Sex and violence

A spate of movies with sex and violence has perhaps made us believe that the two go together. Yet new scientific discoveries would have us believe otherwise. 

Indeed, if you put two male fruit flies together, along with a female, you will perhaps find a lot of aggressive behaviour. Yes, even in the lowly drosophila, the fruit fly. And that is quite understandable, given the competition for reproduction.

But if you put males that have had extended contact with females, scientists find reduced aggressive behaviour - even the presence of new females do not elicit violence between the males. 

It appears that previous social contact with females can reduce aggressive behaviour. This reduction in the violent impulse seem to be related to a specific set of neurons in male brains which is activated through pheromones that they come into contact when housed with females.

That is the case of fruit flies. But what about humans? What would you expect to find in post puberty boys-only schools if the result hold true for Homo sapiens?

Nature Neuroscience 17, 89–96 (2014) doi:10.1038/nn.3594

Nature Neuroscience, 17, 81–88 (2014) doi:10.1038/nn.3581