—from a scientific description of Ruffs in 1906
Three unnatural tending bonds were observed: … On July 16 a two-year-old bull closely tended a yearling bull for at least four hours in the Wichita Refuge and attempted mounting with penis unsheathed … .
—from a scientific description of American Bison in 1958
Among aberrant sexual behaviors, anoestrous does were very occasionally seen to mount one another … .
—from a scientific description of Waterbuck in 198214
In many ways, the treatment of animal homosexuality in the scientific discourse has closely paralleled the discussion of human homosexuality in society at large. Homosexuality in both animals and people has been considered, at various times, to be a pathological condition; a social aberration; an “immoral,” “sinful,” or “criminal” perversion; an artificial product of confinement or the unavailability of the opposite sex; a reversal or “inversion” of heterosexual “roles”; a “phase” that younger animals go through on the path to heterosexuality; an imperfect imitation of heterosexuality; an exceptional but unimportant activity; a useless and puzzling curiosity; and a functional behavior that “stimulates” or “contributes to” heterosexuality. In many other respects, however, the outright hostility toward animal homosexuality has transcended all historical trends. One need only look at the litany of derogatory terms, which have remained essentially constant from the late 1800s to the present day, used to describe this behavior: words such as strange, bizarre, perverse, aberrant, deviant, abnormal, anomalous, and unnatural have all been used routinely in “objective” scientific descriptions of the phenomenon and continue to be used (one of the most recent examples is from 1997). In addition, heterosexual behavior is consistently defined in numerous scientific accounts as “normal” in contrast to homosexual activity.15
The entire history of ideas about, and attitudes toward, homosexuality is encapsulated in the titles of zoological articles (or book chapters) on the subject through the ages: “Sexual Perversion in Male Beetles” (1896), “Sexual Inversion in Animals” (1908), “Disturbances of the Sexual Sense [in Baboons]” (1922), “Pseudomale Behavior in a Female Bengalee [a domesticated finch]” (1957), “Aberrant Sexual Behavior in the South African Ostrich” (1972), “Abnormal Sexual Behavior of Confined Female Hemichienus auritus syriacus [Long-eared Hedgehogs]” (1981), “Pseudocopulation in Nature in a Unisexual Whiptail Lizard” (1991).16 The prize, though, surely has to go to W. J. Tennent, who in 1987 published an article entitled “A Note on the Apparent Lowering of Moral Standards in the Lepidoptera.” In this unintentionally revealing report, the author describes the homosexual mating of Mazarine Blue butterflies in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. The entomologist’s behavioral observations, however, are prefaced with a lament: “It is a sad sign of our times that the National newspapers are all too often packed with the lurid details of declining moral standards and of horrific sexual offences committed by our fellow Homo sapiens; perhaps it is also a sign of the times that the entomological literature appears of late to be heading in a similar direction.”17 Declining moral standards—in butterflies?! Remember, these are descriptions by scientists in respected scholarly publications of phenomena occurring in nature!
