Human Evolution and Male Aggression: Debunking the Myth of Man a ...

It is now known that female animals can be as aggressive, sexy, and dominant as males and that they sometimes outdo males in these traits. However, as we note in chapter 2, popular books and articles about aggressive males written by men continue to be legion, whereas documents by women (and a few men) disputing this mind-set are few.

Bias Against Homosexuality

Bias against homosexuality has had a less obvious history, but one that is devastating to gays and lesbians, who are frequently told that homosexual behavior is “against nature” (or aberrant, abnormal, deviant, perverse, etc.)—a phrase that is patently false. In the early 1980s when Dagg (1984) carried out the first census of animals for which homosexual behavior had been described, she found many scores of examples. Bruce Bagemihl (1999) has since greatly expanded this number of species in his impressive book Biological Exuberance.

Why was there such a bias? It existed partly because biologists believe in evolution—there was no obvious reason why homosexuality would evolve or occur in successive generations when it had no reproductive purpose. Same-sex behavior had long been observed in zoos and research labs, but this was believed to be a consequence of captivity. When some zoologists working in the field saw males mounting other males, they persuaded themselves that this was impossible: They must have been mistaken somehow. Others accepted that such behavior happened but chose not to report it lest they be accused of being gay themselves or of having kinky ideas. When one researcher on the activities of Japanese macaques, Linda Wolfe, wanted to have her results (which included documentation of homosexual behavior) published, referees accused her of making up facts and of doctoring photographs that illustrated them (Vines, 1999).

The bias persisted also because many zoologists, like people in general, were homophobic. They did not want to concede that the animals they