I went on safari in South Africa recently. Yes, it is more amazing than you think it will be. Yes, it is a trip you should try and make once in your life. No, you won't get eaten... well, you probably won't get eaten… unless you’re a buffalo.
Here are just a few photos of some of the animals we saw...
Spending time in the African bush makes you feel very close to Nature and Evolution. It is all about Eating, Being Eaten, Sex, Birth and Death. There's no nonsense. You can eat meat and save the animals at the same time. There is a deep understanding of the need for conservation of animals and their natural habitats, but also antelope is on the menu every night. Crocodile wallets, kudu horn decorations and zebra skin rugs are given a thumbs up; rhino horn poachers should be shot on sight (my opinion, not the law where we were (but also, I kinda think anyone illegally trading in rhino horns should be shot on sight, too (I feel like this is a pretty moderate position (maybe I’m a rhino extremist (meh whatever))))).
The other thing that struck me almost immediately is how 'queer theory' and 'gender bollocks' seem even more ridiculous in the bush than they do to me in the middle of a big city. There are no non-binary giraffes out there, no genderqueer hyenas. Our guides referred to animals as males and females, as mothers and fathers, bulls and cows... They would say 'Males are considerably larger than the females' or 'She has enlarged mammary glands, so she is the mother' or 'She is staying close to her mother... Oops! I didn't see the genitals. He is staying close to his mother.' It would be literally insane if they said 'One of them is the birthing lion of this cub' or 'Hippos live in groups mainly made up of hippos who have oestrous cycles and young, with maybe only one dominant adult hippo that produces spermatozoa.'
"Aaaaah," an over-confident-ill-informed-Steve-Buscemi-in-30-Rock-meme-wants-to-be-down-with-the-kids-but-is-in-fact-a-boring-middle-aged-straight-man might say, "Humans have very complicated social systems and culture. We are special." This, as any thinking person would know, means they are guilty of 'anthropocentrism' or 'human exceptionalism', that is, the belief that humans are special and separate to Nature, that we are different or even superior to all other organisms. Now, in some ways we are ‘superior’ - eg we can travel into outer space - in other ways we aren't ‘superior’- an average human from Camden dropped into the African bush would have no knowledge at all of how to survive; a lion dropped into the middle of Camden Market on a Sunday would have no issue with finding a meal...
There are other ways humans are exceptional - the fact that I can write down my thoughts and you can read them, is one - but believing that we are exceptional in magical ways - eg having gendered souls or uttering words that change material reality- ended with belief in the Bible as the literal word of God. This type of religious thinking has no place coming from the mouths of people who claim to be 'science communicators' or even 'science fans'. sideeye.gif
Loads of animals teach their young various behaviours that aren't instinctive such as how to hunt, what to eat, what to do with their poo, how to communicate, how to groom, what or who to be wary of... So, animals have 'culture', too.
Certain chimpanzee groups have shown sex differences in 'termite fishing' and other chimpanzee groups elsewhere show no sex differences in termite fishing. We cannot say that 'termite fishing' is an innate, genetically hardwired behaviour as these sex-based behaviours differ across groups of chimpanzees. Research has shown that termite fishing is taught by older chimpanzees to younger chimpanzees and differs between different chimpanzee cultures. Technology used for termite fishing differs between chimpanzees groups, so it's obvious termite fishing is a learned, cultural behaviour.
Let's do a thought experiment...
In Imaginary Chimpanzee Group there are sex differences in termite fishing. Female young learn the skill at an earlier age (again, sex differences in the age of acquiring the skill have been observed in the wild) and they use various tools to do so (the use of various tools has been observed in the wild in different groups of chimpanzees). The male young learn to termite fish later and only use one tool (as has been observed in the wild in different chimpanzee groups). Male chimpanzees spend more time hunting for larger prey with adult males, female chimpanzees spend more time gathering insects with adult females (this has been observed in the wild), this might be why female young in this (imaginary) group are more highly skilled at termite fishing.
Now… let’s start thinking…
If a young male chimpanzee in this group, acquires the termite fishing skill earlier than other males in his group, does that mean he is, in fact, female or does it simply mean a male chimpanzee has acquired the skill earlier than other male chimpanzees? If a young female uses only one tool rather than multiple tools, does that mean she is, in fact, male or does that mean that she has just used one tool instead of many?
