by Dr. Joe Malone, PhD, CFE, LWMC, CPT

I have made a recent life-changing discovery. After many, many years of research and personal experience teaching in the wellness field, I have scientifically concluded, that for humans, sexual wellness equals sexual integrity. And it is exhilarating to know that my faith is backed up by reason. You may be thinking to yourself what do I mean by all of this? Please let me explain.

Many voices in our society currently say that humans are naturally promiscuous like our close genetic relatives, the chimpanzees. Let me enthusiastically proclaim that scientifically and historically this is not true at all! On a species level, scientists can determine by examining their bodies whether a species is promiscuous or monogamous. They also can compare their immune systems to see if promiscuity or monogamy has been practiced by this particular species.

For example, in promiscuous species, females develop what is called sexual swelling around the time they come into estrus (or heat) and ovulate, where their genitals swell greatly, turn red, and put out a distinctive odor that attracts males of their species. This is obviously not true for the human species where ovulation is what is scientifically called concealed. In some cases, even the women who are ovulating are not aware of it.

With the male sex there are also distinctive differences in the way the bodies of promiscuous and monogamous species are built. Going back to chimpanzees would you believe that their testicles are proportionally three times the size of human testicles even though humans have bigger bodies? The reason is they mate promiscuously. The sexual competition that is going on between the males actually happens inside the female’s reproductive tract. This means that on average the males with the most volume of semen will impregnate more of the females and pass their genes on to the next generation. Size is a factor.

Finally, the chimpanzee and human immune systems when it comes to STIs are vastly different. Humans get chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis at high rates, with STIs hitting their highest rate for humans ever in 2015 and continuing to rise to present. Chimpanzees are immune. They have a much higher white blood cell count because of generations of promiscuity where the vulnerable chimps were weeded out of the population.

Many more points of scientific evidence lead us to acknowledge that humans are biologically designed for monogamy. In fact, for humans, sexual wellness looks an awful lot like God’s plan for our sexuality.

Consider this: your pregnancy center may be on or near a university campus. Even if it is not located by a college campus geographically, chances are many of your clients fall in the 18-24 age range.  It is very likely that many of these women will never have been told the natural scientific truth about human sexuality. They instead, have been taught that sexuality is a social construct. They will not have been taught that promiscuity goes against most of their sexual nature. We have an incredible opportunity to teach them the beauty of the scientifically supported truth that for humans, sexual wellness is sexual integrity. I hope you will join me to learn more in our upcoming live course, Human Sexual Wellness, later this fall. Registration will open soon!

Check out the most recent Pregnancy Help Podcast with Dr. Joe Manlone and Lori Kuykendall.