Sexual Selections

Scientific discoveries about the animal kingdom fuel ideological battles on many fronts, especially battles about sex and gender. This book exposes the anthropomorphism and gender politics that have colored our understanding of the natural world and shows how feminism can help move us away from our ideological biases. "Zuk's analogies are better than anyone's—pithy, insightful, and funny. Who said feminists lack humor? Zuk made me laugh with deep pleasure more than once, as she reviewed the lessons of feminism for our understanding of non-human animals. Her main point—that studying the lives of non-humans should not be for the lessons they seem to provide for our political purposes, but for the pleasure of knowing nature on its own terms—will be compelling reading for all naturalists, feminists and not-feminists alike."—Patricia Adair Gowaty, editor of Feminism and Evolutionary Biology "Marlene Zuk uniquely combines a great breadth of knowledge about the behavior of animals with an ability to challenge conventional wisdom. She also writes with a graceful style and a mischievous wit. The result is a bold, fresh and feminist book about how our sex lives evolved."—Matt Ridley, author of Genome "This is an engaging and much needed book, which I hope will be widely read."—Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, author of Mother Nature: Maternal Instincts and How They Shape the Human Species Scientific discoveries about the animal kingdom fuel ideological battles on many fronts, especially battles about sex and gender. We now know that male marmosets help take care of their offspring. Is this heartening news for today's stay-at-home dads? Recent studies show that many female birds once thought to be monogamous actually have chicks that are fathered outside the primary breeding pair. Does this…