7 October 2010: Page 339 Critical Reading #1

Homosexual Nature

In “The Gay Side of Nature,” Jeffrey Kluger comes across a book by Bruce Bahemil entitled Biological Exuberance that explores and reports homosexual behavior in animals.  Upon reading about observations of animal behaviors, Kluger is clearly surprised by what he finds. Humankind believes that homosexual relationships are isolated to the race of man alone; not seen anywhere else in nature. Kluger, however, is astonished that he finds such opposition to this belief, “According to Bagemihl, the animal kingdom is a more sexually complex place than most people know-one where couplings routinely take place not just between male-female pairs, but also between male-male and female-female ones” (Kluger 338).

One of the most astounding things that he comes across is that “homosexuality comes naturally to other creatures” (338) and “same-sex partners don’t meet merely for brief encounters, but may form long-term bonds, sometimes mating for years of even life” (338). What he reads about animal homosexuality seems analogously parallel to what we see with homosexual humans. It shows him an argument that he had never previously considered when taking into consideration nature’s side of homosexuality. Furthermore, he is struck by the fact that these “forms go beyond mere sexual gratification” (338). Most people in relationships are in it for more than sexual pleasures; the same goes for same gender relationships in animals.

Many people oppose these claims saying that animals do not have a way of communication; these practices allow for alliances. They say this is just animal behavior and “Putting all that into a homosexual category seems simplistic” (339). Kluger’s tone of utter astonishment throughout the piece, fully demonstrates his surprise to this finding. It shows that this may be something he had never heard of, nor have taken into consideration in the past. Kluger also emphasizes his skepticism of surprise in the way he presents to the readers the arguments found against these findings. Overall, he takes no side on the argument, but is instead presenting his findings to an audience.

I myself found these behaviors surprising.  For animals just to “fool around” one with another of the same gender is one thing; reading that some animals, such as the goose, may homosexually be paired for life, is something that shocked me. I had never before heard this and it made me think about human’s ideas and stands on homosexuality. I had never before considered that it may be a part of nature. It is definitely an interesting insight.

Work Cited

Kluger, Jeffrey. "The Gay Side of Nature" Academic Communities/Disciplinary Conventions. Ed.Bonnie Beedles and Michael Petracca. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2001. 337-339.