Weird like it sounds, about 20% of indigenous cultures worldwide practice male genital cutting, varying from circumcision to the removal of a testicle. Now, we know also why: Chris Wilson, a doctoral candidate in Cornell's Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, says that this decreases the chances of fertilization from extramarital sex, reducing conflict among men in tribal societies.
The research published in the journal "Evolution and Human Behavior"
points to the immediate reasons behind the ritual "male genital mutilation," like religion, tradition, hygiene or initiation into adulthood. But these explanations only cover a deeper evolutionary purpose, even if men are not consciously aware.
"Because genital alteration is a painful and even risky procedure, especially under primitive conditions, it must have some evolutionary benefit or it would not have persisted," wrote Wilson.
Male genital operation is not only practiced in 180 indigenous societies, but it is experienced by about 33% of all men worldwide. The differences in the way of making the procedure point that various societies developed the practice independently thousands of years ago.
"Genital cutting may limit extramarital sex. In evolutionary terms, a man benefits from such affairs by passing his genes to a child who requires no further investment on his part. If natural selection has designed the genitals for fertilization, then changing that design will harm this function. In particular, modifying the shape of the genitals makes it physically less likely that a man will impregnate a woman during an affair, and, therefore, the evolutionary incentive for adultery is smaller," said Wilson.
As a result, this will increase trust amongst men within a society, decreasing conflict triggered by paternity issues and cheating. Wilson has discovered much higher degrees of cutting in societies where men practice polygamy and the wives live far apart. This increases the possibilities for extramarital affairs, as the man cannot look after all his wives at once. The male genital mutilation just increases confidence between the married men and bachelors.
This seems to really work, as Wilson discovered decreased degrees of extramarital affairs in societies practicing male genital mutilation, compared with cultures that do not. Moreover, in societies that practice genital cutting, older men were trusted more and offered benefits to younger men who underwent the procedure, thus the operation eliminates mistrust and raises social status.
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