“You run like a girl!” is a (misogynistic) insult.
But what about “You strangle your male mate, beat yourself against rocks, and starve yourself to death like a girl!”- a female octopus, to be exact?1
Many female animals showcase behaviors that are violent, gruesome, or sexually promiscuous: decidedly un-“ladylike” behaviors. But some of these behaviors went undetected and unstudied for decades. Science in the 20th century was unfortunately steeped in sexism, coloring the achievements and findings of Western scientists, particularly in the field of animal behavior. In response, a new generation of ‘feminist scientists', like zoologist Lucy Cooke, are challenging the narratives proposed for centuries.2, 3 And they are starting with the father of evolution: Darwin himself.
Many may know Darwin as the ‘finch guy,’ or the man who coined “survival of the fittest,” also known as Darwin’s theory of natural selection. In-fact, his doctrine was so widely accepted by the early 20th century that natural selection was deemed the basic mechanism of evolution, and the “unifying theory of the life sciences.” 4
But Darwin’s theories, specifically surrounding sexual selection, are also highly biased. Darwin believed that male organisms play the only active role in pursuing mates, writing, “with almost all animals… there is a constantly recurrent struggle between the males for the possession of the females.” 5 He went even further to say, in regards to the female of the species, that “she generally requires to be courted;” “she is coy, and may often be seen endeavouring for a long time to escape from the male.” 5 Darwin was also the first to characterize “secondary sexual characteristics,” or traits like color that may help organisms attract a mate. These characteristics, Darwin believed, were only present in male organisms, and Darwin even went as far as to say that if such traits were present in females, they would “be of no service to her.” 5
Thus, Darwin paints a very clear picture: male animals aggressively vie for a passive female, who is then seduced and mated by the dominant male. However, this characterization/picture isn’t the most complete; Darwin omits many nuances in the world of animal behavior, which is far from black-and-white.
One example is bird song. Singing is traditionally thought of as a male bird trait: males sing to attract females, defend territories, and identify themselves to other birds 6. Generations of ornithologists noticed female bird song did exist, but male bird scientists were unwilling to study it. Not a single paper out of 1,000 publications on the barn swallow, for example, studied female song, until a group of female researchers released the very first study in 2020 7. They found that it was actually easier to tell males and females apart by their songs, rather than their colors, which indicates that song in female birds is distinct. They also found that song and plumage characteristics can better predict reproductive success in females, not males. If female bird song and color are important, they must have purposefully evolved these secondary sex characteristics—a finding that, according to Darwin, would have been impossible. New research also shows that female ancestors of modern-day birds probably also sang, indicating that song evolved commonly across birds of all genders, not just males7,8. Now, scientists are questioning why females lost song, rather than why males evolved it. Thanks to the women who led this groundbreaking study, scientists are reframing their studies of birds from new perspectives.
Another instance is the long-perpetuated myth of male promiscuity and female monogamy: the idea that males evolved to mate with as many females as possible, while females should only mate with one male. Darwin himself noted that promiscuity in animals is a thing, but only mentioned male behaviors. Angus Bateman, a botanist, would ultimately support this theory with data. Bateman found in reproductive experiments using Drosophila that males have more offspring when they mate with multiple females, while the “peak of female reproductive success” is after mating with only one male 9. Bateman used these results to argue that “males will be expected to show polygamous tendencies, whereas in females there would be selection in favour of obtaining only one mate, after which they would become relatively indifferent 10.” The problem is that this is only half of Bateman’s data. The other half shows that the more times a female fly mates with a male, the more offspring she has: in other words, promiscuity also benefits the female 10.But this second graph was largely ignored, and this myth spread throughout the field of animal behavior.
We now know that female animals are often just as promiscuous as males. Female lionesses will mate with a male 20-40 times per day while in heat, with the female initiating these copulations and often mating with multiple male partners 11. Many “monogamous” male and female birds will “cheat” on their partners; up to 40% of young in many North American birds are from other fathers 12. Patricia Gowaty, the first scientist to use paternity testing on bird eggs, showing that birds of both sexes are cheaters, recalled that her findings “...offended so many people that it was unbelievable. They couldn’t imagine that females were anything but benign13.”
