Ganpati
Males and females in different species tend to have different sexual needs and patterns of sexual behaviour. In general most birds follow one pattern of male sexuality; most fish another pattern, most insects still another.
And all mammals known till date follow
one pattern of male (and female) sexuality. Let's first glance through some of the other species. In almost all animal species, male-female sex is primarily for procreation. Members of these species do not indulge in male-female sex unless procreation is required. This author's information about sexual habits of insects, birds and other non-mammals is limited. But the available data suggests the following: (i) Among insects, including bees and flies, it seems the male-female sex is more prominent --- probably because --- probably because insects require a huge population --- that is how they are naturally made. A normal colony of an insect, say the honey bee or the ant, has thousands and thousands of members, apparently all that requires a lot of sex. However, it seems most of the breeding is done by one single 'queen bee'. Do the other females have sex? With whom? Do the males have sex between them? But then, there is no evidence of an emotional bonding between male and female amongst insects and sex seems to be centered only on procreation. From the widely published research upon fruit flies which claimed to change the 'sexual orientation' of male fruit flies by making genetic changes in them, it would seem that male-male sex is indeed rare amongst fruit flies and is triggered by a gene. Although, you can't really trust the institution of 'science' on these matters. After all, thousands of male insects living together would be very difficult if there is no sexual bonding between them. (ii) Amongst birds, male-female sexual bonds, male-male bonds and female-female sexual bonds all seem to have more or less equal prevalence, although more research, especially honest/ non-biased researches need to be conducted on birds sexuality. Still, if the current scientific and other information available is to be believed, male-female bonds seem to be an important social unit --- sometimes the primary social unit amongst birds. But then this maybe because the human society, with its current mindset only sees what it wants to see. (iii) Amongst fish: Fish do not have 'sex' as other animals do. Male and female fish do not meet or copulate. And there is no question of an emotional bonding. The male fish usually lives with other male fish. When it's time for reproduction, the male fish seeks out an ovulating female --- but it is not the female it is interested in. He is looking for her eggs. When the female lays the eggs, males compete to impregnate those hundreds of eggs --- and not the female. When this process is finished males and females go their own ways. The male doesn't even touch the female. But we can imagine the high-handedness of science in creating a 'heterosexual' myth, when scientific channels such as the discovery channel calls this male fish "love lorn" for the female. So alas, there are no 'mom and dad' pair for the fish, unlike what is suggested by movies like "Finding Nemo". It was cute, but untrue. We have no information if male fish (or female fish) have sex or emotional bonds amongst themselves. And now let's examine the mammals, our primary concern here. Our societies have for long show-cased the mammal world to us as if it reflects how the 'civilised' humans live. As if the man-woman couple and their children living together as the basic social unit is the universal character of all species. But it is not true. So in the wild there is only a mama bear, the papa bear (or elephant or Giraffe) is in most cases unknown. And even if he is known he doesn't really come into picture in most cases. At least not in the 'married' family kind of way. The truth about mammals is the following as we shall see from various research studies that have surfaced in the past decade: 1. Primary sexual need: Same-sex sexual bonds are the most important, often the primary sexual bonds around which the entire social fabric of the mammal species is woven. In fact heterosexuality (i.e. male-female bonds not just sex for reproduction) hardly exists here. 2. Universal Sexual need: Same-sex sexual desire is almost universal amongst mammalian males. But the same cannot be said about opposite-sex sexual desire. 3. Permanent Sexual need: Facts show that the same-sex sexual need is a permanent feature of mammalian males. That is, it remains constantly there. Thus it is an integral part of mammalian masculinity. 4. Relative pleasure value: It is also clear from a study of mammalian male sexuality that in general male-male sex has much more pleasure value for males than male-female sex. This is also reflected in human societies where ever male-male sex has a dignified masculine space. E.g. in the Pathan society there is an old saying that goes, "girls are for procreation and boys for pleasure". Ancient Greeks held the same view. 5. Opposite-sex sexual desire is periodic and intermittent: It is also clear from an examination of animal life that opposite sex sexual desire in mammalian males: - happens periodically, and only during certain seasons - Only a small percentage of males during any particular season are involved, who do most of the mating. - Is superfluous and is only restricted to what is required for breeding. In most cases the male departs as soon as the ejaculation is over. In most cases the whole thing is over in a few minutes, even seconds. In any case, there is never an emotional closeness, and the male and female usually don't meet again. - Most males mate only a couple of times in their lifetime, mostly towards the latter part of their life. These facts clearly suggest that opposite sexual desire are triggered occasionally by some biological factors and do not remain with the male throughout. Furthermore many males do not display it even occasionally. Thus they are not an integral part of mammalian male masculinity. It also suggests that there is a 'cause' for heterosexuality, rather than so-called 'homosexuality' (sic) contrary to what the modern human science so aggressively claims.
