Do animals have genders? Famous primatologist reveals gender variance among chimpanzees.
Some people are trying to reduce gender to biological sex, appealing to “common sense” or even “science”. This is one way of invalidating gender variance and transgender people. The fact is that gender is a common term used in animal studies.
Both biological sex and gender are complex phenomena.
The great Dutch primatologist and ape expert Frans de Waal puts it this way:
‘Biological sex is divided into males, females, and a small in-between category. The deeper science delves into it, the more complex sex becomes, which is why talk of the “sexual binary” is a mere approximation.
Bell curves
Differences between the sexes are rarely black and white, de Waal argues Rather, they show a bimodal distribution (bell curves), which means that they concern averages with overlapping areas between them:
‘For example, men are taller than women, but only in a statistical sense. We all know women who are taller than the average man, and men who are shorter than the average woman. The same overlap holds true for behavioral traits, such as when men and women are said to differ in assertiveness or tenderness.’
As far as gender goes, de Waal writes that it resists a division into two neat categories. It is best viewed as a spectrum that runs smoothly from feminine to masculine and all sorts of mixtures in between:
‘Gender is even more complex. In its most common definition, it is like a cultural coat that the sexes walk around in, a coat that changes from place to place and from time to time.
Gender is not divided into male and female, but into masculine, feminine, and everything in-between. There is great variability. Many individuals show elements of both, and some elude gender labels altogether.’
Gender variance among apes
Over five decades working with apes, de Waal has known quite a few that acted atypically for their sex. These individuals form a minority, he says, but nearly every group seems to have one:
‘There are always males with less machismo than others, and always females who act tomboyish. Males who ignore the social hierarchy may be muscular giants, yet stay out of confrontations. They never reach the top, but also don’t sink to the bottom, because they are perfectly capable of defending themselves. The typical status game (and the social tensions and physical risks that it entails) is not for them.’
For more about Frans de Waal and his new book, as well as an answer to the question “do transgender animals exist?” read my article “Do animals have genders? Are there transgender animals? A scientist find some clues among chimpanzees.”
Illustration: Crossdreamers AI
Originally published at https://trans-express.lgbt on October 16, 2022.
