Volume 10, Number 5 · March 14, 1968
Monkey Business
By J.Z. Young
The Naked Ape
by Desmond Morris
McGraw-Hill, 252 pp., $5.95
The Stone Age Hunters
by Grahame Clark
McGraw-Hill, 144 pp., $5.50
It would be nice to think that Morris's attempt to present a biology of Man is meant as a joke, not to be taken seriously. Indeed the author has obviously enjoyed writing it and judging by its success his readers like it too. It is not difficult to see the secret of the formula. Start out determined to shock and be unconventional (the attitude that puts you on the side of the reader against the experts—always a success this). Then make up a story about how the human race may have evolved. Use this to produce an ingenious explanation of human sexual habits and make this an excuse to fill nearly a quarter of your book with a racy re-hash of Kinsey. The rest you fill up with some elementary sections on child psychology, add a piece on aggression and conclude with a section on man's loves and hates among animals. The formula is complete. The ordinary reader learns a bit more about things he has vaguely heard of. Some knowledge is painlessly dispensed, fun is had by all and no great harm done. The description of man's strongly developed sexuality as the basis for his unusual 'pair-bonding' may even help some people to understand their reactions better. But it is hard to think that therapists of any school will feel that the very naïve treatments, say of homosexuality or even masturbation, will help anyone. Let's hope they aren't meant to. Dr. Morris's favorite theory is that breasts and red lips represent an ape turned back to front. He even returns to it to explain why sadistic schoolmasters make the boys take down their trousers for a beating.
Review, 998 words
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