humble meadow vole (or common garden variety field mouse, if you prefer). The research is a few years old now, but you can still find the report online at the ABC science site. Apparently, the male meadow vole is one of the Casanovas of the animal kingdom. It lives to sow its wild oats again and again, leaving the lady voles to look after their young on their own. Now, of course, like any self-respecting play-rat, it has a fine upstanding country cousin who is the very model of decorum. The male prairie vole is unstintingly faithful to one, and only one, partner.

What do you do if you’re a scientist and you see these things? You try and determine what it is that makes the difference. In this case, they isolated one gene in the monogamous vole and injected that into the brain of the meadow vole. Lo and behold, a monogamous rodent was created. (We have the power!) To quote the article, “Even when temptresses came by and flaunted their voley charms, the genetically-modified males only had eyes for that one partner.”

What should we conclude on the basis of the research? Well, the jury is out as to how explanatory this kind of research is for primate behaviour. But according to US anthropologist Melvin Konner, it strengthens the argument that “our genes and the chemicals they produce, lies at the root of the psychology of relationships”.

The funny thing is this line of thinking isn’t restricted to people in white coats writing in esoteric journals for the benefit of other people in white coats. Exactly the same thinking is expressed in the media every day. I know that Samantha Brett (The Sydney Morning Herald relationships blogger) is not exactly a renowned philosopher, but she is certainly tapping into the pulse of many people in society. She recently released a little video on her blog about cheating. (You can view it online if you like.) According to Brett,

Cheating has never been so rife. In fact, statistics show that almost half of all married men and women cheat. So what’s going on, why do so many people think it’s okay to stray?

The answers were delivered by a range of experts (including a celebrity hairdresser and a psychotherapist). Let me share their four answers:

1. “People are not made to stay in one relationship.”
2. “Men cheat because they are evolutionarily designed to cheat.”
3. “A lot of men are hardwired for cheating.”
4. “I think it’s unfair to just say that cheating is in a man’s DNA without saying that cheating can also be within a woman’s DNA.”

Now I don’t want to claim that this is a deep piece of journalism. But I think it reflects much popular thinking about who we are as people. We’re wired in a certain way, and we can’t help it. Or in other words, we’re slaves to our DNA. Somehow, we need to help people to understand that biological determinism is just the modern, scientifically sanctified version of ‘the devil made me do it’. But I’ll leave that discussion till next time.