Thus, even when the data shows that these stereotypes are untrue, scientists will often ignore or even deny observations that go against the sexual evolution status quo. Darwin himself even saw “exceptions” to the rules in his work, noting that calico coloring in cats is exclusive to the females, and that certain hen species are “more highly coloured or otherwise ornamented, as well as more powerful and pugnacious than the cocks”- but chalked these up to outliers and never investigated further. In birds specifically, a 1992 study on aggression in birds expected to find aggression in males. When they instead found females to engage in far more fights, the all-male team was perplexed- but completely dismissed the behaviors 10, 14. Thus, bias in science has actively prevented scientists from investigating interesting observations in the field.
Luckily, feminist scientists are challenging these findings, and the rise of women in science is introducing all-new perspectives in animal behavior and other related fields. The new wave of feminism in science could be the key to understanding science in a whole new way, bringing justice for centuries of unexplored, yet important, female behaviors; were it not for the female scientists who dared to challenge the norms of behavioral science, we likely never would have known that female birds sing and are promiscuous. Intersectionality between female scientists and queer researchers has even led to new studies on homosexuality in animals, challenging the idea that heterosexual behaviors evolved first 14. The rise of new voices in science in the 21st century has thus highlighted the importance of bias removal in science. Being a good researcher means seeking the truth, even when the truth is uncomfortable or leads to more questions. As Darwin himself says, “The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man15.” That includes female creatures, too.
Those interested in learning more should read Bitch: on the Female of the Species by Lucy Cooke, and take Dr. Alison Pischedda’s Animal Behavior course!
References
- Why motherhood sends octopuses into death spiral | University of Chicago News. (2018, September 25). https://news.uchicago.edu/story/why-motherhood-sends-octopuses-death-spiral
- About. (n.d.). Lucy Cooke. Retrieved August 11, 2024, from http://www.lucycooke.tv/about/
- Hunt, K. (2022, June 12). How zoology got female animals all wrong. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/12/world/female-animals-sexual-behavior-bitch-scn/index.html
- Charles Darwin. (2024). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Darwin&oldid=1239655256
- Darwin C. The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. Cambridge University Press; 2009.
- Thompson, M. (2014, August 12). Bird Song. https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/birdsong/
- Wilkins, M. R., Odom, K. J., Benedict, L., & Safran, R. J. (2020). Analysis of female song provides insight into the evolution of sex differences in a widely studied songbird. Animal Behaviour, 168, 69–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2020.07.018
- Conversation, O., Rose &. Odom/The. (2020, September 28). Few people knew female birds had unique songs—Until women started studying them. Popular Science. https://www.popsci.com/story/animals/female-bird-song/
- Bateman, A. J. (1948). Intra-sexual selection in Drosophila. Heredity, 2(3), 349–368. https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1948.21
- Tang-Martinez, Z. (2017a, January 20). Data should smash the biological myth of promiscuous males and sexually coy females. The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/data-should-smash-the-biological-myth-of-promiscuous-males-and-sexually-coy-females-59665
- Lioness In Heat: A Detailed Look At A Female Lion’s Mating Behaviors - Berry Patch Farms. (2024, May 20). https://www.berrypatchfarms.net/lioness-in-heat/
- 10 Myths About Bird Behavior. (n.d.). National Wildlife Federation. Retrieved August 11, 2024, from https://www.nwf.org/Home/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2010/10-Myths-About-Bird-Behavior
- These researchers are reimagining animal behavior through a feminist lens. (2023, July 5). https://www.sciencenews.org/article/reimagining-animal-behavior-feminist-lens-kamath-packer
- Lawton, M. F., Garstka, W. R., & Hanks, J. C. (1997). The Mask of Theory and the Face of Nature. In P. A. Gowaty (Ed.), Feminism and Evolutionary Biology: Boundaries, Intersections and Frontiers (pp. 63–85). Springer US. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5985-6_4
- Charles Darwin (2015). “Darwin on Evolution: Words of Wisdom from the Father of Evolution”, p.25, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.