Three Mind-Blowing Ways Overpopulation May Be Wreaking Havoc with Our Relationships
Overpopulation is affecting our lives in many profound ways, here are three ways it may be affecting our relationships
Prior to the invention of agriculture, so around 9000 BC, it is believed that the human population size had been pretty much static at around 3/4 million for tens of thousands of years.
But from the year 5000 BC, it started doubling every five hundred to a thousand years, going from five million in the year 5000 BC, to 600 million in the year 1700 — that’s a one hundred and twenty fold increase in seven thousand years.
In the last 300 years, the global population has increased near fifteen times over, from 600 million to nearly 8 billion. If that was repeated, in three hundred years' time we would have a population size of 120 billion — that would be a two hundred fold increase in just six hundred years. Think about that for a moment, that’s how fast we have been growing in population numbers over the last few hundred years.
This has affected us and the world in many ways, including our relationships. Here are three fascinating theories for how it may be messing up our relationships.
Disclaimer: theories are as ever theories, fascinating but always to be taken with a pinch of salt mentality.
Women’s libido is potentially the human races natural form of population size management control system — meaning overpopulation may be wreaking havoc with it
It is well documented that the male libido tends to remain consistent whereas the female libido tends to be very up and down. Some believe that this is through evolutionary design. Through men having a near enough static sexual desire, it’s guaranteed that babies will always be made; however, by women having a non-static sexual desire which is fuelled by environmental factors, we are more likely to make the right number of babies.
To explain a little bit more, by having a lot of sex in the beginning, the honeymoon period, a sexual and emotional connection is formed, along with a baby made (contraception is a modern world thing). But by the male libido remaining static after this point, whereas the female libido being predominantly fuelled by the need or not to make babies, when we need more babies the female libido will be high and so couples will have more sex and make more babies, when we need less the female libido will be low and so we will have less sex and so make fewer babies.
So if you’re a woman and you’re in a happy relationship and you fancy your partner and would like to have more sex, and your partner’s libido is high, but no matter what you and your partner do your libido simply never seems to be willing to come to life, at least not as much as you would like, it could be because you instinctually know that the world is overpopulated and so making babies is a no-no. And so your libido simply refuses to come to life. Meaning overpopulation may literally be messing up your sex life.
Men are more likely to be happy with the amount of time they spend with their partners outside the bedroom than women are, and women are more likely to be happy with the amount of sex they are getting than men are, but neither really are very happy — overpopulation may be the reason
Countless studies over the years have shown that typically only four in ten men are happy with the amount of sex they get in a relationship, whereas typically six in ten women are happy with the amount they get. Conversely, the women who are unhappy are more likely to complain that they want less sex, whereas the men who are unhappy are more likely to complain that they want more sex.
However, when it comes to time spent with their partner doing non-sexual activities, men are more likely to be happy than women. Of the men who are unhappy, they are more likely to complain that they would rather spend less time with their partners, of the women who are unhappy, they are more likely to complain that they would rather spend more time with their partners.
Some believe that the reason for all this is because men and women are designed to in essence be in a permanent state of competition with each other over both sex and time spent outside the bedroom together.
To explain, it is believed by some that men are designed to instinctually actively pursue sex no matter the environment, whereas women are designed to instinctually respond to the environment and only desire sex when babies are needed and the environment is right for having those babies.
On the flipside, it is believed by some that women are designed to instinctually want their partners around as much as possible, whereas men are designed to instinctually only give that time when not collecting resources.
To further back these beliefs up, it is well known that the honeymoon period and the desire to make babies are the strongest fuels for the female libido, whereas the male libido tends to not be as reliant on either factor and so tends to remain more static.
There have also been numerous studies showing that over half of men would rather spend more time with their best friends rather than their partners. The reason behind this is believed to be that men would hunt in groups, and so men feel an equal pull to their pals as they do to their partners — because it was important to keep both bonds strong. However, for women, the most important bond was with their partner and so they were focused predominantly on keeping that bond strong.
When you add everything together, some believe that that means that women are the absolutes in the equation when it comes to spending time with their partners doing nonsexual activities, whereas men are the moving part. And men are the absolutes in the equation when it comes to doing sexual activities with their partners, whereas women are the moving part.
