Anti-scientific myth of homosexuality in animals dispelled

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The journal World of Science: Pedagogy and Psychology, which is included in the List of Russian peer-reviewed scientific journals, approved by the Higher Attestation Commission (HAC RF) and is part of the Russian Science Citation Index database, published an article that dispelled the myth about homosexuality in animals.

In the rhetoric of LGBT activists, you can often hear the statement that homosexuality is a kind of norm for humans, since it is allegedly observed in nature - among animals. This statement is built on the following sequential statements:

1) homosexuality is observed among animals;

2) what animals do is natural;

3) therefore, homosexuality is natural for a person.

The problem with this conclusion is that point 1 represents a substitution of concepts and a biased anthropomorphic interpretation of animal behavior, and point 2 is based on an extremely selective extrapolation of the phenomena of the animal world to human life.

First of all, it should be noted that among animals there is not "homosexuality" (sexual attraction to the same sex and actions based on it), but same-sex behavior, usually has nothing to do with sexual attraction or even with sexual intercourse as such. Even LGBT activist Simon LeVay, known for his brain research, admitted that “in the animal world there is no“homosexual orientation”in human understanding, and recorded episodes of homosexual behavior never lead to their substitution for heterosexual activity” (LeVay, 1996).

Animal sexual behavior researchers note that although they use common terms to describe same-sex behavior in animals, such as “homosexual,” “mate preference,” and “sexual orientation,” these terms are not at all identical to those used to describe the orientation of a person representing is a much more complex phenomenon (Roselli, 2009).

According to linguist Bruce Bagemihl in a book published by a publisher specializing in romance, fiction and homosexual literature, including pornography, "same-sex behavior has been documented in over 450 animal species" (Bagemihl, 1999).

Although the number 450 may sound impressive, dividing it into 1, 552, 319 species described by science (Zhang. 2011), we see that same-sex behavior in the animal kingdom tends to zero: 0.0002. In addition, these statistics included any interactions between individuals of the same sex, which for the most part represent examples of parenting, hierarchical rituals, courtship ceremonies, mistaken identification of a partner, the formation of partnerships due to imprinting disorders or inaccessibility of an individual of the opposite sex, and the like. Examples of sexual behavior (or rather, its imitation, since neither penetration nor culmination, as a rule, occurs) among these 450 species of animals are rare, and even in these rare cases, the animal does not at all have any interest in another animal due to the fact that that it is of the same sex with him, as is the case with some people. Here either a social ritual takes place, or a substitution (like the owner's leg for a dog), which occurs due to the inaccessibility of a partner of the opposite sex.

A series of experiments with a male turtle dove is a good example of how, with prolonged failure to perform any instinctive action, the threshold of irritation decreases: a few days after the female of his species was removed from the male's cage, he began to care for a female of another species, which he had before completely ignored. A few days later, he began to perform his bows and cooing in front of a stuffed pigeon, even later - in front of a rag coiled into a knot, and after a few weeks of loneliness, he began to address his current to an empty corner of the cage, where the intersection of the rails created at least some kind of optical point. able to hold his gaze. Goethe expressed this phenomenon in the saying of Mephistopheles: "With this unquenchable thirst for Helen you will see in everyone"; and if you are a male turtledove, you will eventually see it even in an old dusty rag (Lorenz, 1963).

In any case, turning to the animal world to assess human behavior is meaningless, since the presence of a certain phenomenon in animals does not in any way indicate its acceptability for humans. In addition to same-sex behavior, in animals one can observe coprophagia, incest, intercourse with corpses and cubs, rape, cannibalism, theft and murder, which in no way makes them acceptable in our society. Zoologist and LGBT activist Paul Weissy admitted in an interview: “We should not use animals to develop moral and social policies for the human society in which we want to live. The animals don't care for the elderly. I don't think this should be the basis for the closure of nursing homes."

Examples of false information published in the media and books:

It should be mentioned that the myth about "1500 species of animals exhibiting homosexual behavior" has been circulating on the network for more than 10 years, immortalized in the press and picked up even by such respectable media as BBC, Time, Telegraph, DW, etc. In fact, it turned out that the figure "1500 ", as one would expect, has no basis whatsoever. The Norwegian zoologist Peter Böckman, who first voiced this figure, could not provide its source and admitted his mistake:

This refers to the exhibition he organized in 2006 in Oslo on same-sex behavior in animals, which was sponsored by the state, since the formation of a tolerant attitude towards homosexuality is part of public policy in Norway. Boeckman acknowledged the "political motives behind the show" and said, "I really enjoyed using these numbers in various interviews, as it was an impressive, easy to remember number, with a good shocking effect, which shows that this is not just a handful of strange cats and dogs." …

Biologists note that same-sex behavior in animals is not only of academic interest, but also often used in solving legal issues in humans. (Bailey & Zuk, 2009). For example, at the Lawrence v. Texas trial, examples from Bruce Badgemeal's book were presented as evidence, which made it possible to repeal sodomy laws in Texas and other states.