Bruce Bagemihl - Biological Exuberance

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Laboulmène 1859, Gadeau de Kerville 1896 (insects); Rollinat and Trouessart 1895, 1896 (Bats); Whitaker 1885 (Mute Swan); Selous 1906-7 (Ruff); Karsch, F. (1900) “Päderastie und Tribadie bei den Tieren auf Grund der Literatur” (Pederasty and Tribadism Among Animals on the Basis of the Literature), Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen 2:126—60.

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Morris 1964 (Orang-utan), Morris 1954 (Zebra Finches), Morris 1952 (Ten-spined Stickleback); Fossey 1983, 1990, Harcourt, Stewart, and Fossey 1981, Harcourt, Fossey, Stewart, and Watts 1980 (Gorilla); Lorenz 1979, 1991 (Greylag Goose), Lorenz 1935, 1972 (Jackdaw, Raven).

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Mute Swan (Low and M. of Tavistock 1935:147).

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Snow Goose (Quinn et al. 1989); Oystercatcher (Heg and van Treueren 1998); Bonobo (Hashimoto et al. 1996; Roth 1995; Savage-Rumbaugh et al. 1977); Roseate Tern (Sabo et al. 1994); Ruff (Lank et al. 1995); Silver Gull (Mills 1989, 1991); Bottlenose Dolphin (Wells 1991, 1995; Wells et al. 1987); Red Fox (Macdonald 1980; Storm and Montgomery 1975); Spotted Hyena (Mills 1990); Grizzly Bear (Craighead and Craighead 1972; Craighead et al. 1995); Griffon Vulture (Mouze and Bagnolini 1995); Victoria’s Riflebird (Frith and Cooper 1996); Black-winged Stilt (Kitagawa 1988a).

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Separation—Rhesus Macaque (Erwin and Maple 1976); Bottlenose Dolphin (McBride and Hebb 1948); Cheetah (Ruiz-Miranda et al. 1998); Long-eared Hedgehog (Poduschka 1981); Black-headed Gull (van Rhijn 1985; van Rhijn and Groothuis 1987); see also Clarke 1982:71 (White-fronted Amazon Parrot); removal—Orange-fronted Parakeet (Hardy 1963:187); electrodes—Stumptail Macaque (Goldfoot et al. 1980); deafening—Squirrel Monkey (Talmage-Riggs and Anschel 1973); castration—Crab-eating, Rhesus Macaques (Hamilton 1914); White-tailed Deer (Taylor et al. 1964); lobotomy—Domestic Cats (Green et al. 1957); killing, tissue collection—Common Garter Snake (Noble 1937); Hooded Warbler (Niven 1993); Gentoo Penguin (Roberts 1934). For primate hormonal treatment studies relating to homosexuality, see the literature survey in Vasey, P. L. (1995) “Homosexual Behavior in Primates: A Review of Evidence and Theory,” International Journal of Primatology 16:173-204. For examples of hormonal treatments administered to transgendered animals, see Savanna Baboon (Bielert 1984b, 1985); White-tailed Deer (Thomas et al. 1970).

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Wolfe, L. D. (1991) “Human Evolution and the Sexual Behavior of Female Primates,” p. 130, in J. D. Loy and C. B. Peters, eds., Understanding Behavior: What Primate Studies Tell Us About Human Behavior , pp. 121-51 (New York: Oxford University Press). For another example of the extent to which scientific information about animal homosexuality remains unpublished (thereby perpetuating inaccuracies), see Weinrich’s account of how he had to obtain much of his information from personal conversations and letters with zoologists—a procedure that was still necessary, a decade later, in the preparation of this book (Weinrich, J. D. [1987] Sexual Landscapes , p. 308 [New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons]).

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See, for example, Hubbard, R., M. Henifin, and B. Fried, eds., (1979) Women Look at Biology Looking at Women: A Collection of Feminist Critiques (Cambridge: Schenkman); Hrdy, S. B., and G. C. Williams (1983) “Behavioral Biology and the Double Standard,” in S. K. Wasser, ed., Social Behavior of Female Vertebrates , pp. 3-17 (New York: Academic Press); Shaw, E., and J. Darling (1985) Female Strategies (New York: Walker and Company); Kevles, B. (1986) Females of the Species: Sex and Survival in the Animal Kingdom (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press); Haraway, D. (1989) Primate Visions: Gender, Race, and Nature in the World of Modern Science (New York: Routledge); Gowaty, P. A., ed. (1996) Feminism and Evolutionary Biology: Boundaries, Intersections, and Frontiers (New York: Chapman Hall); Cunningham, E., and T. Birkhead (1997) “Female Roles in Perspective,” Trends in Ecology and Evolution 12:337-38. On the general male-centeredness of most biological theorizing, see Eberhard, W. G. (1996) Female Control: Sexual Selection by Cryptic Female Choice, pp. 34-36. (Princeton: Princeton University Press); Batten, M. (1992) Sexual Strategies (New York: Putnam’s); Gowaty, P. A. (1997) “Principles of Females’ Perspectives in Avian Behavioral Ecology,” Journal of Avian Biology 28:95-102.

