We have the wrong idea about males, females and sex

New science reveals that old research on sex and gender in the animal kingdom is very much colored by the sexist stereotypes of Western society.

The researchers project their prejudices onto nature and find only what they have been taught to see: Brute promiscuous males chasing passive and chaste females.

Now the researchers find proactive females, males who care for their young, birds with more than two gender, fish that change sex, female bears with “penises” and so on and so forth. 

Indeed, the tribes of our closest relative in the animal kingdom, the bonobo, is run by females. All bonobos are some shade of bisexual and prefer to use sex for problem-solving rather than violence.

The next time someone tells you that sexual and gender variation is unnatural, ask them to read this article from the BBC!

See also my blog posts on “gay” and “transgender” animals!

(Photo of Roy and Silo, two male penguins in the Central Park zoo, who tried to raise a chick together.)