Bruce Bagemihlv - Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity

Table of Contents

Title Page

Snow

Introduction

Part 1 - A Polysexual, Polygendered World

Chapter1 - The Birds and the Bees

The Many Forms of Animal Homosexuality

Whats Good for the Goose : Comparisons of Male and Female Homosexuality

A Hundred and One Lesbian Acts: Calculating the Frequency of Homosexual Behavior

Within Genders, Without Genders, Across Genders

Chapter2 - Humanistic Animals, Animalistic Humans

From Pederasty to Butch-Femme: Uniquely Human?

Primate (Homo)Sexuality and the Origins of Culture

Unnatural Nature

Chapter3 - Two Hundred Years of Looking at Homosexual Wildlife

A Brief History of the Study of Animal Homosexuality

A Lowering of Moral Standards Among Butterflies: Homophobia in Zoology

Anything but Sex

Chapter4 - Explaining (Away) Animal Homosexuality

Which One Plays the Female Role?Homosexuality as Pseudoheterosexuality

The Lengths to Which Deprived Creatures Will GoHomosexuality as Substitute Heterosexuality

The Errors of Their WaysHomosexuality as Mistaken Sex Identification

Gross Abnormalities of BehaviorHomosexuality as Pathology

Chapter5 - Not for Breeding Only: Reproduction on the Periphery of Life

The Evolutionary Value of Homosexuality

Homosexuality in the Service of Heterosexuality

Nonreproductive and Alternative Heterosexualities in Animals

Chapter 6 - A New Paradigm: Biological Exuberance

Left-Handed Bears and Androgynous Cassowaries: Informing Biology with Indigenous Knowledge

A Revolution Under Way: Contemporary Scientific and Philosophical Perspectives - We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals . They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.

Returning to the Source: Indigenous Cosmologies and Fractal Sexualities

The Magnificent Overabundance of Reality

Part II - A Wondrous Bestiary Portraits of Homosexual, Bisexual, and Transgendered Wildlife

Introduction

Mammals

Primates

Marine Mammals

Hoofed Mammals

Other Mammals

Birds

Waterfowl and Other Aquatic Birds

Shore Birds

Perching Birds and Songbirds

Other Birds

Acknowledgments

STONEWALL INN EDITIONS KEITH KAHLA, GENERAL EDITOR

Praise

Appendix: Other Species

Notes to Part I

Credits and Permissions

Animal Index

Subject Index

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Copyright Page

Snow

The room was suddenly rich and the great bay-window was

Spawning snow and pink roses against it

Soundlessly collateral and incompatible:

World is suddener than we fancy it.

World is crazier and more of it than we think,

Incorrigibly plural. I peel and portion

A tangerine and spit the pips and feel

The drunkenness of things being various.

And the fire flames with a bubbling sound for world

Is more spiteful and gay than one supposes

On the tongue on the eyes on the ears in the palms of ones hands

There is more than glass between the snow and the huge roses.

LOUIS MACNEICE

hugest whole creation may be less

incalculable than a single kiss

E. E. CUMMINGS

Introduction

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.

It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this

emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and

stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.

ALBERT EINSTEIN1

Any book on homosexuality and transgender in animals is necessarily unfinished, a work in progress. The subject is so vast, the types of behaviors so varied, and the number of species involved so large, as to defy any attempt at comprehensiveness. And the scientific research in this area is only in its infancy: new developments and discoveries are continually being made, and the extent of uncharted and as yet unknowable terrain is so great as to render any attempt at completeness hopelessly premature.

Notwithstanding such formidable challenges, this book endeavors to present a reasonably extensive and up-to-date account of the subject. To help narrow the field, certain parameters have been chosen: only examples of homosexual behavior or transgender that have been scientifically documented, for example, are covered in this book (such documentation includes published reports in scientific journals and monographs, and/or firsthand observations by zoologists, wildlife biologists, and other trained animal observers, corroborated by multiple sources whenever possible). Not only does this limit the number of species to be included (many more cases undoubtedly occur but have not been so documented), it establishes a uniform and verifiable platform of data on which to base further discussion. In addition, the book focuses primarily on mammals and birdsnot because other types of animals are somehow less interesting or important, but simply because space and time limitations necessitate that not all species can be covered. These two groups are considered to be sufficiently representative and to have a broad enough appeal to warrant their inclusion, however arbitrary the exclusion of others may be.

Even with these parameters in place, however, an enormous amount of ground must still be covered. In addition to discussing an extensive array of species (nearly 300 mammals and birds), the book draws upon more than two centuries of scientific research. Some of the findings reported here in a few sentences represent literally lifetimes of work on the part of biologists, who often devote their entire careers to studying one very specific and complex aspect of one type of behavior, in one particular population of one particular species. With this in mind, the book should be seen not as a final, definitive pronouncement on the subject, but rather as a beginning or overture, an invitation to further research and discussion.

Any account of homosexuality and transgender in animals is also necessarily an account of human interpretations of these phenomena. Because animals cannot speak directly for themselves the way people can, we must rely on human observations of their behavior. This presents both special challenges and unique advantages to the study of the subject. On the one hand, certain behaviors such as sexual acts can be observed directly (and even quantified), which is often extremely difficult, impossible, or unethical to do in studies of sexuality among people (especially stigmatized or alternative forms of sexuality). On the other hand, we are in the dark about the internal experiences of the animal participants: as a result, the biases and limitations of the human observerin both the gathering and interpretation of datacome to the forefront in this situation. In many ways this is the reverse of what occurs in some studies of homosexuality among people (including well-informed historical or anthropological studies of different cultures or time periods). With people, we can often speak directly to individuals (or read written accounts) about what their sexuality and associated phenomena meanand so get a sense of their emotional and motivational stateswithout necessarily being able to verify their actual sexual behaviors. With animals, in contrast, we can often directly observe their sexual (and allied) behaviors, but can only infer or interpret their meanings and motivations. As a result, many contentious assertions, theories, interpretations, and explanations have been put forward (and continue to be made) within the field of zoology about the function(s) and meaning (s) of homosexuality and transgender. This book seeks to address this historical and very human dimension of the subject, while still maintaining a focus on the animals, their behaviors and lives.