ESTABLISHING A LINK BETWEEN CULTURAL-EVOLUTION AND SEXUALLY-TRANSMITTED DISEASES

It is argued that archaic sexually transmitted diseases influenced cul tural traditions by reducing multiple sexual partners within communiti es. In this article, the adverse consequences of current sexually tran smitted diseases are surveyed: Such infections decrease fertility of w omen and increase infant mortality; those adverse consequences are esp ecially potent when antibiotics are not readily available. Cultural (c ross-generational transmission of learned) responses to the threat of widespread infertility and elevated infant mortality rates are hypothe sized to include the implementation of expectations for restricted num bers of sexual partners. These expectations, formal or informal, have been instituted within the context of biological predispositions, the ''certainty of paternity'' model, already-established traditions, and the need for a social father to be aligned with the mother-child dyad. A case study of the contemporary United States is offered as a heuris tic example of how and why cultural choices may be developed and susta ined.