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Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist
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About This Book
New York Times best-selling author and world-renowned primatologist Frans de Waal explores sex and gender in both humans and other animals. Though many scholars now argue that gender differences are purely a product of socialization, primatologist Frans de Waal illustrates in Different the scientific, evolutionary basis for gender differences in humans, drawing on his decades of experience working with our closest ape relatives: chimpanzees and bonobos. De Waal illuminates their behavioral and biological differences, and compares and contrasts them with human behavior: male domination and territoriality in chimpanzees and the female-led pacific society of bonobos. In his classic conversational style and a narrative rich in anecdotes and wry observations, de Waal tackles topics including gender identity, sexuality, gender-based violence, same-sex rivalry, homosexuality, friendship, and nurturance. He reveals how evolutionary biology can inform a more nuanced—and equitable—cultural understanding of gender. Ultimately, he argues, our two nearest primate relatives are equally close to us, and equally relevant. Considering all available evidence, we can learn much about ourselves and embrace our similarities as well as our differences.
Reviews
"The author enlivens his pages with attentive, sometimes moving portraits of animals he has encountered as well as anecdotes about his own experiences as one of six brothers."
"But as an argument about humans, I found Different less satisfying ..."
"This surprising look at the nature of primates has a lot to say about what it means to be human."
"We ignore important works at our own peril, especially if our goal is to better understand the many nuances and overt displays of sex and gender."
"An explicit definition of biology, by way of hypothetical genetic mechanisms, would have gone a long way in supporting the central premise ..."
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