剥开科学中的偏见看雌性动物——读《Bitch》
September 26, 2024
本来就对各种动物知识感兴趣，这本关注点在雌性动物和什么是 female 议题上，标题醒目的书就成了必读列表。因为出游搁置，断断续续三个月终于读完了！像之前读 Immune 一样，光读书笔记就断断续续写了超过一本的 field note，不虚此行。
A fierce, funny, and revolutionary look at the queens of the animal kingdom Studying zoology made Lucy Cooke feel like a sad freak. Not because she loved spiders or would root around in animal feces:& all her friends shared the same curious kinks. The problem was her sex. Being female meant she was, by nature, a loser. Since Charles Darwin, evolutionary biologists have been convinced that the males of the animal kingdom are the interesting ones—dominating and promiscuous, while females are dull, passive, and devoted.
In Bitch, Cooke tells a new story. Whether investigating same-sex female albatross couples that raise chicks, murderous mother meerkats, or the titanic battle of the sexes waged by ducks, Cooke shows us a new evolutionary biology, one where females can be as dynamic as any male. This isn‘t your grandfather’s evolutionary biology. It’s more inclusive, truer to life, and, simply, more fun.
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作者 Lucy Cooke 在后记中讲写这本书前以为科学就是客观的，没想到有如此多文化偏见污染。作为读者有类似的阅读体验，抱着“雌性动物趣味知识”的心态去，没想到颠覆了如此多对科学、自然和性别本身的传统认知。从一开始知名度相对较高还算符合二元范式只是被拿来当作“反例“和”异常“的雌性主导如封面传统反派 hyena 和动物中的性多元如“传统单偶制象征”信天翁中的雌性同性伴侣等开始铺开，到完全不同的社会构建如倭黑猩猩和虎鲸等展示可能性，再到颠覆二元与繁殖认知的孤雌生殖乃至家喻户晓的小丑鱼的流动性别…循序渐进配上作者幽默 sassy 的文笔娓娓道来看得很爽，不知简中她的力量传达出几成。虽然书中也不吝引用争议性先锋理论，但重新审视固有“事实”确实能重新思考诸多预设立场和偏见。引用封底评论：应该列为学生必读材料。四星半
Side note，Bitch 这个名字过于切题巧妙（因为本意就是雌性动物，在近现代被化作污名化称呼，又在当代被 reclaim，实在是特别切题），但可以想像 sadly 会影响销量和 SEO，我都能想到作者坚持要用这个名字和出版方 argue 时候的样子了 🤣（中文版的“她”的力量显然就 tone down 了）。
