Americans live in a media world that believes sex is without consequences, Vicki Thorn, founder of Project Rachel, said Monday.
Thorn visited campus to lecture on topics in sex education that aren't taught in the average American classroom.
Thorn spoke first about the common bond shared by all those attending her speech.
"Everyone in this room only has the mitochondria of their mothers," she said.
Thorn stated that research has proven that these mitochondria have been traced back to seven distinct lines of women, leading to the scientific possibility of an Eve figure in human evolution.
"In a society where we are such rugged individuals, in reality there is this interconnection," Thorn said.
Thorn shifted from the subject of interconnectedness to the problem of selective abortion. Thorn spoke of how in some Asian nations — particularly China, India and North Korea — selective abortions have led to more males being born in the population.
This has led warfare, based on the rising levels of testosterone and search for female companionship in those societies.
"When a society tips to male, they are more likely to go to war," Thorn said.
Thorn also focused on the difference between male and female brains, showing a display of a female brain much like a circle and the male brain like a series of boxes. She said males think linearly while women think in a multitasking manner. According to Thorn, these shapes are important to the way human society works.
"There's this innate difference between being male and female. It's about being complementary," she said.
Thorn said the importance of pheromones in communications between males and females. Thorn said pheromones can be perceived in 80 percent of humans, and women with this ability are able to detect a potential mate.
"Women have the ability to meet a male and using pheromones determine whether he is a strong possibility for fertility," she said.
Thorn said men perceive pheromones in a different way by detecting whether a woman is fertile, infertile or pregnant. She said when women ovulate, they send out the strongest signals to males and trigger a response in testosterone.
"This is why women get date raped and then pregnant," Thorn said. "This is a time when we're conditionable and arousable."
Thorn said the introduction of birth control has some complications in society in regards to male and female relations.
"We know that male fertility has dropped 50 percent since the advent of the pill," she said.
Thorn also said the chemicals in birth control pills have become a waste management issue as they have began to collect in the world's water systems. She described "the scent of infertile women" as possibly causing problems in society such as pornography and violent rape.
Thorn said pheromones do have important positive purposes as well.
"Men can perceive when their partner is pregnant and are changed forever," she said.
Thorn also highlighted the importance of this chemistry between men and woman is lifelong. She brought up the topic of addictive substances. She said amphetamines in our brain dominate the period in which we are infatuated with someone, lasting eight months to four years.
Longer lasting love, another type of addiction — which is more stable than infatuation — is linked to oxytocin, an opiate.
"We need to recognize that we're changed by every act of intimacy," Thorn said.
Thorne closed her lecture with an important word of advice for audience members.
"Our society has made love cheap without really speaking about the changes that occur," she said.
