Desmond Moriss' book The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal approaches human beings as animal beings, and discusses human sex as being a particular type of animal sex.

For thousands of years, most western civilizations engaged in magical thinking that placed humans above (and disconnected from) the biological world. Although western science has known that humans are primates for hundreds of years, this factual way of thinking has not fully permeated our thinking, and many cultural ideas on sex remain tied to the Medieval Ages. Morris tries to change that, and his book was considered revolutionary for that reason.

Morris deal's with issues like the redness of lips when a woman is sexually aroused - and its translation into lipstick. He analyses the shape of a valentine's heart (which looks very little like the heart in your chest, but does resemble the buttocks of a person bending over). Body language, male-female differences, reproductive strategies ... all topics that this book delves into.

This book managed to piss-off not only fundamentalists, but many feminists as well. While feminists were fighting for political and economic equality and advancing the belief that most differences between the genders was a result of cultural factors, Moriss was arguing that there are real differences between men and women, and that these are (directly, or indirectly) the result of concrete, biological factors that cannot be changed through re-education.

Although this book was written a few years ago, most of the ideas are timeless. This book is a good read for young adults coming to terms with their sexuality, or recovering fundamentalists of all ages. Available at your local library or online at Amazon.com.