In addition to such labels as unnatural, abnormal, and perverse, a variety of other negative (or less than impartial) designations have also been employed in the scientific literature. Once again, these span the decades. Mounting among Domestic Bulls is characterized as a “male homosexual vice” (1983), echoing a description from nearly a century earlier in which same-sex activities between male Elephants are classified as “vices” and “crimes of sexuality” that are “prohibited by the rules of at least one Christian denomination” (1892). Courtship and mounting between male Lions is called an “atypical sexual fixation” (1942); same-sex relations in Buff-breasted Sandpipers are described in an article on “sexual nonsense” in this species (1989); while courtship and mounting between female Domestic Turkeys are referred to as “defects in sexual behavior” (1955). Homosexual activities in Spinner Dolphins (1984), Killer Whales (1992), Caribou (1974), and Adélie Penguins (1998) are characterized as “inappropriate” (or as being directed toward “inappropriate” partners), and same-sex courtship among Black-billed Magpies (1979) and Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock (1985) is called “misdirected.” In what is perhaps the most oblique designation, one scientist uses the term heteroclite (meaning “irregular” or “deviant”) to refer to Sage Grouse engaging in homosexual courtship or copulations (1942).18
Besides labeling same-sex behavior with derogatory or biased terms, many scientists have felt the need to embellish their descriptions of homosexuality with other sorts of value judgments. Repeatedly referring to same-sex activity in female Long-eared Hedgehogs as “abnormal,” for example, one zoologist matter-of-factly reported that he separated the two females he was studying for fear that they might actually “suffer damage” from continuing to engage in this behavior. Similarly, in describing pairs of female Eastern Gray Kangaroos, another scientist suggested that only in cases where there was no (overt) homosexual behavior between the females could bonding be considered to represent a “positive relationship between the two animals.” In the 1930s, homosexual pairing in Black-crowned Night Herons was labeled a “real danger,” while one biologist (upon learning the true sex of the birds) referred to his discovery and reporting of same-sex activities in King Penguins as “regrettable disclosures” and “damaging admissions” about “disturbing” activities. More than 50 years later, a scientist suggested that homosexual behavior between male Gorillas in zoos would be “disturbing to the public” were it not for the fact that people would be unable to distinguish it from “normal heterosexual mating behavior.” Same-sex pairing in Lorikeets has been described as an “unfortunate” occurrence, while mounting activity between female Red Foxes has been characterized as being part of a “Rabelaisian mood.” Finally, in describing the behavior of Greenshanks, an ornithologist used unabashedly florid and sympathetic language to characterize an episode of heterosexual copulation, referring to it as a “lovely act of mating” and concluding, “The grace, movement, and passion of this mating had created a poem of ecstasy and delight.” In contrast, homosexual copulations in the same species were given only cursory descriptions, and one episode was even characterized as a “bizarre affair.”19
In a direct carryover from attitudes toward human homosexuality, same-sex activity is routinely described as being “forced” on other animals when there is no evidence that it is, and a whole range of “distressful” emotions are projected onto the individual who experiences such “unwanted advances.”20 One scientist surmises that Mountain Sheep rams “deem it an insult to be treated as a female” (including being mounted by another male), while Rhesus Macaques and Laughing Gulls are described as “submitting” to homosexual mounts even when there is clear evidence that they are willing participants (for example, by initiating the activity). Cattle Egrets who are mounted during homosexual copulations are characterized as “suffering males,” while female Sage Grouse mounted by other females are their “victims.” Orang-utan males who participate in homosexuality are said to be “forced into nonconformist sexual behavior” by their partners even though they display none of the obvious signs of distress (such as screaming and struggling violently) that are characteristic of female Orangs during heterosexual rapes. Scientists describing same-sex courtship in Kob antelopes imply that females try to “avoid” homosexual attentions by circling around the other female or butting her on the shoulder. In fact, these actions are a formally recognized ritual behavior called mating-circling that is a routine part of heterosexual courtships, and not indicative of disinterest or “unwillingness” on the part of the courted female. Females who do not want to be mounted (by male partners) actually drop their hindquarters to the ground (a behavior not observed in homosexual contexts). Same-sex courtship in Ostriches is deemed to be a “nuisance” that goes “on and on” and is perpetrated by “sexually aberrant” males. The calm stance of a courted male (referred to as the “normal” partner) in the face of such homosexual advances is described as “astonishing,” while the recipient’s occasional acknowledgment of the activity is downplayed in favor of those times when he makes no visible response (interpreted as disinterest). Yearling male Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock are consistently described as “taking advantage of” or “victimizing” adult males that they mount, while their partners are said to “tolerate” such homosexual activity. This is at odds with the descriptions, by the same scientists, of the adult partners as willing participants who actively facilitate genital contact during homosexual mounts and allow the yearlings to remain on their territories (unlike unwanted adult intruders who are chased away or attacked). Finally, male Mallard Ducks that switch from heterosexual to homosexual pairings are described as being “seduced” by other males, while Rhesus Macaques are characterized as reacting with a sort of “homosexual panic” to same-sex advances—both echoing widely held misconceptions about human homosexuality.21