Abstract
It may seem paradoxical in a book on heterotypical behaviour to include a chapter on the complementary question ″What is sex-typical behaviour ?″. Yet it follows that in order for a given type of behaviour to be categorized as heterotypical, it must necessarily have been observed and identified as being characteristic of one—and not the other — of the sexes just as behaviour qualified as sexual is characteristic of one and only one of the sexes. However, some sexual behaviours of both sexes relate to the biological reproduction system. In other words, their emergence, form, and purpose depend on the requirements and constraints of that system, which in the human species happens to be biparental. Unlike the uniparental reproduction mode of other species, biparental reproduction requires specific behavioural patterns, such as those leading to the necessary meeting between two partners of the opposite sex. Although sexual dimorphism appears absolutely essential for the term ″heterotypical″ to make sense, and sexual dimorphism is found in conjunction with sexual behaviours that can be qualified as male or female, this does not mean that the wide variety of behaviour so-called sex-typical behaviour, dealt with in studies of human societies, has this basis.
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© 1991 M. Haug, P. Brain and C. Aron
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Hurtig, MC., Pichevin, MF. (1991). Sex Typicality and Sex Conformity. In: Haug, M., Brain, P.F., Aron, C. (eds) Heterotypical Behaviour in Man and Animals. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3078-3_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3078-3_2
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