Bruce Bagemihl - Biological Exuberance

7

Freud, S. (1905/1961) Drei Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie (Frankfurt: Fischer); see also Ellis, H. (1936) Sexual Inversion: Studies in the Psychology of Sex (New York: Random House).

8

Morris 1954 (Zebra Finch); Morris 1952 (Ten-spined Stickleback). For a more recent article, see Schlupp et al. 1992 (Amazon Molly). See also Lorenz 1972:21 (Raven) for an early (errroneous) statement to the effect that during same-sex interactions animals only exhibit “purely” masculine or feminine behaviors (as defined by a heterosexual context) rather than any intermediate forms.

9

Takhi (Boyd 1986:661); Mallard Duck (Ramsay 1956:277); Snow Goose (Starkey 1972). Another notable example of the conflation of “inverted” gender traits (and other “deviant” characteristics) with playing the “opposite-sex” role in homosexual interactions involves the Common Chimpanzee. A female Chimp that was apparently exclusively lesbian for many years (and consorted with otherwise “heterosexual” females) was described by a scientist—in addition to being sexually “aberrant”—as having a “burly manner,” being “masculine-looking,” “two-faced and mean,” “malevolent,” and “deceitful.” Comments from untrained observers that compared her to a witch were also repeated without qualification (de Waal 1982:64—65). While some of these traits may have reflected genuine aspects of her physical appearance, behavior, and personality, it is striking how loaded and anthropomorphic these descriptions are, and how many of the characteristics singled out for mention correspond precisely to the negative and distorted stereotypes of “butch” lesbians among humans. Moreover, in many animals, (heterosexual) females may display greater levels of aggression when they are in “heat”—one scientist even described female Chimpanzees as being “masculinized” by the onset of their estrus (Nishida 1979:103). Aside from being inappropriate in specific cases, then, it is inaccurate to ascribe greater aggression solely to “malelike” females in homosexual contexts when this may in fact be an independent feature of female sexual arousal. In addition, a recent comprehensive survey of over 700 mammal species found no correlation between the occurrence of “masculinized” female genitalia and female aggression or dominance (Teltscher, C., H. Hofer, and M. L. East [1997] “Virilized Genitalia are Not Required for the Evolution of Female Dominance,” in M. Taborsky and B. Taborsky, eds., Contributions to the XXV International Ethological Conference, p. 281, Advances in Ethology no. 32. [Berlin: Blackwell Wissenschafts-Verlag]). Incidentally, the female Chimpanzee referred to above was also nicknamed “the Madam” because of her apparent regulation of the sexual activity of other females, echoing an earlier nicknaming of an intersexual Savanna Baboon as “the Prostitute” (Marais 1922/1969:205—6). These examples offer striking parallels to the association, among humans, of female homosexuality/gender variance with prostitution. Both are seen as “deviant” activities and are linked not only in the mythic and popular imagination, but also sometimes in actual historical and social realities (cf. Nestle, J. [1987] “Lesbians and Prostitutes: A Historical Sisterhood,” in A Restricted Country, pp. 157—77 [Ithaca: Firebrand Books]; Salessi, J. [1997] “Medics, Crooks, and Tango Queens: The National Appropriation of a Gay Tango,” pp. 151, 161-62, in C. F. Delgado and J. E. Muñoz, eds., Everynight Life: Culture and Dance in Latin/o America , pp. 141—74 [Durham: Duke University Press]).

10

Although many zoologists have uncritically advocated such an “explanation” or interpretation of homosexuality, a few scientists have presented explicit arguments against such an analysis: Wolfe 1979:532, Lunardini 1989:183 (Japanese Macaque); Srivastava et al. 1991:506—7 (Hanuman Langur); Huber and Martys 1993:160 (Greylag Goose); Hunt et al. 1984 (Western Gull); Rogers and McCulloch 1981:90 (Galah).

11

This is especially true for “penis fencing” between male Bonobos, less so for mutual genital rubbing between females in this species. The latter usually involves one female “mounting” or embracing the other in a face-to-face position, hence it could be analogized with positions used in heterosexual interactions.

