The Sexual Evolution
How 500 million years of sex, gender and mating shape modern relationships
Nathan H. Lents
Available as Hardback, eBook, Downloadable audio, Paperback
A perspective-altering and deeply researched journey through the history of sexuality and gender across the animal kingdom by forensic biologist and university professor Nathan H. Lents
‘Marvellous fun’ THE TIMES
‘Glorious ’ LUCY COOKE
‘Colourful’ GUARDIAN
We find ourselves in a time of great social upheaval. People are testing the boundaries of just about everything related to sex and gender. Biological sex, long thought to be a simple binary, is now being understood as a spectrum. Gender is being uncoupled from sex and expanded to an astounding range of diversity. The traditional categories of sexual attraction are being supplanted by more creative labels. Where is this shift coming from? The answer may surprise you. Diverse sexual behaviour is not a new development, or even a human one. It didn’t emerge from recent progressive culture, it’s the product of billions of years of experimentation throughout the animal kingdom.
Evolutionary biologist Nathan H. Lents takes readers on a journey from silent crickets to lesbian albatrosses to bonobos who kiss, revealing what this incredible array of sexual diversity can teach us about our own. Amusing, enlightening and meticulously researched, Lents convincingly shows that diverse genders and sexuality have evolutionary functions far beyond procreation. The Sexual Evolution is a perspective-altering book that advocates understanding and demolishes biases held by even the most open-minded among us.
“In The Sexual Evolution, the US biologist Nathan Lents romps through the mating habits of the animal kingdom, from polyamorous swans to ‘depraved’ penguins … This is all marvellous fun”
the Times
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“Leave it to Lents to remind us that yes, we have sex for many reasons, and yes, they’re often funny as hell. Bravo!”
Cat Bohannon, Author Of Eve
“An entertaining and informative romp through mating strategies in nature … Garter snake orgies, gender-masking hyenas, lusty bonobos and the lesbian Laysan albatrosses of Hawaii – this book has it all. All that diversity is fascinating, and frequently funny”
guardian
“At a time when diversity is fast becoming a dirty word, The Sexual Evolution provides a powerful argument about why diversity not only exists, but wins. Lents’ scholarly tome never lectures but guides the reader through a glorious array of gender and sexual diversity from across the animal kingdom, with authority and humour. An important addition to this important genre. My copy of this book will be read many times”
Lucy Cooke, Author Of Bitch
”The Sexual Evolution is a thoughtfully and delightfully written book full of illuminating and entertaining information that will be new to most readers. At a time when ignorance and misinformation about sex, gender, reproduction and intimacy abound, we could all benefit from reading this research-packed tour”
science
Nathan H. Lents
Nathan H. Lents is an American scientist, author and university professor. He has been on the faculty of John Jay College in New York since 2006, where he is currently the director of the Cell and Molecular Biology programme. He is the author of Not So Different and Human Errors.
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