Evolution’s Rainbow

Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People, with a New Preface

By: Joan Roughgarden

Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie

Length: 16 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

In this innovative celebration of diversity and affirmation of individuality in animals and humans, Joan Roughgarden challenges accepted wisdom about gender identity and sexual orientation. A distinguished evolutionary biologist, Roughgarden takes on the medical establishment, the Bible, social science--and even Darwin himself. She leads the reader through a fascinating discussion of diversity in gender and sexuality among fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals, including primates. Evolution's Rainbow explains how this diversity develops from the action of genes and hormones and how people come to differ from each other in all aspects of body and behavior. Roughgarden reconstructs primary science in light of feminist, gay, and transgender criticism and redefines our understanding of sex, gender, and sexuality. A new preface shows how this witty, playful, and daring book has revolutionized our understanding of sexuality.

©2004 Joan Roughgarden (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Queer, Kinky Animal Kingdom

If you've ever read stories about “gay dolphins” and the like, you can thank the work of evolutionary biologist Joan Roughgarden.

Roughgarden's book Evolution's Rainbow has caused huge amounts of controversy since it was first published in 2004, depicting a natural world in which animals' lives are teeming with the same variety in their sex lives and behaviors as any human being— but without the moral outrage.

Alfred Kinsey supposedly once said that "The only unnatural sex act is that which you cannot perform." Roughgarden takes that sentiment and runs with it, giving example after example of just how broad the spectrum of "natural" sex and gender really is in the animal world.

For instance, meet the bighorn sheep: macho males live apart from the females and have lots of anal sex to keep them occupied during the mating off-season. Then they rely on feminine males to broker sex between them and the ladies.

Same-sex swan couples happen to be far better parents than their hetero counterparts. Fish bros work together to get laid. Those doves aren’t actually monogamous. Through impeccable empirical evidence, Roughgarden opens up a world where humans aren’t the center of the universe, and animals have their own dramas and life cycles to get through.

Roughgarden also explores the world of science itself, shining a light on scientists who have refused to acknowledge that animals engage in homosexual behavior, or any gender roles that deviate from the classic Darwinian model of promiscuous males competing for picky females. Sometimes, it's just the opposite!

Thank you.

I wish I had had this book at 13. It would have saved me and my family a lot of heartache. Thank you.

a new view of animals bodies and behaviours

interesting book, well researched by a competent author. this book dispels myth about the rigidity of gender and sex behaviour and expression in non human animals. I find myself thinking of it often and reccomending it to others.

So grateful for this!

As a cis gender male Christian who is the father of a trans Girl, I am so grateful for the scientific explanation of the great diversity of the natural world and its relationship to human species and our current social life. It was so helpful. Thanks again

A Great New Take on an Old Topic

Is gender dimorphic? Like most Americans, that is my culture taught me. Like most biologists, that is exactly what I have been taught since my first classes. Dr. Roughgarden challenges this core assumption made by most of us. Extraordinary claims that go against the conventional norms require extraordinary arguments, and Dr. Roughgarden provides a wealth of evidence for just such arguments. She makes an excellent case for the presence of multiple genders in many species, including one species of isopod that has three distinct morphological types that we lump together as biologically "male." In some species, these different sexual types can succeed in the reproduction game, and how partnerships between morphotypes can improve their reproductive chances, allowing members of a pair to father more eggs than either could alone.

I found the most intriguing sections to be the chapters on mimicry. We have assumed that males that look like females to us can also fool "dominant" males or females. Roughgarden points out that we have not demonstrated that the "alpha" males are fooled, or that they "mimic" has tapped into a fixed action pattern. Without such proof, another viable explanation is that a territorial alpha accepts the presence of the beta male because his presence benefits the alpha. The sneaker male may also not really be sneaking. His presence could be sought by females for a number of reasons that the author discusses in detail.

I consider the weakest argument in the book to be her argument against sexual selection. I believe that she defines sexual selection too narrowly and that the interpretation usually used by most ethologists today could include most aspects of her cooperation model.

Despite my disagreement on this one point, she makes a good case that we need to re-examine our assumptions about sexual competition. Once we allow for more than one successful way of expressing sexuality, then we open the door to the possibility that other modes of sexual interactions, beyond hoarding eggs, can lead to reproductive success.

Eye Opening, Personally Helpful

Sometimes getting the facts and scientific backing gives one all the confidence needed to come out. I can't thank Joan Roughgarden enough for her personal quest and sharing of her work to enlighten and educate. I just wish everyone could read this book and garner this knowledge.

Turgid but amazing

Some sections get pretty technical but there's so much valuable information in this book, it's a must for people who want to dive into the biology of diversity. The histories/cultures section is my favorite. Good narration, great value.

Essential Reading for All Humans

This book is a ringing, scientifically rigorous, and quite readable statement of where we go when we "Follow the science" on sex and gender diversity. It's powerful and should be considered carefully by everyone, full stop. Everyone.

Very interesting but a little less empirical than I would like

I cannot say I’m a huge fan of the anthropomorphism of several species in this book, and the author does have an agenda, but she quite clearly states this aspect of her writing and honestly, who can blame her? Overall this book is very enlightening and has been a long time coming.

Worth the Read, Kind of

I wanted to love this book. I found the topic compelling, and the author is a sort of local geek-celeb. So, that. And the premise of diversity as the basis of all creation is powerful. Part I is quite engaging. I'll never look at birds the same way again! But it falls apart after that. The chapter entered "An Embryonic Narrative," in which the author takes the perspective of a developing embryo was like a bad After School Special. It was sophomoric. And Part III seemed well out of the author's expertise. More troublingly, her hostility toward psychology was presented without foundation. I get that LGBTQ+ people have been tremendously harmed by 20th century psychological models in the Freud/Jung/Lacan tradition. This is no small thing, but Roughgarden paints all of psychology with the same brush, ignoring cognitive-behavioral and other modes that would have been well documented in 2004, when the book was first published. While I sort of agree with her perspectives on genetic engineering, I nonetheless felt they were poorly argued and extreme. At the end of the day, I think she strays too far from where she does indeed seem to have real expertise and insight. Also, there were many recording issues. At one point the narrator coughs loudly. One sentence is repeated two or three times. Both of these things should have been edited out. I have to suspect that the editor stopped paying attention by the halfway point, which was my experience as well.