Based on how the various species of mammals have organised their social and sexual lives, mammals can be divided into the following classes: 1. The original mammals: In this group, the males and females live in completely separate groups, meeting only briefly for procreation. E.g., elephants, bison, macaque monkeys. 2. Partly mixed social spaces: In this class of mammals, while most males live in male only spaces, there are no female only spaces. There can be several combinations: - The female group may be controlled by a couple of males like a harem. The males may leave the harem after some time and join back in their male groups, leaving scope for other pair of males to control the harem. E.g., horses and lions. - Males and females live in separate but closely connected groups, e.g. the Bonobos. 3. Combination of 1 and 2 above: In this class, while most animals live in male only and female only spaces, a few may go on to form part-time heterosexual bonds. Such species are indeed rare, but some such instances have been reported amongst the red-foxes, some kinds of sheep and Sea lions.
Let's take some individual mammal species
and examine their sexual lives. Elephants (The following information has been mostly gathered from various programmes on elephants shown on the Discovery and National Geographic channels. If the reader should find any discrepancy from established facts, please inform us with relevant data and we will rectify it.) Elephants represent the most (surviving) original form of mammalian sexuality. Elephants live in totally segregated male only and female-only social spaces. The males live in the female group till the time that they reach adolescence. Once they reach adolescence they must leave the female group, whereupon most join the various male groups. These male groups range from a pair of two to about a dozen male elephants. These male elephants usually live together for the rest of their life in the group that they initially join. Here they develop deep emotional/ sexual relationships with other male elephants, which often includes one-to-one coupling. A typical male elephant when he reaches around 45 years of age, of a total life span of about 50 - 55 years of age, mates with the female. Although some males may do it earlier. And others may not do it at all. The mating is usually very short, and the male elephant then goes back to his male partner/ group. There are a few elephants however, who do not join the male group at all. They prefer to live on their own. Certainly, they don't relate with the other males. There can be several possibilities for this: - These elephants don't lack the capacity to mate with other males and so they avoid these all-male groups. - More likely is that they are transgendered, and so do not fit in the male group. They would rather be in the female group but for the fact that females don't accept them. - It could also be a combination of (1) and (2) above, which makes their exclusion unavoidable. Whatever be the reason, but one thing is sure, in the wild, it is the male who lacks the ability to live and bond with other males that is isolated, unlike the human societies where the male who wants to live and bond with men who is isolated.
Chimpanzees Chimpanzees are one of the closest cousins of humans, and belong chiefly in the first group. They too live in male-only and female-only groups that are closely connected. Males form close sexual bonds with each other, while male-female sex only happens for procreation or at most for pleasure (in which case it is usually against the wishes of the female). The bonds between males are extremely strong. This bond gives the males a strong edge, making them a force to reckon with, not only for enemy group of Chimpanzees but also for likely predators. Groups of closely knit males go on hunting expeditions together, fight enemies together; males take care of each other, and also groom and provide emotional support to each other during times of peace. Close pairs of males have also been known to help their partners find females for mating.
Without their male bonds the male
Chimpanzees will loose their power. It seems the female Chimpanzees get a
raw deal because they are the 'weaker sex', clearly because they lack a
similar capacity to bond with other females, unlike Macaque and many other
species of monkeys (although sex may be common between females as in other
species). Horses Horses are a typical example of the second class of mammals. They have deviated a little from the original class, in a way which is rather oppressive for the female. The males still live in male only spaces, but some males forcibly control the female group and keep it like a harem. However, there is no emotional or social bonding between male and female. The only kind of sexual and emotional bonds that develop are between the males. There is some information about same-sex bonds between male horses available on the net. But almost nothing is reported about such bonds amongst the females. If this means that it is almost negligible, then it follows that this lack of same-sex bonding makes them vulnerable to be controlled by some members of the male group.
