Animal Homosexuality

Pg. 339 #1

In the article by Jeffrey Kluger titled “The Gay Side of Nature”, he discusses the homosexual relationships that exist amongst animals in nature. Some of the research described seems very surprising to him. Kluger uses specific word choice and language usage to exemplify this surprise. He uses romanticized language and blatant adjectives to show his feelings on the idea of animal homosexuality.

The fact that animal homosexuality is common seems very perplexing to Kluger because he uses adjectives like “astonishing” to describe this fact. He also explains that 20% of a sample taken consisted of animals practicing homosexuality. This shows homosexuality as a very common occurrence, which is unexpected. Another fact that seems to astonish Kluger was that female bonobos, a type of ape, spend more time during their homosexual relations than during the sexual interactions with a male (which lasts seconds). He also explained that some of the homosexual relationships looked humanized. Groups of dolphins demonstrated something that looked similar to kissing. This seemed surprising to him because not only is it surprising that they participate in homosexual activity in the first place, but the fact that it looks human-like can be shocking. There is a wide range of different types of animals that participate in these types of acts, and this was flabbergasting to the author as well. The group ranges from mice to elephants, which is quite a diverse group.

Kluger uses language and word choice that would most likely be used when describing human sexual behavior. For example, he uses words such as “lustily or quite tenderly” (Kluger 2). These words seem very intimate, and could easily describe many human relationships. Also, he describes these homosexual interactions as “unions”. This makes it appear as if he is describing a real relationship, not some odd fling that randomly occurs. Toward the end of the article, Kluger explains how some people think the animals participate in this type of behavior to form alliances. However, the way that Kluger describes them as unions that can consist of many years of being together, makes it more romanticized, and as if they truly love each other.

All the facts and ideas that surprised Kluger were surprising to me as well. I never knew that animal homosexuality even existed, let alone that it was common in nature. I think that an animal naturally choosing to participate in a homosexual relationship is very shocking, and it should say something about how human culture treats homosexuality. I was really amazed by how long some of these relationships last, even in some cases when animals use the homosexual partner as a parent to their offspring. All of this was new information to me that was very interesting and astonishing at the same time.