For the past few decades the African apes called bonobos have been the favorite animal of the social liberals. The reason is that bonobos are regarded as peace-loving, love-making animals. At the Bonobo Conservation Institute they describe bonobos as "hippie" chimps who "make love, not war." Supposedly bonobos are bisexual apes who engage in incessant and indiscriminate sexual activity as an alternative to power struggles and male wars of domination. I'm surprised the Democratic Party hasn't changed its symbol from the donkey to the bonobo.
Well, maybe the liberals should put their bonobsession on hold for a while...
The July 30 issue of the New Yorker has a fascinating article on the work of the German anthropologist Gottfried Hohmann, who is considered the world's leading authority on bonobos in the wild. The key term here is "in the wild." Most of the research on bonobos to date has been done by the Dutch anthropologist Frans de Waal. Studying bonobos in cages, de Waal discovered that bonobos seem to have sex a lot: oral sex, anal sex, all kinds of sex. In de Waal's famous portrait, the bonobo emerges as a creature much more interested in sex than in work or power or anything else. In other words, de Waal's bonobos bore a startling similarity to the Dutch.
Hohmann's work shows that de Waal got it mostly wrong. Yes, bonobos act a bit weird in captivity, but what would you do if you were stuck in a cage? What else is there to do except look for unoccupied orifices? Just as people in prisons engage in all kinds of strange behavior, so too bonobos that are locked up behave in unnatural ways. "Unnatural" here means anti-Darwinian. Hohman's suspicions about de Waal's work were aroused by his recognition that the peace-loving promiscuous bonobo would not make sense under Darwin's theory of evolution. Darwin posits a struggle for existence and throughout nature this means a struggle for survival, reproduction and power. So how could bonobos be different?
Turns out they aren't. Observe bonobos in the wild for long periods of time, and they don't act much different from other kinds of apes. De Waal's famous contrast between the bonobo and the chimpanzee turns out to be largely illusory. Bonobos too have power struggles. There is patriarchy among bonobos, just as with other apes. "It was so easy for Frans to charm everyone," Hohmann says. "He had the big stories. We don't have the big stories." What Hohmann is leaving out here is the human tendency to distort evidence to suit our prejudices. Libertines and other social liberals loved Margaret Mead's now-discredited accounts of promiscuity in Samoa because they made the Samoans into libertines. Once the Samoans were shown not to conform to the liberal expectation, bonobos were fashioned into the new Samoans.
Now the liberals have to look for another mascot. Who will it be: the Andalusian ant? The New Zealand platypus? Perhaps these fellows should stick with the donkey.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 4)
1. Looks to me like you spend too much time worrying about Liberal sex lives and need to get one of your own. Might loosen you up a tad.
kevin at 8:16AM on Aug 3rd 2007
2. After reading all the blogs today, I have concluded that all these people are just plain silly.
Dinesh being at the top of the silly list, running close send Mo, then the Young Turks whatever that means...
They don't get paid for this, do they?
It's simply ridiculous.
Sheesh Dinesh, who had ever heard of these apes, much less them being some kind of symbol for Democrats? What planet is he on? Planet Coulter?
Absolutely the dumbest thing I have ever read.
I think I will pass my blog reading time on TMZ or perez hilton. No more ridiculous than this collection aol has assembled for "news bloggers"
Sheeeeeesh.
Davidg at 8:31AM on Aug 3rd 2007
3. I truly hate over generalizations. The story implies that a major topic of conversation among the average liberal is the sex lives of the Bonobo Ape. I would bet that if you ask 10000 average every day working people who call themselves liberal instead of political nerds, pundits and columnists who believe thier world is the center of the universe, what they think about promiscuity among Bonobo monkeys 9990 of them would not know or even care what you are talking about. While normal people are worrying about how to pay our bills, getting health insurance, or a bridge falling out from under them politicians and pundits are trying to convince us that we are really concerned about the sex lives of a monkey
PeiXingDe at 9:30AM on Aug 3rd 2007
4. Is this the best the media has to offer? And what's this obsession with liberals? Doesn't this fool realize that by dividing people into neatly defined groups only creates the illusion that we have nothing in common and are constantly at odds with each other. The only conflict I see is between those who are getting laid and those who are trying to get laid. Maybe if Dinesh accepted his true sexuality, which is an inclination towards amorous apes, he might not be so mentally distrubed and politically ignorant.