Lions Lions also live more or less like the horses. Though most males live in groups of two or more, and bond amongst themselves, the females have apparently lost this ability and are frequently controlled by roaming pairs of male lions, who use them for some time after a lot of violence and then leave them at will (or after being attacked by another male lion). There are still no emotional bonds between the male and the female, only a master-slave relationship, where the lion treats the females like his harem. Red Foxes Red fox is an exceptional case amongst mammals. Most red foxes, like other mammals, live in male only and female only groups and don't have any other interaction except for short spell of sex for reproduction. The females raise their young in female only groups, where the mother and children get looked after by others in the female herd. However, a few male red foxes may sometimes live with a female who does not have a female herd, when she needs company to raise her kitten. The red male fox which chooses to live together with the female is rather different from other males. It is not likely to fight to mate with the female, and often the female mates with a more 'masculine' mate, but when it comes to choosing a male to help her raise the young she typically chooses this kind of 'heterosexual' male. This male would live with the female for a period of about six months which is the time it takes for the kitten to grow up. During this time he will take care of the female as well as the kitten. He has a peculiar way of defending his kitten or den. When a predator comes towards his kitten, instead of taking it head on, it prefers to mislead the predator by running in a direction away from the kitten.
Sheep Source: Johann Roughgarden According to Johann Rough Garden, some in some species of sheep, where males and females live in single-sex groups like other mammals, some males like to live in the female group. In fact they conduct themselves as if they are one of the females. These transgendered males, as Johann calls them, are amongst the few examples of 'heterosexuality' amongst mammals in the wild. They bond sexually with the females in the group.
Sea Lions Source: Discovery channel Television documentary There are also rare instances of 'heterosexuality' witnessed amongst sea lions. Here too, almost all males and females live in single-sex groups. However, less than 1% of males --- in order to avoid the violent fights that are a feature of most mating instances, prefer to bond one-to-one with the female. These males, unlike most others seek to mate year after year, unlike other males, and also seek the same female every time, which clearly suggests that there is an emotional bond between them. They spend their time away from the rest of the crowd in seclusion, till they have to part ways again till the next mating season.
Principles of mammalian sexuality 1. Males and females live in separate, single-sex spaces: The first and foremost principle of mammalian sexuality is that originally and for the most part males and females live in separate, single-sex social spaces. That is the most natural thing for them to do. Heterosexual spaces are not normal for mammals. 2. Same-sex sexuality is the primary, universal and most important form of sexuality: This is especially true of male sexuality. The entire social fabric of mammals is based upon same-sex bonding. 3. Opposite sex mating only happens for procreation: At least for the majority of cases this is how it goes. 4. Queer Heterosexuality: Unlike what is forced upon the human society, heterosexuality is extremely rare and closely connected with transgenderism in males. 5. Same-sex bonds are crucial for social freedom of mammals: The capacity to forge strong same-sex sexual bonds is crucial for the freedom and well being of males and females. The male and female mammals are almost like two different species, which under ideal conditions are not supposed to live together. Same-sex bonds ---- both amongst males and amongst females have an extremely important role to play. Besides helping the members keep together such bonds basically decide which sex will be dominant. In species where males and females both maintain healthy same-sex sexual bonds, both have an equal status, and neither bothers or tries to control the other. Apparently, there are a few members among the males and among the females which seek to disrupt this balance by trying to reach out to and control the other group, even without the consent of the group. When same-sex bonds are strong they don't have a chance. But when they weaken, they manage to disrupt the balance. In species where the females are, for some reason incapable of maintaining strong same-sex sexual bonds, some males take this opportunity to rule the female group like a harem. Naturally, females then live in this group like slaves, taking orders from the males. In a similar fashion, in species where males somehow become incapable of forging strong sexual bonds with other males, they become weak and vulnerable as a group. Then the females have an upper hand. The best example of this is the Bonobos. While the females have strong same-sex sexual bonds, the males fail to achieve this (although they have a lot of sex amongst themselves). Due to this lacking, the females rule and subordinate the males. The position and status of a Bonobo male in the society depends on what position his mother has in the female group. A heterosexual space is not natural for most members of any mammalian species. It eventually results in one sex overpowering and exploiting the other. Mammalian males and females are not meant to live together in the same social space. It is unnatural and detrimental to the species eventually. 6. Heterosexualisation is the root of all conflicts between the sexes: Heterosexualisation in the mammalian world is the root of the problems of both males and females, and not the solution. The mammalian society functions the best when males and females live in separate social spaces. When some elements from both the groups try to 'merge' the two groups, one group ends up controlling and thus oppressing the other group. In most cases it is the females who suffer, but we have cases of males being overpowered too.
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