Primate Sex Differences Biology and Behavior

Gender and Sexuality ANTH 2301 Primate Sex Differences: Biology and Behavior During the 1950s, when American women were expected to be housewives and mothers and men was expected to provide for the family, the majority of primatologists held the view that males were the prominent participants in primate social interactions and females were the supporting caste. At the time, primatologists thought that although females were primarily concerned with producing offspring, males were in a state of perpetual competition with one another for supremacy within a tight social hierarchy (Fedigan and Fedigan 1989). Actually, male rivalry is how primatologists defined the entire social structure of monkeys. This point of view supported Charles Darwin's theory that men must be aggressive and domineering as they must fight for the chance to mate with females. According to Darwin's view, females have evolved to select the strongest male for mating with and then focus only on raising their progeny to adulthood. However, by the 1980s, a number of robust investigations were revealing some startling new insights into the social organisation of primates. First, males are just transient members of most primate groups, frequently moving between them, while the majority of groups are mostly made up of related females. Hence, a group of lovingly linked moms and their offspring rather than a group of rivalrous males constitute the core of primate society. In most societal contexts, women are not peripheral characters but rather key players. Female family and solidarity, rather than male competitiveness, are what bind most primate communities together. Second, it was discovered that monkey social structure was extraordinarily complicated, with males and females consciously planning for positions, resources, and connections that they desired. Studies conducted on several ape species have revealed that females are frequently quite competitive and forceful when it comes to their sexuality. Female primates consciously show that they would rather mate with certain male "friends" than with domineering or hostile males. Males may find that being friendly with females is a more effective reproductive strategy than engaging in combat with other males. Furthermore, a growing number of primatologists now recognise that cooperation, not competition, is the primary characteristic of primate social life, even if males and females still compete with one another for resources in the struggle for survival and procreation (Fedigan and Fedigan 1989). In summary, this indicates that: (1) males and females are essential actors in primate social life; (2) men and females are cooperative; and (3) both sexes are competitive. Even while data points to the same importance of men and females in monkey social interactions, the subject of biological distinctions and how they relate to behavioural variations remains unanswered. Male and female primates have different anatomies in two key areas. First off, mature females may and frequently do get pregnant and give birth to children. With a few noteworthy exceptions, such several species of New World monkeys, most female primates spend the majority of their adult life either pregnant or nursing their young and dedicating more time and energy to raising them than do their male counterparts. Furthermore, compared to juvenile males, juvenile females tend to show greater care to the newborns in the group, as some studies have observed. Second, although this difference is highly varied, male primates tend to be somewhat larger than females. Sexual dimorphism is the term used to describe the variation in size between men and females in any given species. While male gorillas are about twice as big as females, male gibbons are almost the same size as females. Chimpanzee females are around 75% the size of males. Since human females are almost 90% smaller than males, human sexual dimorphism is more equivalent to that of gibbons than chimpanzees. Certain scholars propose that strong male dominance, inflexible hierarchies, and male rivalry for female mate choice are linked to high levels of sexual dimorphism. In gorilla culture, these characteristics undoubtedly support one another. As with gibbons, long-term monogamy may be linked to a low degree of sexual dimorphism. Anthropologist Adrienne Zihlman, however, advises against passing any definitive conclusions on the correlation between behavioural characteristics, such sexual relations, and biological characteristics, like size. "There is no simple correlation, within or between species, between anatomy and behavioural expression," the author observes (1997, 100). After reviewing studies on the sex differences among gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees, and gibbons, she comes to the conclusion that each species has a distinct "mosaic" of sex differences including anatomy and behaviour, with no obvious commonalities that may be used to infer what is "natural" for humans. Despite having 99 percent of the same DNA as humans, chimpanzees and bonobos are the closest ape cousins of humans, and yet they display vastly distinct gender-related behaviours. Chimpanzees are male-dominated, whereas bonobos are female-dominant. While chimpanzee communities are very hierarchical and frequently experience male conflict between themselves, bonobo groups are generally egalitarian and peaceful. The sexual behaviour of bonobos is incredibly varied and astonishingly common, encompassing a broad spectrum of opposite-sex and same-sex partnerships involving different types of genital contact. According to some experts, having sex with other bonobo people strengthens social ties and reduces conflict. The phrase "make love, not war" refers to bonobos. Chimpanzees also exhibit diverse sexual behaviour, although it is primarily restricted to opposite-sex relationships. Opportunistic mating is the pattern in which a female in estrus may mate with many men. There may be brief exclusive partnerships where a man protects a female to stop other men from mating with her. There are also consortships, in which a man and a female separate from the group for a week or longer. It is hard to infer what is "natural" for male and female humans from nonhuman monkey behaviour given the extreme differences between the two closest DNA cousins of mankind. Indeed, when it comes to gender, primatology could teach us that, similar to humans, apes have highly malleable bodies and can display their gender and sexuality in a variety of ways in social contexts.