Eve’s Reviews > Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality > Status Update

I wasn't expecting a fucking Harry Potter reference in this chapter. 🤮😵‍💫😖 I wasn't expecting a Harry Potter reference in this book at *ALL*.

Continued from my previous update.

I don't like the implied sexism in the last sentence of that excerpt. 😑😥 It didn't surprise me when Eliot explained that there could be sexism in ancient Greece.

I enjoyed learning more specific information about male-male relationships in ancient Greece. My previous knowledge about that topic was very general.

To be attracted to other men wasn’t a source of stigma—it was the reverse, a sign of healthy masculinity. In fact, people looked at men who didn’t enjoy sex with other men as suspiciously effeminate, because they seemed drawn toward the female inside of them.

That's really interesting because I get so focused on how homophobic society tends to be now, but some societies weren't like that historically.

Continued from my previous update.

I'm grateful that I learned about intersectional identities in college. It's good to be familiar with and understand that concept.

Yeah, I’m super excited about all these popular Black scientists and science communicators coming up because I can’t imagine what position or what space my fellow Black grad students would be in if we’d had our own “Steve Irwin moments” growing up. We are succeeding through a struggle. Imagine if we didn’t have that struggle.

That hits hard, but reading that didn't surprise me.

Continued from my previous update.

In all seriousness, don't the father penguins sit on the eggs in nature? That's another example where human gender roles differ from what occurs in nature.

When I teach that in class, my students are always like, “It’s so cool! The dad stays and takes care of the offspring!” And I’m like, “Why does that get us all excited?” I get it; male parenting is cool. But we have to remember that what piques our interest also determines what questions we ask and the way we interpret our results.

*blasts Stay At Home Dad by Macklemore*

I look forward to learning more about the fruit flies tomorrow.

I'm too tired to finish this chapter tonight, but I'm proud of myself for getting almost a quarter of the way through after a few days of starting this book. 😁