As a matter of fact, in most instances both heterosexual and homosexual acts are equally “uninspired,” involving nothing more exotic than mounting behavior in the front-to-back position typical of mating in most animals. Even considering animals where other mounting positions are used, however, it is overly simplistic to claim that same-sex activity involves more “versatility.” In many species a variety of positions are employed in
In Japanese Macaques, female homosexuality is more similar to heterosexuality than to male homosexuality in terms of the
Other patterns based on the intersection of gender and sexual orientation also occur. In Stumptail Macaques, for example, female homosexual encounters use three basic positions (standing or sitting front-to-back and sitting face-to-face), heterosexual activity uses two of these (standing or sitting front-to-back), while male homosexual activity uses only one of these (standing front-to-back). (Males do, however, employ a wider range of oral and manual forms of genital stimulation in their encounters with each other.) Copulations between female Flamingos generally resemble heterosexual matings more than they do mountings between male Flamingos, but same-sex copulations in birds of either sex differ from heterosexual activity in their lack of a particular “hooking” posture.46 Male White-handed Gibbons interact sexually with other males only in a face-to-face position and with females only in a front-to-back position—thus, homosexual and heterosexual interactions are equally “flexible” or “inflexible” in this species, but differ in which position is preferred in each context. Even reciprocal or reverse mounting—in which partners take turns mounting each other—is part of the heterosexual repertoire in more than three-quarters of the species that engage in this activity (in either same-or opposite-sex contexts); it is unique to heterosexual relations in many of these (including Western Gulls and Silvery Grebes) and present in many animals that do not engage in homosexual behavior at all.
In fact, it is sometimes the case that opposite-sex partners show
“Virtuosity” in other areas of behavior is not generally exclusive to homosexual encounters either. The vast majority of courtship interactions, for example, involve the same set of behaviors typical for the species regardless of whether they are being performed between partners of the same or the opposite sex. There are notable exceptions, of course: the courtship “games” of female Rhesus Macaques and solicitations of female Japanese Macaques; “necking” interactions between male Giraffes; pirouette dances in male Ostriches; the vocal duets of Greylag gander pairs; aspects of courtship feeding in Laughing Gulls, Antbirds, Superb Lyrebirds, and Orange-fronted Parakeets; alternative bower displays in Regent Bowerbirds; and unique vocalizations during homosexual but not heterosexual interactions in male Emus and Japanese Macaques. Occasionally courtship activities are also performed at different rates or with different intensities: in same-sex pairs of Black-winged Stilts and Black-headed Gulls, for instance, certain courtship behaviors occur more frequently in same-sex pairs, others more commonly in opposite-sex pairs. All of these represent behavioral innovations in same-sex contexts, but they are atypical. Usually both homosexual and heterosexual courtships draw upon the same repertoire of behaviors, and in many cases same-sex interactions actually involve only a subset of the full behavioral suite that is characteristic of the species.
Thus, while homosexuality among animals is sometimes characterized by innovative or exceptional behaviors not found in heterosexual interactions, the opposite situation is equally, if not more, prevalent. It seems, then, that neither virtuosity nor mundanity of sexual expression are exclusive to either homosexual or heterosexual contexts. This is really not surprising: as we have already seen, a hallmark of sexual (and related) behaviors in animals is the tremendous range of variation found between species as well as among different individuals. For just about any pattern or trend that can be discerned, one that is contradictory or equivocal can be found. It stands to reason, then, that something like “sexual technique” would exhibit a similar range of diversity. And although Masters and Johnson may have found a greater level of technical proficiency in sex among some homosexual couples, this is probably an overly simplistic generalization even among people. A wider study sample that includes extensive cross-cultural information, as well as closer attention to age, gender and class differences, social contexts, and other factors, would likely reveal that (once again) human beings are much more like other species in this regard.
Primate (Homo)Sexuality and the Origins of Culture
Homosexuality is part of our evolutionary heritage as primates: anyone looking at the prevalence and