ABSTRACT ON SHAW AND DARLING'S 'STRATEGIES OF BEING FEMALE'

ABSTRACT ON SHAW AND DARLING'S 'STRATEGIES OF BEING FEMALE'

• She points how the biological arguments for gender distinction in analogy to nature animals behavior is fallacious as the so called male active role on mating, as opposed to female passivity, is the outcome of how researchers just look at males behavior and even interfere in the female species to turn it into a blank sheet where the male can draw its agencies (e.g. female cats being ripped out of their ovaries and submitted to sex-inducing drugs at the convenience of the studies interested on the male behavior)
  • A paradigmatical case shifting this stereotyped trend came in 1970 as the Shiner Perch, a little fish revealed that females are strongly active on mating, and more, that they do so even without the 'hormonal imperative' of reproducing, as they don't reduce their sexual intercourses even after getting pregnant
    • And the females even perform sexual migrations after being already pregnant
    • The females of this species are promiscuous as they mate a variety of males
      • This species also reveal activity on what the females choose and regulate their pregnancies by keeping the sperm without fecundation so that her conception of babies could be in the time of abundance of food
    • The sexist persistence to this case was the concept of “sex role reversal”, referring to females which reverse a 'natural supposed to be' by the [heterosexual] scientific culture.
      • It's an arbitrary concept as natural becomes a cultural presumption and the nature it self is said to be reversing it. The very source of naturality is abjected by the heterosexual panopticon
      • This is a way to carry on examining nation from the males viewpoint
      • They resort to gametes to forge some natural distinction between the sexes claiming that male gametes, sperms, are active, while the women gametes, ovules, are passive receptacles
        • Besides the arbitrary of presuming the whole biological construct from the original gametes, and to carry on forging cultural differences on this base, recently there was a discovery on Nature Magazine which revealed how female gamets vary like the sperm and that the adaptations of females sexual organs are definitive to induce the sperm activity.

• The authors follow an investigation line presuming that animals have no culture, therefore whatever they behave is not according to any immanent cultural universe to which sexists resort on pointing the males are more active than females. Thus, she points that animal variety reveals completelly different behaviors of females which our cultural background could classificate as patriachalist or feminist, but in fact they are non for animals don't have culture, and just do whatever is necessary to stay alive and assure the species survival.
  • I disagree of this approach on what it keeps the biology-culture duality still alive, but simply deconstruct claims that heterosexual sexism has biological roots. I'm more favorable of destroying the very duality itself, which suits more Irigary and Butler critique on the phallogocentrism and the economy of the phallus. I think that neither animals not human beings should be hailed in terms of rather they have culture or not, and to what extent does it relate to biology.

• The authors carry on giving more examples of how animals biology, which are assumed to have no cultural links, can manifest in ways opposed to the essentialist nature construct of heterosexual sexism.
  • Species of which only sexual distinction are the gamets: Clams, oysters, starfish, sea urchins, snails, and fishes.
    • They also just abandon their eggs on the sea, without anything resembling 'maternal care'
  • Species of which females actively mate and perform mating ceremonies: Seabirds, rats
    • The Pelican also shares domestic 'bliss' on an equal time basis
    • Female rats is more active than the male on satisfying sexual apetite
    • Female Phalaropes and 'Jesus Birds' are colored to mate, pursue an active sexual position and patrol their own large land-holdings where she allows (patronizes) males to stay in exchange for sexual mating at her convenience.
      • They made the males take care of the eggs by smuggling it while males are not aware.
  • Species og which females are bigger than males: Many insects and certain mammals:
    • Spiders (some kill and eat the males)
    • Rabbits, hamsters, baleen whales, bats
    • Deep-sea angler fish which captures the males bad of testis to reach self-dependency
    • Female hyena even has a fake penis and scrotum (which is bigger than males one)

CHAPTER 8 (THE MYTH OF MATERNALISM)

