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I found compelling individual articles, and some terrific scholarly texts (like Bruce Bagemihl’s Biological Exuberance and Joan Roughgarden’s Evolution’s Rainbow), but not a public-facing book, and found myself getting that feeling of urgency that means I’m going to be writing a new book.
Source: HarperCollins, with permission
MB: Who is your intended audience?
ES: I’ve long written young adult books, though most of my readers over the years have seemed to be adults, not teens.
MB: What are some of the topics you weave into your book and what are some of your major messages? A recent study in Nature put the number of species with confirmed substantial same-sex sexual behaviors at 1,500 and counting. it will help queer kids feel less alone as it highlights the filtered lens through which the animal kingdom has for too long been presented." - Kirkus Reviews
"This is a groundbreaking young adult publication that documents new insights into animal behavior, including research previously repressed or ignored.
But I am arguing that it’s no longer scientifically tenable to claim that LGBTQ+ humans are unnatural or that they don’t have analogues in the animal world. This current rise of LGBTQ+ censorship in schools and libraries, based on a contagion theory of sexuality, is both highly damaging to queer populations and goes against this surge in scholarship.
So I wrote the book to be accessible to a teen audience, though I anticipate that most of its readers will be adults. If all of this is space opera, readers will want an encore. Bravo." - Booklist (starred review)
"3, 2, 1…blastoff for mystery, adventure, and queer intergalactic bodice-ripping." - Kirkus Reviews
"[A] sexy space odyssey.
I wrestled with that for a long time, and a lot of LGBTQ+ young people don’t survive this internalized assumption that there is something wrong or unnatural about them. His hypothesis is that the two ducks were in the midst of an aerial chase or “pursuit flight"—common mallard behavior—when the doomed duck hit the glass facade. Readers are sure to root for these lovable characters’ survival." - Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
"Yes, The Darkness Outside Us is utterly inventive and relentlessly page-turning.
I think learning about the diversity of sexual expression in nonhuman animals can only make us more open to the diversity of sexual expression we encounter in humans.
That’s if people learn about it, of course.
“Dead Duck Day” marks that time a scientist witnessed gay duck necrophilia
In his paper, Moeliker noted that the museum’s park has several water features, like ponds and ditches, favored by a wild population of mallard ducks numbering between 40 and 50 individuals at the time of the incident.
Bonobos, an ape species that is in a rough tie with chimps as our closest relative and for whom female-female sex is the most frequent, help us look at how we might be underestimating the level of bisexuality (rather than hetero- or homosexuality) in animals.
Credit: C.W. Moeliker, 2001
Two male mallard ducks copulating would not actually be that surprising.
I looked up “homosexuality” in an encyclopedia and learned that it was a psychological aberration caused by human culture or bad parenting.
Listing image: C.W. Moeliker, 2001
Jennifer Ouellette Senior Writer
Jennifer is a senior writer at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series.
Same-sex pairings have been recorded in some 450 different species, from flamingoes and bison to warthogs, beetles, and guppies. Here's what he had to say.
Marc Bekoff: Why did you write Queer Ducks (and Other Animals)?
Eliot Schrefer: I’m a part-time student in the Animal Studies M.A. program at NYU, and we’ve had a few scholars come through talking about same-sex sexual behavior in their species of study.
Among the numerous accolades for this young adult book focusing on the diversity of naturally occurring same-sex sexual behavior among nonhuman animals (animals) we read, "A thoughtful, thought-provoking, and incredibly fun study of queerness across the animal kingdom . Levick was horrified to witness not just male penguins mating with other males but one young male Adelie penguin attempting to copulate with a dead female.
It also reassures readers that same-sex attraction, interaction, and sexual intercourse is completely natural, both in the animal and human realms." - Booklist (starred review)
"Together, the creators deliver punch lines while revealing little-known animal facts about avian asexuality and polyamory, bisexual bonobos, and intersex deer, all supporting the argument that exclusionary takes on the natural world are a breakable human habit—and that, as science shows, queer behavior has never been 'unnatural.'" - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Mind-expanding, guffaw-inducing, and truth-telling—Schrefer’s title guides readers to a frontier where no STEM curriculum has gone before." - Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)
"[A] fun, refreshing book that will have dry biology textbooks shaking in their book covers." - BookPage (starred review)
"A nonfiction book that richly mines scientific facts, this can be read in one sitting or researched as individual chapters for ultimate flexibility." - School Library Journal (starred review)
“Fiercely imaginative and desperately real, The Darkness Outside Us explores the wild expanses of the human heart.
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Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality
Praise for Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality
"This mind-blowing treatise covers everything teens might not even know to ask about animal sexuality." - San Francisco Chronicle
Praise for The Darkness Outside Us: "Schrefer masterfully evokes and maintains suspense that keeps the pages turning briskly while still taking the time to limn the two boys’ touching, moving relationship.
This book is a must-read for every teen.” - Deb Heiligman, award-winning author of Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith
“In this deeply researched and necessary book, Schrefer takes readers through the scientific record of same-sex partnering in the animal kingdom. There’s no keeping sexual diversity out because it’s our heritage as animals.
Dolphins were a way of looking at male-male sex as a social survival strategy, with parallels to humans in various cultures throughout history.