Feb 8, 2005
Reflections on Homosexual Behaviors
Wow, certainly a lot of blogging of late here at the old Liberty and Power Blog, mainly about Ayn Rand and then homosexuality, almost to the obscuring of the Hans Hoppe case itself, as well as other issues.
If Blogs had meta tags like web sites, and if the name of the Blog was determined by the content, our ISP might suggest ours be called something like the"HomoRandian" Blog. Or, did La Rand make the ultimate pronunciamiento on that as well?
Since others have held forth at length on the above, please allow me to make a few comments.
As I argued many years ago in Egalitarianism and Empire, there are three sources from which we can ultimately derive a value such as Equality; Supernatural law (God), Natural Law (Nature) and Positive Law (the State).
Although a number of religions condemn homosexual behaviors, no God(s) have ever communicated with me on the subject, and I reject State pronouncements on the question, which can change between sneezes by bureaucrats or judges. That leaves us with studying Nature for some clues about such behavior.
I believe one does not have to look very far in Nature, among a number of species, to observe what appear to be homosexual behaviors.
Testosteroneless Tabbys:
Perhaps the most thorough study was done by the French and reported in Realité in the late 1960s. I regret I cannot provide the exact citation since a number of my books and papers remain packed from my auto accident, while others were soaked, damaged and destroyed.
The French observed what occurred to those so-called beta lions in the Pride who lost out in the fight to become the top alpha male, of which it takes very few to continue the species. Did the fight renew itself the next year?
No! The defeated males formed a sort of bachelor colony, lying around grooming each other, looking very handsome, indeed. The females, however, wanted nothing to do with them, apparently sensing they were threats to their cubs. The most interesting finding though, was that at the end of a year the testosterone levels of the defeated males had dropped to zero. The alpha males looked a bit like beleaguered husbands, with no one to groom them, and consumed with such activities as protecting the Pride and servicing the females, not a small task in and of itself.
The Luver Lion:
Fast forward a bit to the story of Frasier the Lover Lion in the San Diego Zoo as reported by Time, and then also again when he died, copulating with the females 26 times that day, before just keeling over. As retold by the magazine it was evident the zoo keepers had not the slightest knowledge of the French study.
It seems the Zoo needed some cubs, and so they tossed a couple of well groomed, young males in with the females, expecting amor to ensue, but the females literally attacked the poor guys.
In frustration, someone remembered there was an old male named Frasier pining away in the nether recesses of the Zoo. He had lost his mate, but years before he had fathered cubs. So, he was tossed in with the females with very low expectations by his keepers.
But the females could apparently sense/smell? the testosterone and cued up for old Fraz, with an ensuing cubs a-go-go until the old boy died.
I could tell some interesting tales about raising a litter of Doberman pups in which two dominant males fought it out for hierarchy and the Vet predicted which would win based on who attacked first.
Galtian Monkey Business:
But, for the sake of our Randian cadre, let skip to the story of Spike, or, as I nicknamed him, John Galt. As some may know, Japanese anthropologists have for over 4 decades studied the behavior of a monkey colony on one of their outlying islands.
Given the males fighting over hierarchy, it was an entrepreneurial female who managed to modify the culture by changing the cleaning of foods from rubbing them in the sand to washing them in the ocean.
At one point an interesting thing happened; 3 old males came to share power, ceremoniously mounting each other, and beating down together any challenge by a strong, young male.
At this point Galt was born.
Rather than grow up in the colony and subject himself to this defeat, he left the colony to live alone on an off lying hill. As he grew one could see the females yearning to meet him and Galt exchanging the feeling, for he was becoming one hell of a giant stud, Still, he hung back. Then, one day he surged in taking on the old Troika, and beating them all until they slunk off into oblivion, whereupon the cycle of monkey life returned to normal.
While I would not want to read too much into this, I think it tells us as much as does the work of some philosophers about the relationship of leadership to the masses and the intervening roles of aristoi elites,
Human Homosexual Behaviors:
What do we know about the origins of homosexual behaviors in human males - of Nature and Nurture, with the intervening variable of the hormone, testosterone?
One of the defining characteristics of human society is that we have a large plurality of potential hierarchies, at least in complex, market ones, so that individuals can seek one in which to compete successfully, rather than being confined to one alone, with whatever the hormonal consequences of defeat, if any.
We also know that testosterone kicks in at two different points in the life of the male, the first at about six months in the womb. Some have suggested that a failure to do so may occur if the mother finds herself in a situation of traumatic stress at that crucial point in time, and that this may be factor in subsequent homosexual behaviors,
The second kick-in period occurs at puberty. I believe that is a reason societies will accept some measure of homosexuality but not a blatant culture seeking to attract young males at this point, or priests also seeking to seduce them into such behaviors.
In the evolution of civilizations, Imperial Ages have been characterized by a demographic decline among the elites, a breakdown in the structure of the family, and a rise in the acceptance of homosexual behaviors. There was a similar woman's revolution in Rome, with the women running the political clubs, and old conservatives like Cato complaining,"how is it that we Romams, who rule over all other men, are ruled by our women?" (Again, see, E&E).
I have homosexuals in my own family whom I love and respect, as well as a number of friends. On the other hand I understand how religions have not condoned such behaviors. Dietary laws are also not really health related, but rather concocted to develop an in group, and, growing out of the insight from perhaps cave times, that the female is not going to cook two different meals, and she does have"the power of the pot."
