This week we talked about societal norms with regard to gender, reproduction and sexuality. Naturally we thought that neuroscience may have something to contribute to this debate. This seems to be borne out by the fact that one collect data on the mating behavior of any and all animals.
It's tempting to use arguments based on these data as the be-all, end-all in a debate because "that's just the way things are." However, it's important to note that the ones making the arguments have developed clever rhetorical techniques to use just about any data to prove just about any point.
That being said, the jury is still out on whether or not neuroscience can provide a template for society. Given our inability to perform controlled experiments on humans we cannot prove causality with much certainty. I would argue that a truly enlightened society would involve dialogue from all members to decide on what are and should be the cultural norms. It is not simply a matter of cherry picking data that prove some behavior to be "natural."