Kinsey says that sex crosses men's minds 206 times a day. The male worm crawls itself ragged for sex, and in so doing shortens his life. Castrated male mice live longer than those who search for mates. And human eunuchs have 13 years on noncastrated men. Knowing this, would these creatures choose sex over longevity? Resoundingly, yes. We're all Adult Children with Skin Hunger.

From his genetic memory of hunter and protector, the male provides food for his female, and she instinctively knows she's being wooed. Analyzing more than 500 seduction scenes in literature, the Aphrodisiac Growers Quarterly found that 98% of them began with a meal. The unexpressed wish is, "I'll take you to dinner . . . if you promise me breakfast." All in the name of "courtship."

Anthropologists describe the ritual as a perseverance test, allowing women time to decide if a man will commit, pass on good genes, and protect them from harm. The more time we spend rehearsing, the more wisely we choose. But many of our "liberated" sisters have blurred the gender roles. It started in the 60's when feminists argued that gentlemanly behavior reinforced women's inferior status. The sweeping belief was that courtship challenged feminism. The forgotten reality is that it also discounted femininity.

So today women ask men out. They bejewel themselves at benefits with trophy men. They tackle the waiter for the check or split the bill. They renounce door-opening and other considerate gallantry. They pay for opulent vacations, give expensive gifts, and court them. At first, the guys enjoy the attention. But woman-as-aggressor strips the hunter of his primal needs, and the smart men leave skid marks. Lloyd apparently jump-started Barbara's engine on their blind date, but she made his prostate go prostrate. Yet, she kept calling him. On his birthday, she sent him a Tiffany money clip. When he lost it, the value he had placed on it-and her-were obvious.

The Beatles warned, "Can't Buy Me Love." Guys need to retain their hunter role. God realized this and gave them a remote control with 100 channels to hunt with. Even our mothers said a guy wouldn't buy the cow when he could get the milk for free. These days, by the time men leave the pasture, they're lactose intolerant. The payoff is the question, "Why won't he commit?" The answer is, "Why should he?" Psych 101 teaches that whatever comes too easy is deemed worthless. A hunter unable to hunt goes limp. Pushing harder to get a rise from him (no pun, here), the desperate and the dateless try the opposite tact. But "playing" hard to get and scheming with pre-designed "rules" doesn't do it either.

Healthy love is built on honesty, not games. Honest women acknowledge a hunter's nature. If we return to our basic instincts, we've got a better shot at having our skin hunger fed naturally.