The reason why this is likely such a beneficial instinctual setup is by having opposing absolutes in the equation, we make certain no matter what we always have children and people to look after the children. But by also having opposing moving parts, we create an adaptable equilibrium that alters based upon the environment in which we are living i.e. it creates a situation where we near enough always have the right number of babies and collect the right number of resources to feed those babies. Thus, always ensuring our survival.
So if you’ve ever wondered why men and women so frequently argue over the amount of time spent inside and outside the bedroom, and are so frequently in disagreement over it, it could be because we are supposed to be in disagreement over it. That’s how we ensure our survival, by being in a permanent battle to find the right equilibrium. And because we now live in an overpopulated world, it is possible we are instinctually more in disagreement than ever over what that right equilibrium is.
Women may be defined by men, and men may be defined by women, and because of overpopulation, we may be defining each other in ways that make us unappealing to each other
Ever wondered why men are the way they are, and women are the way they are? It may be because of each other. So rather than women defining women, men may define them, and rather than men defining men, women may define them. Of course, this is a thought many men and women may not be happy about, but it is fascinating and so I will share the logic.
For the human race to survive we must procreate, and so it is believed that men aim to try to attract women, and women aim to try to attract men. So men aim to have what women want so that they can attract them, and women aim to have what men want so that they can attract them.
These two desires — to impress each other so as to attract each other — potentially mean that every time we look in the mirror and think to ourselves, “I am looking good”, what we are actually doing is thinking to ourselves, the people I want to find me attractive will find me attractive because I have turned myself into the person that they are looking for.
Think of it in a way like this, instinctually women are resource gatherers, instinctually men want to pass on their DNA, so men collect resources to try to attract women, and women try to prove that they will be good carriers and carers of children to try to attract men.
The advancements of the modern world mean things are a little different now as we are less driven by our instincts and more by our conscious minds, but — and this is just in my view — this potentially is just another case of us defining each other.
To explain, because of overpopulation, we likely instinctually want to make ourselves less attractive to each other and so are becoming less willing to let each other define each other i.e. if we are less attractive to each other we are less likely to make as many babies.
So, potentially the reason we are becoming less tolerant of each other, and the reason for the gender wars, is that instinctually we are fighting against overpopulation. The way we are doing this is by subconsciously refusing to let each other define each other, because by doing this, we are less likely to give each other what we want and be what each other wants. Meaning we are less likely to have successful relationships and thus less likely to make babies.
I would of course highly recommend taking this all with a pinch of salt, as it is just a theory, but if you’ve ever wondered why we are at each other’s throats so much these days, why relationships are so frequently fraught, and why so many of us find it so difficult to get along, it could be because we are all instinctually fighting against overpopulation by making ourselves unappealing to each other.
Final words
I should note, that if overpopulation is the thing that is messing up our relationships, it may not all be so bad. For example, if that was the case, it would likely be why things like masturbation have become so popular when in the past such things were lamented — because if we masturbate, we know that instinctually we are less likely to actively pursue sex.
It could also potentially be why things like oral sex, anal sex, hand jobs, finger play, sex toys and the like are becoming so popular, because all are forms of sex that lower the chance of pregnancies. And who’s gonna complain about those things becoming popular?
It could also be why we have become so tolerant of singledom, whereas in the past we were not, and why we are becoming increasingly more independent-minded.
A friend of mine who helps do research into the history of the LGBT community even went as far as saying that she is adamant that the spark that led to the Western world finally accepting the homosexual community, was because we no longer had the obsessive instinctual drive to make babies that we once did, the opposite had become true. We went from a pre-industrialised world — which, due to the high child mortality rate, needed as many pregnancies as possible to survive — to a world that needed the opposite.
I’m not sure whether I totally buy into that specific point, and it is very much her own theory, but I cannot fault the logic.
Regardless, it does seem that our instinctual feelings over whether the human race needs more or fewer babies likely does play a large part, not just in our relationships, but in our culture full stop. Meaning all our feelings about sex, relationships, and each other, as crazy as it may seem, could be predominantly defined by whether we subconsciously feel that the world needs more or fewer babies.
To round things up, that means if you struggle with relationships, your and society's subconscious response to overpopulation could be the reason why.
That’s all from me, thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy the following:
Six Interesting Theories About Sexual Desire and Relationships That You Probably Didn’t Know
The Seven Main Reasons Why Dating in The Modern World Is So Difficult
27 of the Best Jokes to Brighten up Your Day
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