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It seems like these examples are given to "excuse" human homosexual behavior ("See! It's perfectly natural. Look at the Giraffes!"). I don't have a strong opi
by thebigshane 16y ago
It seems like these examples are given to "excuse" human homosexual behavior ("See! It's perfectly natural. Look at the Giraffes!"). I don't have a strong opinion about human homosexual behavior but I do think these examples are meaningless for this intention. Giraffes are probably too dumb, too horny and too indifferent to care about gender or anything. They see a sexual opportunity and they take it. I speculate that if they did know the difference and had the opportunity with members of both genders that they would choose the opposite sex. (Actually it looks like males are doing all of the choosing). I am not saying that this is the point you were going to make, but it does seem to be what most people think about after this topic.
- btilly 16y agoSome may do that, but I personally have no desire to excuse human homosexual behavior. If you can't accept that people have the right to do whatever they want that hurts nobody else, then I'm not going to change you. However I take great delight in correcting bigots who make the mistake of claiming that homosexuality is a perversion that is only found in humans. And somehow I never seem to find a shortage of those. About giraffes, you may be right. My impression is that they spend a lot of time not high enough in the hierarchy to get females, so when their sex drive leads them to fight giraffes they can beat, the only outlet for their sex drive is the fellow they just beat. However black swans show an example of animal homosexuality where the animal has a choice, and actively chooses homosexual behavior.
- sigzero 16y agoI would not say it is a "perversion" and I wouldn't try to use "natural" in the animal kingdom way. I would say that the male body is not made/constructed/evolved (however you want to say that) for that kind of sexual contact. In that sense it is not a "natural" act.
- ebiester 16y agoYou've never discovered the magic of the prostate. </reddit> Seriously, though, what purpose does the prostate have to have such nerve bundles? Sometimes, evolutionary pressures don't explain everything. Some things are just chance.
- jules 16y agoIf you think animals are that dumb you are mistaken. We have a cock (= adult male chicken) who is very aggressive, but only against human males. So if chickens can recognize the gender of other species, then I'm pretty sure that a giraffe can recognize the gender of one of its own species.
- sigzero 16y agoNot dumb...some animals are rather smart. I am willing to bet that humans have the most emotionally complex system though.
- eru 16y agoIf you could come up with a definition, that claim may have some content. E.g. should the (sexual or otherwise) behaviour of ants or ant hills be classified as emotional?
- thebigshane 16y agoI don't mean to imply that ignorance is the cause of their homosexuality! Only that Giraffes are mostly indifferent to gender relative to their "horny-ness" (is there a better word I could use?) which is far different than human homosexuality.
- roel_v 16y ago/"horny-ness" (is there a better word I could use?)/ -> level of sexual arousal Leave it up to me to transform a perfectly understandable and conversational word into something abstract and clinical ;)