'Marvellous fun' THE TIMES
'Glorious . . . guides the reader with authority and humour ' LUCY COOKE
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 *
"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 *
"Enthralling . . . Lents gleefully tears down cis, hetero and monogamous norms, outlining surprising case studies that give the lie to restrictive conceptions of gender and sex. The result is an indispensable glimpse into the queerness of animals" - * Publishers Weekly *