If you think that a human wearing clothes intended for the opposite sex means they are, in fact, the opposite sex, please really think of this chimpanzee question.
I'll give you another moment.
Really think. You can do it. I believe in you.
We don't ascribe any kind of morality onto the the imaginary chimpanzees' termite fishing behaviours. We are outsiders. It means nothing to us. It may, of course, mean something to those chimpanzees. It could be that chimpanzees fishing for termites differently would be treated badly by others in their group and be less successful at finding a mate. Looking at them from the outside, however, we can see how ridiculous that is. Surely, the chimpanzees should be able to fish for termites however they want, right? They shouldn't be attacked or shunned by the group because they use multiple tools rather than one tool like the others of their sex... Another way of saying that is that individuals shouldn't be subject to violence or ostracism because they display gender non-conforming behaviour. This is what I think about those imaginary chimpanzees and it is what I think about humans, too.
Again, looking at the imaginary chimpanzees, it's pretty obvious to anyone that can actually think, that the culturally imposed, sex-based behaviour doesn't change the material reality of their biological sex. Instead of "culturally imposed, sex-based behaviour" we could use the word 'gender' - which is what the word actually means - and shorten "material reality of their biological sex" to simply 'sex'. From that we get 'gender doesn't change sex'. This is what I think about those imaginary chimpanzees and it is what I think about humans, too.
Why do people like an over-confident-ill-informed-Steve-Buscemi-in-30-Rock-meme-wants-to-be-down-with-the-kids-but-is-in-fact-a-boring-middle-aged-straight-man think humans are different to this? We are animals. We are mammals. We, like many animals, may display 'non-typical sex-based behaviours' at times, but that doesn't overrule material reality. Why do people who really should know better make statements about humans being able to do things that no other mammal can do?
A Nyala is an antelope that lives in the south of Africa. I’d see them around our lodge all the time. It is the most sexually dimorphic antelope. This is the male.
How would he become a female?
What, exactly, is the process the male Nyala would have to go through to actually change sex into a female Nyala? Take some 'female hormones'? Dye his fur? Chop his horns off? Would that make him a female or would he still be a male, but one that has been 'artificially altered'? Is there any way a male Nyala can become a female Nyala? (Don’t just shout at me in the comments now about how I’m ‘a bigot’, explain this process to me.)
Why are humans different to Nyala? We are mammals just like them. Why are we considered to be "special" or "separate" from Nature? Why do people think our culture overrides material reality? (Note: it doesn't)
How would any of these male mammals become these female mammals?
Explain the process to me in detail, over-confident-ill-informed-Steve-Buscemi-in-30-Rock-meme-wants-to-be-down-with-the-kids-but-is-in-fact-a-boring-middle-aged-straight-man; out-of-touch-aging-folk-musician; used-to-be-funny-but-now-is-boring-as-hell-comedian; doofus-assed-lawyer; or, for goodness sake, ANYONE. Explain it to me. Why do you think we are different to animals? Why do you think our culture overrides material reality? This is religious thinking. Do you think we have special ‘souls’? Are words magic? If you can't explain it in a way that accepts material reality, can you please just stop talking about this? You’re making fools of yourselves.
People who behave in gender non-conforming ways are not “magic”, they do not undo 200+ million years of mammalian evolution. Yes, humans do have very complicated social systems and culture, yet underneath it we are still mammals. If we can’t accept that, then there is no way we can build a fair, just and equal society. The only thing we all- every human on the planet- have in common is that we are humans, however we dress, however we behave, whoever we love. Humans.
Species: Homo sapiens; Genus: Homo; Family: Hominidae; Order: Primates; Class: Mammalia
Love this. X
I don't think you've covered differences in genitalia and other physical characteristics, or preferences of expression. There are humans who are intersex and who have other non-binary sexual differences. There are other species that have various forms of non-binary sexuality in both physical structures and behaviors. I've read that there even are some that can change their gender under certain circumstances. I wonder what people who engage in rigid religious thinking make of those beings.
I don't think you've covered identity either, an individual's inner sense of self. There is no way to know the inner experience of other species. Or of any other human, either, other than asking and listening. There are humans who say that their personal sense of self, often from very young ages, is not in alignment with their genitalia and/ or with societal norms and expectations. Is their sex defined by their body? Why not by their mind?