Bruce Bagemihl - Biological Exuberance

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Interestingly, homosexual activity in another group of highly intelligent creatures—whales and dolphins—also has many of the hallmarks of cultural activity identified here. Same-sex activity varies considerably between individuals, populations, and time periods in a number of cetaceans. For example, sexual interactions between male Killer Whales appear to differ in frequency and occurrence depending on the geographic area (Rose 1992:7), while male pairs of Bottlenose Dolphins exhibit different characteristics in various populations (see chapter 5). In addition, “incest taboos” appear to be operative in most male Killer Whale homosexual interactions (Rose 1992:112), sexual activity in Bottlenose Dolphins sometimes has a ritualistic or “greeting” component (Ostman 1991:313), while Bottlenose Dolphins of both sexes have also been observed “masturbating” or stimulating their genitals using inanimate objects (Caldwell and Caldwell 1972:430).

72

Hamer, D., and P. Copeland (1994) The Science of Desire: The Search for the Gay Gene and the Biology of Behavior , p. 213 (New York: Simon and Schuster).

73

Ward, J. (1987) “The Nature of Heterosexuality,” in G. E. Hanscombe and M. Humphries, eds., Heterosexuality , pp. 145-69. (London: GMP Publishers).

74

Weinrich, J. D. (1982) “Is Homosexuality Biologically Natural?” in W. Paul, J. D. Weinrich, J. C. Gonsiorek, and M. E. Hotvedt, eds., Homosexuality: Social, Psychological, and Biological Issues , pp. 197-208 (Beverly Hills, Calif: SAGE Publications). For an early discussion of animal homosexuality in relation to the question of “naturalness,” see Gide, A. (1911/1950) Corydon (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Co.).

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Weinrich, ibid.; Plant, R. (1986) The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals , pp. 27, 185 (New York: Henry Holt); Grau, G., ed., (1995) Hidden Holocaust? Gay and Lesbian Persecution in Germany 1933—45 , p. 284 (London: Cassell); Mann, M. (1797/1866) The Female Review: Life of Deborah Sampson, the Female Soldier in the War of the Revolution, p. 225 (Boston: J. K. Wiggin & W. P. Lunt) [excerpts reprinted in Katz, J. (1976) Gay American History , pp. 212—214 (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell)]. Boswell, J. (1980) Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century , p. 309 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).

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For a summary and overview of such experimental studies (e.g., involving hormones), see Mondimore, F. M. (1996) A Natural History of Homosexuaity , pp. 111—13, 129-30 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press). These studies, typically involving laboratory rats, also invariably overlook the fact that the homosexual behaviors “induced” by hormones and other experimental treatments occur spontaneously in the wild ancestors of the laboratory animals involved, e.g., (European) Brown Rats (cf. Barnett 1958). Concerning further pitfalls in extrapolating from laboratory animals, as well as a general discussion of the “nature versus nurture” controversy, see Byne, W. (1994) “The Biological Evidence Challenged,” Scientific American 270(5):50— 55; LeVay, S., and D. H. Hamer (1994) “Evidence for a Biological Influence in Male Homosexuality,” Scientific American 270(5):44—49.

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Weinrich, “Is Homosexuality Biologically Natural?” p. 207.

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See chapter 5, as well as the animal profiles in part 2, for specific examples.

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For explicit statements by gay-bashers to the effect that homosexuality is “not natural,” see Comstock, G. D. (1991) Violence Against Lesbians and Gay Men , p. 74 (New York: Columbia University Press).

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Middleton, S., and D. Liittschwager (1996) “Parting Shots?” Sierra 81(1):40—45.

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For documentation of these activities, see the following sources: Ligon, J. D. (1970) “Behavior and Breeding Biology of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker,” Auk 87:255-78; Lennartz, M. R., R.G. Hooper, and R. F. Harlow (1987) “Sociality and Cooperative Breeding of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, Picoides borealis,” Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 20:77-88; Walters, J. R., P. D. Doerr, and J. H. Carter III (1988) “The Cooperative Breeding System of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker,” Ethology 78:275-305; Walters, J. R. (1990) “Red-cockaded Woodpeckers: A ‘Primitive’ Cooperative Breeder,” in P. B. Stacey and W. D. Koenig, eds., Cooperative Breeding in Birds: Long-Term Studies of Ecology and Behavior, pp. 69-101 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press); Haig, S. M., J. R. Walters, and J. H. Plissner (1994) “Genetic Evidence for Monogamy in the Cooperatively Breeding Red-cockaded Woodpecker,” Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 34:295-303; Rossell, C. R., Jr., and J. J. Britcher (1994) “Evidence of Plural Breeding by Red-cockaded Woodpeckers,” Wilson Bulletin 106:557-59.

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For a complete list of references, see the appendix. For an example of an anecdotal, nonscientific account, see O‘Donoghue, B. P. (1996) My Lead Dog Was a Lesbian: Mushing Across Alaska in the Iditarod—the World’s Most Grueling Race , p. 42 (New York: Vintage). Interestingly, a female dog that showed interest in both females and males is described in this book as “sexually confused” and willing to mount “any dog within reach”—some of the same subjective characterizations that appear in the scientific descriptions of bisexuality and homosexuality among wild animals (see chapters 3 and 4).

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Ford and Beach, Patterns of Sexual Behavior , p. 142; Denniston, R. H. (1980) “Ambisexuality in Animals,” p. 34, in J. Marmor, ed., Homosexual Behavior: A Modern Reappraisal, pp. 25–40 (New York: Basic Books).

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Kelley, K. (1978) Playboy interview: Anita Bryant, Playboy, May 1978, p. 82. Quoted in Weinrich, “Is Homosexuality Biologically Natural?” p. 198.

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Lillian Faderman, interviewed in the Seattle Gay News , October 21, 1994, p. 26. See also Faderman’s mention of same-sex activities in her pet terriers in Faderman, L. (1998) “Setting Love Straight,” The Advocate , February 17, 753:72.

1

Edwards, G. (1758-64) Gleanings of Natural History. Exhibiting figures of quadrupeds, birds, insects, plants, etc., many of which have not, till now, been either figured or described, vol. 3, p. xxi (London: Royal College of Physicians); Orang-utan (Morris 1964:502); Tree Swallow (Lombardo et al. 1994:555).

2

For discussion of observations of animal homosexuality in nonwestern scientific traditions, particularly those of indigenous cultures, see chapter 6.

3

Horapollo (1835) Hieroglyphica, Greek text edited by Conradus Leemans (Amsterdam: J. Muller; English translation by George Boas [New York: Pantheon, 1950]); Cory, A. T., ed. and trans., (1840) The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo Nilous (London: Pickering); Buffon, G. L. L. Count de (1749-67) Histoire naturelle générale et particulière (Natural History, General and Particular), 15 vols. (Paris: De l’Imprimerie royale); Edwards, Gleanings of Natural History . For an annotated bibliography of these and other early references on animal homosexuality, see Dynes, W. R. (1987) “Animal Homosexuality,” in Homosexuality: A Research Guide , pp. 743—49 (New York and London: Garland Publishing) For further discussions of Aristotle, Horapollo, and others, see Boswell, J. (1980) Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century , especially chapters 6 and 11 (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press).