And so, to sum up, I think Imperial Ages will tolerate more homosexual behaviors than some earlier epochs, but that these also will find opposition when homosexuals develop an overt culture and attempt to recruit/seduce among the young, especially those in the years of puberty.
If Blogs had meta tags like web sites, and if the name of the Blog was determined by the content, our ISP might suggest ours be called something like the"HomoRandian" Blog. Or, did La Rand make the ultimate pronunciamiento on that as well?
Since others have held forth at length on the above, please allow me to make a few comments.
As I argued many years ago in Egalitarianism and Empire, there are three sources from which we can ultimately derive a value such as Equality; Supernatural law (God), Natural Law (Nature) and Positive Law (the State).
Although a number of religions condemn homosexual behaviors, no God(s) have ever communicated with me on the subject, and I reject State pronouncements on the question, which can change between sneezes by bureaucrats or judges. That leaves us with studying Nature for some clues about such behavior.
I believe one does not have to look very far in Nature, among a number of species, to observe what appear to be homosexual behaviors.
Testosteroneless Tabbys:
Perhaps the most thorough study was done by the French and reported in Realité in the late 1960s. I regret I cannot provide the exact citation since a number of my books and papers remain packed from my auto accident, while others were soaked, damaged and destroyed.
The French observed what occurred to those so-called beta lions in the Pride who lost out in the fight to become the top alpha male, of which it takes very few to continue the species. Did the fight renew itself the next year?
No! The defeated males formed a sort of bachelor colony, lying around grooming each other, looking very handsome, indeed. The females, however, wanted nothing to do with them, apparently sensing they were threats to their cubs. The most interesting finding though, was that at the end of a year the testosterone levels of the defeated males had dropped to zero. The alpha males looked a bit like beleaguered husbands, with no one to groom them, and consumed with such activities as protecting the Pride and servicing the females, not a small task in and of itself.
The Luver Lion:
Fast forward a bit to the story of Frasier the Lover Lion in the San Diego Zoo as reported by Time, and then also again when he died, copulating with the females 26 times that day, before just keeling over. As retold by the magazine it was evident the zoo keepers had not the slightest knowledge of the French study.
It seems the Zoo needed some cubs, and so they tossed a couple of well groomed, young males in with the females, expecting amor to ensue, but the females literally attacked the poor guys.
In frustration, someone remembered there was an old male named Frasier pining away in the nether recesses of the Zoo. He had lost his mate, but years before he had fathered cubs. So, he was tossed in with the females with very low expectations by his keepers.
But the females could apparently sense/smell? the testosterone and cued up for old Fraz, with an ensuing cubs a-go-go until the old boy died.
I could tell some interesting tales about raising a litter of Doberman pups in which two dominant males fought it out for hierarchy and the Vet predicted which would win based on who attacked first.
Galtian Monkey Business:
But, for the sake of our Randian cadre, let skip to the story of Spike, or, as I nicknamed him, John Galt. As some may know, Japanese anthropologists have for over 4 decades studied the behavior of a monkey colony on one of their outlying islands.
Given the males fighting over hierarchy, it was an entrepreneurial female who managed to modify the culture by changing the cleaning of foods from rubbing them in the sand to washing them in the ocean.
At one point an interesting thing happened; 3 old males came to share power, ceremoniously mounting each other, and beating down together any challenge by a strong, young male.
At this point Galt was born.
Rather than grow up in the colony and subject himself to this defeat, he left the colony to live alone on an off lying hill. As he grew one could see the females yearning to meet him and Galt exchanging the feeling, for he was becoming one hell of a giant stud, Still, he hung back. Then, one day he surged in taking on the old Troika, and beating them all until they slunk off into oblivion, whereupon the cycle of monkey life returned to normal.
While I would not want to read too much into this, I think it tells us as much as does the work of some philosophers about the relationship of leadership to the masses and the intervening roles of aristoi elites,
Human Homosexual Behaviors:
What do we know about the origins of homosexual behaviors in human males - of Nature and Nurture, with the intervening variable of the hormone, testosterone?
One of the defining characteristics of human society is that we have a large plurality of potential hierarchies, at least in complex, market ones, so that individuals can seek one in which to compete successfully, rather than being confined to one alone, with whatever the hormonal consequences of defeat, if any.
We also know that testosterone kicks in at two different points in the life of the male, the first at about six months in the womb. Some have suggested that a failure to do so may occur if the mother finds herself in a situation of traumatic stress at that crucial point in time, and that this may be factor in subsequent homosexual behaviors,
The second kick-in period occurs at puberty. I believe that is a reason societies will accept some measure of homosexuality but not a blatant culture seeking to attract young males at this point, or priests also seeking to seduce them into such behaviors.
In the evolution of civilizations, Imperial Ages have been characterized by a demographic decline among the elites, a breakdown in the structure of the family, and a rise in the acceptance of homosexual behaviors. There was a similar woman's revolution in Rome, with the women running the political clubs, and old conservatives like Cato complaining,"how is it that we Romams, who rule over all other men, are ruled by our women?" (Again, see, E&E).
I have homosexuals in my own family whom I love and respect, as well as a number of friends. On the other hand I understand how religions have not condoned such behaviors. Dietary laws are also not really health related, but rather concocted to develop an in group, and, growing out of the insight from perhaps cave times, that the female is not going to cook two different meals, and she does have"the power of the pot."
And so, to sum up, I think Imperial Ages will tolerate more homosexual behaviors than some earlier epochs, but that these also will find opposition when homosexuals develop an overt culture and attempt to recruit/seduce among the young, especially those in the years of puberty.