Feminists of the past had an analysis of sexuality. Now our attractions are supposed to be innate and fixed at birth. This 'born this way' view ignores all the evidence about how we learn and develop likes and dislikes through our interaction with our sociocultural environment. And therefore it does not take into account the socialisation that females are subjected to. The results reported here suggest that the diet composition and feeding behavior of Can Gio crab-eating macaques influenced. Laboratory Primate Newsletter, 42. Edwards & Ullrey, 1999b. Posts about Human Primates written by seriousmonkeybusiness. Home; Biography; This is serious monkey business. I'm selling you on primates, you're buying it, and it's a seller's market. Feeds: Posts Comments. To enhance our understanding of dietary adaptations and socioecological correlates in colobines. Key findings of this work are that Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys have a much more species-rich plant diet. Diet changes should be made and assessed according to each chimpanzee. It also ignores the historical evidence of how non heterosexual relationships were widespread at various points in history, and in some cases even considered superior to heterosexual ones. Neither does the 'born this way' theory account for other reasons why women traditionally may have chosen to partner with men; like limited opportunity to support oneself for example. To understand why women partner with males when it does not seem in their best interests, indeed it seems to be against their best interests, surely warrants a critical evaluation. The idea that women partner with men in patriarchy due to an uncontrollable innate desire for them, just does not seem realistic. This article therefore seeks to explore what those reasons could be and what may done if there is another, more sinister reason why women partner with males. The analysis and conclusion articulated in this article is not new, and has been written about by many feminist women previously. I have tried to acknowledge to the best of my ability, where others have first expressed these ideas, but if I have missed anyone, it is unintentional. I think all women owe a great debt to the women who first analysed heterosexuality and wrote about it. Lastly this article is not meant as an attack on any group of women, it is simply a critique on heterosexuality as an institution. The purpose of this article is to raise women's consciousness of what heterosexuality is, how it impacts on women's lives, how it relates to women's oppression. And to offer women alternative solutions if they come to the conclusion that it is not beneficial for them overall and is in fact harmful to all women as group/caste. First this article examines whether heterosexual desire is innate in female animals as is often claimed, by looking at heterosexual sex and partnerships in primates. Then examines how men have employed certain strategies to coerce women into partnering with them. It goes on to examine sex role socialisation and how it relates to women's desire to partner with men, before examining heterosexual sexual desire itself. It concludes by summarising the findings of this article and offers solutions to women, if they should come to the same conclusions as I have. Do female animals really feel an innate need to partner with males? We are usually told that it is natural that females would want to partner with males due to reproduction. Reproduction may be 'natural', but that does not mean it is beneficial for females, or even chosen. It is certainly beneficial for males, there is no question about that, but is it beneficial for female mammals; considering that they risk death in child birth and have to worry about a dependant. Do female animals really have an overwhelming need to partner with males or is there more to it? Most male scientists say that male animals compete with each other for females, as females prefer dominant males, because it means she gets the male with the best genes (presumably the winning male has the best genes). If a female try's to avoid sex with a male, that is usually called 'playing hard to get', 'a courtship ritual', or testing how good the male’s genes are by the male scientists, but is it really true? Barbara Smuts says in her study of primate sexual behaviour about male competition for females: 'If winning males are not able to keep other males entirely away from some females, then winning males gain a reproductive advantage if and only if they either (a) coerce females into mating with them, or (b) are freely chosen by females as mates (because they offer' 'good genes,' protection, resources, etc.). Possessive: where males try to keep other males away from females, so he can keep them for himself. Females often refuse to follow the male 'she may scream, which sometimes attracts other males. If she is approaching ovulation, a higher ranking male may disrupt the consortship and she can escape her suitor'. Males also have been observed to use unprovoked attacks on females before they try to get them to go on consort with them. This is thought to be employed as an intimidation tactic by males to ensure females do submit to going on consort with them, when they propose it in the future. Or when an immigrant male enters a group with multiple breading males and disrupts the status of the other males in the group. This can also lead to males murdering the babies that females have had with other males. In many instances, the infanticidal male subsequently mates with the female'. It is responsible for 3. 