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This is not to suggest, of course, that only scientists who are themselves homosexual can deal with the subject in an unbiased way. Certainly many contemporary heterosexual biologists do not harbor negative views about homosexuality, while some gay and lesbian zoologists have undoubtedly perpetuated the silences and prejudices of their field. (There are also those who believe that being homosexual actually invalidates a gay or lesbian scientist’s objectivity on the subject. However, if sexual orientation resulted in such bias, then heterosexual zoologists should confine themselves only to research topics that have nothing to do with breeding or male-female relations.) Nevertheless, sexism and male bias in biology have been exposed most directly through the work of women and feminist scientists, and it is likely that similar insights regarding heterosexism and homophobia will be forthcoming from openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual zoologists—that is, once such people no longer have to fear losing tenure, research grants, or jobs because of their outspokenness. Regardless of their own sexual orientation, however, many zoologists have avoided studying homosexuality or speaking widely about their results because the topic is still far from being considered a “legitimate” area of inquiry (see, for example, Wolfe’s commentary above; also, Anne Perkins’s decision not to discuss her findings on homosexuality in domestic sheep until after she had secured tenure, reported in “Counting Sheep,” Advocate, July 8, 1997, 737:21). A parallel situation exists in the fields of anthropology and history, where denial, omission, suppression, and condemnation of information about human homosexuality have long been carried out by researchers studying other cultures or historical periods. For a particularly good discussion of this phenomenon, see Read, K. E. (1984) “The Nama Cult Recalled,” in G. H. Herdt, ed., Ritualized Homosexuality in Melanesia , pp. 211-47 (Berkeley: University of California Press). On the myth of observer “objectivity” where discussion of homosexuality by anthropologists is concerned, see Lewin, E., and W. L. Leap, eds. (1996) Out in the Field: Reflections of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press). For further discussion of indigenous human homosexualities, see chapter 6.

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Dagg, A. I. (1984) “Homosexual Behavior and Female-Male Mounting in Mammals—a First Survey,” Mammal Review 14:155-85; Vasey, “Homosexual Behavior in Primates”; Vasey 1996, 1998 (Japanese Macaque); Vasey, P. L. (in press) “Homosexual Behavior in Male Birds,” “Homosexual Behavior in Male Primates,” in W. R. Dynes, ed., Encyclopedia of Homosexuality , 2nd ed., vol. 1: Male Homosexuality (New York: Garland Press). See also the recent bibliography: Williams, J. B. (1992) Homosexuality in Nonhuman Primates: A Bibliography: 1940—1992 (Seattle: Primate Information Center). For descriptions of animal homosexuality that are relatively value neutral (i.e., that do not view homosexual behavior as inherently problematic), or for accounts that are not overly concerned with finding a “cause” or “explanation” for the behavior, see, for example, Yeager 1990a (Proboscis Monkey); Marlow 1975 (Australian, New Zealand Sea Lions); Sowls 1974, 1984 (Collared Peccary); Schaller 1967 (Blackbuck, Barasingha); Braithwaite 1981 (Black Swan); King 1994 (Flamingo); Riddiford 1995 (Common Gull); Smith 1988 (Lyrebird); Neelakantan 1962 (Black-rumped Flameback); and Rogers and McCulloch 1981, Rowley 1990 (Galah). For descriptions of homosexual activity that recognize it as a routine or “normal” behavioral phenomenon, see Porton and White 1996 (Gorilla); Akers and Conaway 1979 (Rhesus Macaque); Eaton 1978, Fedigan 1982, Wolfe 1984, 1986, Chapais and Mignault 1991, Vasey 1996 (Japanese Macaque); Chevalier-Skolnikoff 1976 (Stumptail Macaque); Wells et al. 1987, Wells 1991, Wells et al. 1998 (Bottlenose Dolphin); Rose 1992 (Killer Whale); Hartman 1971, 1979 (West Indian Manatee); Lott 1983 (American Bison); and Coe 1967 (Giraffe). In addition, a number of zoologists in their personal communications with me have been refreshingly free of the negative judgments or interpretations that unfortunately characterize most of the field; among them, B. J. Ens (Oystercatchers), C. B. Frith (Birds of Paradise), M. Fujioka (Egrets), M. Fukuda (Great Cormorants), D. Heg (Oystercatchers), D. L. Herzing (Dolphins), C. E. King (Flamingos), W. D. Koenig (Acorn Woodpeckers), D. F. Lott (American Bison), M. Martys (Greylag Geese), M. G. L. Mills (Spotted Hyenas), C. Reed (Crested Black Macaques), S. Savage-Rumbaugh (Bonobos), C. J. Scholten (Humboldt Penguins), L. H. Smith (Superb Lyrebirds), Y. Sugiyama (primates), and P. L. Vasey (Japanese Macaques, other species).