Full disclosure I only read the sections on animals not people. This one made me question the framing of some of the assumptions in my evolutionary behavioral ecology coursework. I liked Roughgarden's approach of starting with the assumptions that are pretty widely accepted; first that male= small gametes, female =large gametes and that same sex sexual activity is evolutionarily neutral but likely a hijack trait. She then did an excellent job breaking down how these assumptions inject human social bias into animal behavior. Nature is just way weirder and queerer than early days western biologists wanted to see.
Two new ideas for me. First is that in some species beyond having multiple/shifting sexes there is pretty rigorous evidence that there are gender identities too, which I had never seen expressed in current s.d.t. literature . The second is that same sex activity may not simply be an evolutionary side quest, but that it supports relationship building, group dynamics and ultimately can increase an individuals fecundify in non-direct ways. She had some quite compelling examples including cycle shifting of self fertilizing 'lesbians lizards' and clitoris placement on primates. Excellent prep for the Queer in Nature hike this weekend! Thank you Dee for the rec.
4/5 stars bc I think she could have paired with someone else to support writing the people chapters (or not included them) and if your writing about queer nature and only talking about vertebrates you are missing out.