2002 briefs - January - March. The elderly beast had been undergoing a course of treatment and a gentle modification of his diet when his condition weakened. He stopped eating and within four days had taken his last breath. Orang-utan diet composition, energy intake, food selection and behaviour were studied in relation to orang-utan fruit/flower availability, and chemical and non-chemical food properties. The individuals in the Sanyo region might have consumed a diet high in aquatic foods, particularly high trophic level marine fish, whereas the individuals in the Tokai region might have consumed a lot of marine shellfish. Diet-formulation software is available (Anonymous. Comparison of diets fed to southeast Asian colobines in North American and European zoos. This is believed to be undertaken to confuse the male as to the paternity of her babies and therefore, ensure they are at less risk of being murdered by males. Studies confirm that this is indeed the case and females do mate with these males. This has been observed in rhesus monkeys, macaques and chimpanzees. Males also use aggression to herd mates away from strange males during encounters with other groups; this has been reported in all major primate taxa, including prosimians, cercopithecines, colobines, New World monkeys and apes. They form groups to do this and often 'embrace' each other before attacking the female. They 'hunted' the lone females down and surrounded her, as they do when they hunt baboons, before attacking her, according to accounts. However not all the females who were attacked were old, some propose that the motive behind these attacks could be because the mother and daughter bond is strong in some primate communities. This would then make it more likely that the daughter would join the attacking males group and mate with them. After an attack killed a mother, her daughter was observed to transfer to the attacking males’ community. It has been observed in spider monkeys, red- backed squirrel monkeys, and red howlers. And the effects of having to be continually watchful for male aggression are incalculable. For example during daylight hours female baboons were subject to violence from males five times per week. Female Mountain Gorillas are subject to violence from silverback males 1- 4. These attacks have an impact on female stress levels. Some females do successfully escape males though, even when they are smaller, the reason for this is female coalitions. They can call other females together very quickly when they are in danger from a male. It has been proposed that this is why some males, even when they are larger than females, back off if a females fights back. He may fear that she may call her friends to help her if he does not stop harassing her. So this not only stops the present assault, but can also prevent future attacks, as males are wary of encountering a group of females willing to fight back. However in primates where it is less easy to form female coalitions, due to feeding routines etc., such as is the case for chimpanzees, orangutans, and black spider monkeys, male aggression against females is particularly high. As we have seen in chimpanzee society females are dominated by males and are subject to frequent male violence in order to get them to submit to them sexually, or to keep them submitting to them sexually (rape, 'herding', 'mate guarding' violence before they go on 'consort' etc.). Moreover, female chimps get pink swellings on their hind end for two weeks when they are most fertile. They are subject to male aggression and sexual coercion much more frequently during this time, according to some researchers, which causes their stress hormones to rise. Chimpanzee society could easily justifiably be described as a patriarchy. Bonobos however have been described as living in a matriarchy by researchers. They form female coalitions not just now and then, their whole society is built around them. Females bond with other females and ferociously protect each other from male aggression. When a new female enters the group she will have sexual relations with the senior females of the new group, so that she becomes bonded to them. Since females are not competing with each other over who can acquire the most protective male mate, there is very little violence or competition between females, which has been observed in other primate societies. Male bonobos still display aggression towards females, but they usually back off, as the rest of the females will come to another female’s aid. Female bonobos do however have sex with male bonobos individually, as well as through group sex. This is probably so that the males will be satisfied enough not to form their own coalitions (like we have seen other male primates do) and threaten the social structure the females have established. There have also been observations of females having sex with males in exchange for food. It has been reported that male bonobos are much more likely to give their food to females after they have sex with them first, this of course means a female does not have to gather it for herself. It seems highly likely that the majority of sex between male and female’s bonobos is undertaken to keep males from disrupting the social order. Moreover, unlike chimps female bonobos swellings are present for weeks both before and after they are most fertile. This makes it difficult for males to know when to up their aggression to try to ensure females bear their offspring; this coupled with female coalitions would explain why the bonobos have evolved into a matriarchy. Interestingly in this society where a male does not achieve ultimate dominance over females through violence and sexual coercion, males frequently engage in homosexual contacts themselves.
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