• She deconstructs the myth according to which females are better nurturing than males because of the biological fact that they lactate
  • She notes that the stereotype is not so strong on species which doesn't have to care of its eggs, simply abandoning it. Therefore she focus on revealing nurturing behaviors of nonlactating animals and, at the same time, reveals not-caring behavior of mammals, or male nurturing on mammals
  • Nurturing behaviors of nonlactating animals: 90% of bird species – among songbirds (Passerines) – have alike caring provided by both female and male
    • Swifts, swallows, magpie geese, pied kingfisher, king penguins, bushits, nuthatches, wrens, grosbeaks, tanagers, jays, woodpeckers, terns, murres, and cuckoos all form cooperatives for the feeding of the young
    • Certain woodpeckers and pygmy nuthatches show that excess males which are not mating exercise nurturing roles in nests of others.
    • Anis cuckoo has communal nests
    • European cuckoo deposits its eggs in other species nests and when the offspring emerge it pushes the other eggs out of the nest to keep alll the care and attention to itself.
    • Jesus Bird females allows males to live under her territory to assure its sexual appetite and so that they can nest the eggs as she simply deposits it around.
  • Non-nurturing behavior of female mammals:
  • Nurturing behavior of male mammals
    • The male beaver watches the bith of the baby and shares everything but nurturing, including baby-sitting when the famale leaves the nest
    • Typically, one-third of carnivores, all of which are social species (e.g., dogs, hyenas, foxes, martens, mangooses), the males socialize, feed, guard, groom, huddle, and baby-sit for the young
      • Wild-dog males even regurgitate food for the pups and the female is more expendable than the male on the nurturing of them after the lactation period – in some cases of females death males managed to grow pups even without lactation.
    • In 40% of primates, males care for the young.
      • Among marmoset and tamarin monkeys, its hard to say who is the primary caretaker. Males even help on the birth of females, and they keep the nurturing behavior way after the females give up.
      • Male nurturing is most common among monkeys of the New World
      • Old World monkeys don't much seek contact and they are also kept distant from the youngs by the females, though they do come on rescue of the pups in moments of distress.
        • Baboons have a strong female authority as they have the last word on most aspects, and the male appearently doesn't involve much with pups because the females deny such access. But when given opportunity the male baboons seem to be good cares as well.
        • Female chimpanzees exclude males from family circles.
        • Female langurs keep passing the baby from female to female, but not allowing the male to approach pups. But after pups get independence from their mothers control males usually develop caring relations.
        • A widespread reason for non-nurturing males is that certain females species mate and leave the male company
    • The author suggests that man, in fact, have as much potential to be 'mothers' as females, and that developing that is pretty much about having contact with the babies and being given the opportunity to develop that.
      • She recalls the curious fact that most societies follow this woman role of motherhood maybe because men are kept distant from the moment of birth itself, what she suggests to have long term effects. Thus she proposes that men should be part of the birth moment (and of the early days as well).
      • Offspring creates caretakers too!
  • Communal nurturing behavior among mammals
    • Among Old and New World monkeys, newborn langurs are communaly taen care, spending around 50% of its time sucking different grown ups regardless of whether they lactate or not
    • Young lions are notorious for demanding extra-milk around their pride
    • Coatis have some mother-baby reclusion of 5 weeks, but afterwards they rejoin the groups and the baby starts being collectively nurtured.
    • Wild pigs not only share nursering but sometimes have communal nests
    • In all-female herds of Elephants those who need demand nursing from any member
    • Rodent rats doesn't even seem to be able to distinguish between their particular youngs, and nurture all communally
      • males also share everything else but lactating
    • Ann Oakley points to the occurrence of communal breast-feeding among preliterate peoples like the Samoans, Dakotas (sisters lactate collectively), Bororo and Arrenta
  • Equal nurturing behavior among male mammals in certain circunstances
    • In laboratory experiences, male rats and non-mother female rats develop nurturing behavior if in contact with the pups, even though in the presence of a nurturing female male rats are rather aggressive towards the pups.
      • They also noticed that if pups are always changed for young ones as they grow the nurturing behavior will not cease.
    • In laboratory experiences, rhesus monkeys, of which males are otherwise indifferent to pups, develops nurturing behavior once they get close to the pups – what usually doesn't happen as the females don't allow their presence close to the pups.