Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity

DESCRIPTION: Hand is held outstretched toward partner (arm extends upward and outward with palm of hand angled toward the other individual)

MEANING: “Approach”—used to get partner to move closer; also used simply as an invitation for a sexual interaction

A DESCRIPTION: Arm is extended, hand bends at wrist and flips toward self

MEANING: “Come here”—used to get partner to move closer during a sexual interaction

DESCRIPTION: Arm is partially extended and raised while hand flips upward at wrist

MEANING: “Stand up”—used to get partner to stand on hind legs before engaging in a face-to-face sexual interaction

A DESCRIPTION: Arm is extended and raised till about head level with palm facing downward and placed lightly on another individual’s back or shoulder

MEANING: An invitation for a sexual interaction

DESCRIPTION: Knuckles are rested on partner’s arm or back and arm moves back toward self

MEANING: “Move closer”—used to get partner to assume a stance compatible with front-to-back sexual interaction

DESCRIPTION: Arm is lifted up with palm down

MEANING: “Position yourself”—used to get partner to move into a face-to face position

DESCRIPTION: Hand and forearm move across body in a sweeping motion

MEANING: “Turn around”—used to get partner to rotate his or her entire body

DESCRIPTION: Both arms wave or open out from body

MEANING: “Spread your legs andlor arms”—used to get partner to open limbs to facilitate face- to-face positioning

Researchers studying the Bonobo gestural system have suggested that the more abstract hand signals may have developed out of the simpler positioning movements. ⁵⁵ Communication during sex may initially have involved only fairly crude attempts to move one’s partner, from which more ritualized touching and directive gestures may have evolved, which then gradually became more and more stylized until, in some cases, fairly opaque hand gestures resulted. This sequence is significant, because it represents the sort of progression from purely representational gestures to highly codified manual signals that has been identified in the development of human sign languages.⁵⁶ More broadly, it shows the beginnings of abstraction or arbitrariness—that is, the creation of symbols—which is a hallmark of human language in general. The Bonobo gestural repertoire is certainly not a “language” in the true sense of a complete human linguistic system, and by no means does it have the complexity or subtlety of even the simplest human gestural systems, let alone of a fully developed signed, spoken, or written language. Nevertheless, it is a formalized communication system that exhibits a level of sophistication unparalleled in any other nonhuman primate—perhaps even with a rudimentary “syntax” (in terms of the ordering of gestures)—and it may indeed represent a precursor to human language.

Even more significantly, Bonobos devised this system spontaneously: they invented the hand signals on their own and were not taught to use them by people. Attempts to teach apes various forms of human sign language or other communication systems have demonstrated that our primate relatives in many instances possess formidable linguistic capacities, but in all cases human prompting and intervention (at least initially) are involved. What is unique about the sexual gestures is that Bonobos themselves developed the hand signals and taught them to each other (or learned them from one another), in response to a communicative need that arose naturally within their own social interactions.⁵⁷ Moreover, the specific social context that prompted this development is also unique: it was sexual behavior, or rather, the highly variable and plastic nature of Bonobo sexuality, that led to this development. Because of the wide variety of heterosexual and homosexual activities that characterize Bonobo sexual interactions, a supplementary communication system arose to help negotiate sexual interactions. In response to an unsurpassed sexual capacity in this species—including prominent homosexual activities—an unsurpassed animal communication system was created.

Not only is the Bonobo gestural system an outstanding example of the spontaneous development of cultural traditions in animals, it offers some clues into the origin of the human linguistic capacity. A number of theorists have suggested that the first human communication system may indeed have been a gestural language, that is, a system of hand signals.⁵⁸ Why language should have evolved in the first place among human beings, however, is a subject shrouded in mystery and controversy. Of the many theories that have been put forward, a number suggest that language developed in response to social factors, such as the need to coordinate complex group activities such as hunting or farming. The Bonobo system demonstrates that another factor may also have been involved—one that is rarely, if ever, considered in discussions of the origin of language: sexuality. In particular, as sexual interactions became more variable over the course of evolution, gestural systems of greater complexity may have developed to facilitate sexual encounters.

Primate evolution has been characterized by an ever-increasing separation of sexuality from its reproductive “functions,” including the development of numerous types of homosexual and nonprocreative heterosexual activities—most prominent in human beings and Bonobos (considered by some to be the primate most similar to humans), less so in Common Chimpanzees, Gorillas, and other apes. Scientists have also identified a corresponding increase in complexity of communication systems used during sexual interactions among apes, proceeding from Gorillas to Common Chimpanzees to Bonobos (and onward, of course, to human beings).⁵⁹ The progression is probably not quite as orderly as this sequence suggests, and multiple factors are surely involved in the genesis of each species’ particular communication systems. The general trend, however, is clear: as sexual interactions become more variable, sexual communication systems become more sophisticated. It is possible, therefore, that sexuality—particularly the fluidity associated with nonreproductive sexual practices—played a significant role in the origin and development of human language.

Tools

A hallmark of human cultural evolution was the development of tools, later elaborated into the full array of