gshort3011 at 9:41AM on Aug 3rd 2007
5. Actually, DeSouza is exactly on target. When this "discovery" about "free-love" and even "gay" bonobos was first trumpeted (in the newspapers and news mags too, so evidently some of your critics don't read much), it was clearly intended as proof of fond liberal doctrine. How typical, when contradicted by the facts, to hear them say it's "silly", or really not important anyway, and we good liberals are only focused on the economy, health care, falling bridges, etc. Balderdash.
Rheologuy at 9:53AM on Aug 3rd 2007
6.
I have to say, the "Bonobsession" jibe was extremely funny, but probably not in the way that you intended it.
Peter at 9:58AM on Aug 3rd 2007
7. I think you hit the nail on the head Rheologuy.
Good job!
Ken Berg at 10:10AM on Aug 3rd 2007
8. Truly pathetic, Dinesh. How sad that you've nothing of more import to opine on.
J.T. at 10:19AM on Aug 3rd 2007
9. Sounds to me like you hit a raw nerve! These liberals do not like to be described as they actually are but only as they wish themselves to be percieved. Trouble for them is that they are way to easy to see through.
RDW at 10:35AM on Aug 3rd 2007
10. I'm a little confused about the direction of the barb. Haven't the last few sex scandals involved Republicans? Newt cheated on his wife, Foley tried humping a former male intern, Jeff Gannon, a gay male escort in the White House press corps. Karl Rove? Ooops! he's still not out of the closet. Seems Republicans are the ones, lately at least, who act like bonobos witha all the random sex, oral sex, and anal sex. Am I wrong?
mrzook at 11:07AM on Aug 3rd 2007
11. I fail to see where this writer is making such strange connections. I'm a Progressive and frankly could care less about the sex life of an ape.
Exactly what point is this idiot trying to make?
Sarah Apaliski at 11:31AM on Aug 3rd 2007
12. I'n with the other self-described libverals here. Dinesh and all the other nutters need to get their own sex lives going and stop worryiung about everyone elses, not to mention the bonobos.
And as for his muddle-headed conservative defenders on this board lamenting how the "free love" bobobos were trumpted in newspapers and news mags, I've got subscriptiojns to The New York times and The New Republic and I've never heard of this animal. And why would I? Why should I care about the Bonobos sexual activity? I'm not the one with some backward ideological agenda that requires me to hyperventilate over other people's (or animals) sex lives.
Daddydudu at 11:53AM on Aug 3rd 2007
13.
Yep it's the liberals at it again ! Right Dinesh - don't forget to look for them under the bed before you go to sleep tonight. Better check the closet and the basement too. Had a vacation lately Dinesh ? Maybe it's time for you to also check out the closest mental health facility in your neighborhood while you're at it. Just make sure none of those damn liberals work there.
max at 11:57AM on Aug 3rd 2007
14. Suggestion for the [usual probing] "Nothing Better to Do Sex Obsessed German/Dutch antros" LEAVE the peace loving BONOBOS alone!
Mo at 12:03PM on Aug 3rd 2007
15. I have to say that politicizing animal behavior is really silly. Perhaps we should now study whether donkeys or elephants really do reflect the personality of the party they represent. Maybe bull moose really favored Teddy Roosevelt. Anthropomorphising animal behavior to make a political point is what got sharks in trouble after jaws. Let's leave bonobos alone and concentrate on our own really whacky behavior.
eric at 12:45PM on Aug 3rd 2007