12

Even in some of these cases, however, a “pseudoheterosexual” framework has been imposed on the behavior. Mutual rump rubbing, in which two animals back up toward each other and rub their anal and genital regions together, has been interpreted as both animals adopting a “female” heterosexual invitation-to-mate posture in some species (e.g., Bonobos [Kitamura 1989:56—57]; Stumptail Macaques [Chevalier-Skolnikoff 1976:518]). This ignores the fact that both participants often actively rub their rumps together and make pelvic thrusts rather than simply passively presenting their hindquarters, and the two animals may also simultaneously fondle and stimulate each other’s genitals with their hands—clearly making this a distinct sexual activity rather than simply a version of a heterosexual practice or posture.

13

Bottlenose Dolphin (Ostman 1991). For more on reverse heterosexual mounting, see chapter 5 and the species profiles in part 2.

14

See, for example, Huber and Martys (1993:160) for explicit refutation of the idea that one member of a Greylag gander pair adopts a “pseudofemale” role.

15

This is true, for example, in Mallard Ducks, Black-crowned Night Herons, Black-headed Gulls, Emus, and Jackdaws.

16

Red Deer (based on table 2, Hall 1983:278).

17

Byne, W. (1994) “The Biological Evidence Challenged,” p. 53, Scientific American 270(5):50—55.

18

Northern jacana (del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott, and J. Sargatal, eds. [1996] Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 3, Hoatzin to Auks, p. 282 [Barcelona: Lynx Edicións]); arctic tern and other species (Weldon, P. J., and G. M. Burghardt [1984] “Deception Divergence and Sexual Selection,” Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie 65:89—102, especially table 1).

19

Mountain Zebra (Penzhorn 1984:119); Chaffinch (Marler 1956:69, 96—97, 119) (Marler misleadingly labels some cases of opposite-sex mimicry as “homosexual behavior” while noting explicitly that no same-sex mounting occurs in these contexts); Rufous-naped Tamarin (Moynihan 1970:48, 50); Black-crowned Night Heron (Noble and Wurm 1942:216); Kittiwake (Paludan 1955:16-17); Koala (Smith 1980:49). Two species in which opposite-sex mimicry does appear to be a component of at least some homosexual interactions are Buff-breasted Sandpipers and Ocher-bellied Flycatchers.

20

Northern Elephant Seal (Le Boeuf 1974:173); Black-headed Gull (van Rhijn 1985:87, 100); Red Deer (Darling 1937:170); Common Garter Snake (Mason and Crews 1985:59). Researchers have also found that transvestite paketi (a fish species) have huge testes that are about five times larger than that of nontransvestite males and are thus able to fertilize more eggs (Ayling, T. [1982] Sea Fishes of New Zealand, p. 255 [Auckland: Collins]; Jones, G. P. [1980] “Growth and Reproduction in the Protogynous Hermaphrodite Pseudolabrus celidotus [Pisces: Labridae] in New Zealand,” Copeia 1980:660-75).

21

Tasmanian Native Hen (Ridpath 1972:30); Rhesus Macaque (Akers and Conaway 1979:76). On a related point, male Laysan Albatrosses may be stimulated to mount birds of either sex when the latter happen to assume a posture that resembles a female’s invitation to mate (typically involving drooping and spread wings)—to the extent that if only a bird’s right wing is drooping, for example, males on the bird’s right side will attempt to mount while those on the left will not. However, this “triggering” effect can only be a partial explanation, since males do not generally try to mount females who are sitting on a nest, even though the posture and drooping wings of such birds greatly resemble the mating invitation. Researchers studying this species (e.g., Fisher 1971:45-46) have expressed puzzlement over the apparent failure of the triggering effect in this context, suggesting that perhaps the height of the incubating females (nests in this species are six to eight inches high) is an inhibiting factor. This is not consistent, however, with the fact that males sometimes mount even taller “stacks” of up to three other males that are simultaneously mounting one another. Similarly, scientists once observed a Red Deer stag mount another male whose posture, as it was beginning to undergo the effects of a tranquilizer, supposedly “resembled” a female’s (Lincoln et al. 1970:101; cf. Klingel [1990:578] for a similar observation concerning anesthetized Plains Zebra stallions). Consequently, they attributed the homosexual behavior to the “triggering” effect of the supposedly femalelike visual cues presented by the other animal. Aside from the fact that the resemblance between a female Red Deer ready to mate and a drugged male is questionable, same-sex mounting in this species occurs commonly in contexts that have nothing to do with opposite-sex “resemblance” (cf. Hall 1983, Guiness et al. 1971; the same holds for Zebras).