A majority of male monkeys swing both ways, a study published in leading science journal Nature has found.
Seventy-two percent of male rhesus macaques engaged in same-sex sexual behaviour, according to the study of 236 individuals living within a colony of 1,700 on the tropical island of Cayo Santiago in Puerto Rico.
In fact, more individual monkeys engaged in same-sex behaviour than different-sex behaviour, the researchers found, with just 46% observed mounting a female during the three-year study period.
The study from a team at Imperial College London further found that same-sex behaviour was 6.4% heritable and that it began among males when they turned three-and-a-half. Females, on the other hand, rarely engaged in same-sex behaviour.
Unexpectedly, the researchers found that those individuals who engaged in same-sex behaviour were more likely to reproduce, something they suggested was due to such males assisting one another more in conflicts. They observed that this fitness benefit is in contrast to humans, where same-sex behaviour comes with a ‘fitness cost’, i.e., is associated with lower likelihood of reproduction.
Despite the apparent preference among macaques for same-sex behaviour, the researchers determined – by extrapolation from their data – that just one of the 236 individuals was “likely” to exclusively engage in same-sex behaviour.
With these kinds of studies it’s always tempting to look for lessons for human relationships. Indeed, the researchers themselves, while warning of the difficulties and problems in such an enterprise, nonetheless attempt to do so.
Noting that macaques are the “closest model species in medical research”, they suggest that knowing how common same-sex behaviour is in macaques may help further the cause of gay equality. “Our results may contribute to changing the opinions of those whose prejudice remains regrettably built on the belief that same-sex behaviour is rare or deviant,” they write. A section in their accompanying Conversation article is titled ‘Learning from primates’. In a press release the authors suggest that their findings challenge the practices of countries which still ban homosexual relationships.
But the case for recognising homosexual relationships has nothing whatsoever to do with the behaviour of monkeys.
Macaques are not humans and are separated from humans by millions of years of evolution. Their social structure and behaviour are very different from ours, just as they also differ from other primates and animals.
It is certainly fascinating to learn that male macaques freely make use of sexual contact in their social interactions; that from the age of three-and-a-half (equivalent to around 10 years in humans) they often mount and are mounted by their pals and elders to bond with them; and that those which do this are more likely to have offspring. It’s also intriguing to know that the females don’t tend to go in for it.
But it’s hard to see any lessons here that humans would want to apply to ourselves. What, after all, would such lessons be? That all friendships and workplace relationships should be sexualised, starting in primary school? That gay men should end their aversion to women and make sure they have babies with them from time to time? These don’t sound like notions that any sensible person would be on board with.
In macaque society, male relationships are, we learn, routinely sexualised, with male companions often bonding via sexual interaction. That isn’t the case in human society, where most relationships are non-sexual, by mutual agreement! Macaques, which spontaneously mount each other while hanging out, would be totally befuddled by MeToo.
Humans are not macaques. Human sexual relationships typically involve pairing up and most expect exclusivity. The concepts of fidelity and infidelity are highly salient in human relationships in a way that clearly isn’t the case among macaques.
This is because human sexual norms are based on the needs and desires of humans, not monkeys. This includes an understanding of what is likely to cause harm, especially to women and children, and the importance of consent – which is why we protect children from being sexualised as well as regulate sexual contact between adults. We are also mindful of the need of human children to be raised in a stable family environment and by their own mother and father where possible – which is the main reason we institute marriage and discourage divorce. What humans need from sexual and family relationships is not the same as what monkeys need.
The worry with studies like these – worthy as they are in themselves – is that they will be used by activists to push woke agendas, including sex-positive and ‘queer theory’ ideas on children. ‘Gay penguins’ are frequently used in this way, for example. The authors themselves point in this direction by arguing their findings imply countries shouldn’t ban homosexuality, though do not go any further. But if we’re going down this road of getting ‘morals from monkeys’, why should we stop there? Why should our ‘learning from primates’ not also include that humans should sexualise all their relationships, from age 10 upwards? The worry is that some people will read a study like this and take something like that away from it. There is, after all, a well-resourced global movement pushing the sex-positive agenda on ever-younger children, with the WHO even issuing guidance on ‘sexuality for infants‘. You can just see the fact that 72% of macaques are bisexual slipping into some sex education lesson somewhere. And the authors hardly help by drawing their own moral lessons.
But – and this should go without saying – we don’t recognise gay relationships because macaques are 72% bisexual, or anything else to do with monkeys. We do so because of considerations specific to humans.
So in case anyone is tempted to suggest that macaques show us the free-loving way to be, let us be completely clear. Monkeys don’t show us how to be human.
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