Evolution's Rainbow : Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People

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Summary: THIS BOOK CHANGED MY LIFE ...
Review: ... for the better. FINALLY! A book on the reality of nature (beyond classical, archaic and now defunct theories) is so long overdue seeing as how we are in the 21st century and all. Yes, I know it is difficult, and perhaps even painful, for some essentialists to accept but it is time now to move BEYOND Darwin. Let him go. Move on. There now, isn't that better?

Roughgarden has assembled an impressive arsenal of SCIENTIFIC (yes, SCIENTIFIC) findings that give a glimpse of the true diversity and beauty of gender and sexual expression across species and human cultures. It is also worth noting that, in a time when many heterosexual and homosexual men and women continue to stigmatize and silence gender and sexual diversity (ex: bisexuals and transgender individuals) by claiming that gender and sexuality are binary constructs, this book serves as a reminder that the world is not black-and-white and that nature's "exceptions" should not only be accepted but should be celebrated.

Kudos and thank you, Dr. Roughgarden!

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Summary: Half an interesting book
Review: Cast around a bit on the web and you will find a respectful, carefully worded evaluation of Evolution's Rainbow by Simon LeVay which was written for Princeton University Press (who did not publish the book). The guist of that critique is that the Prof. Roughgarden starts with a important overview of sexual diveristy in nature, followed by a weak attack on the theory of sexual selection. I am not in a position to decide who is right. However, Prof. Roughgarden's unbelievably vituperative attacks on that evaluator (also available on the web) makes me suspect it is Dr. LeVay.

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Summary: THIS BOOK CHANGED MY LIFE ...
Review: I loved this clearly written, pioneering book. It's a perspective I've never read before, backed by lots of facts and reasonable logic. It's hugely broadening to read, and I'd recommend it to anyone with the slightest interest in human beings.
I bought this fearing it would be too dry. I couldn't put it down.
One of the most intellectually stimulating books I've read in years.

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Summary: gripping
Review: I loved this clearly written, pioneering book. It's a perspective I've never read before, backed by lots of facts and reasonable logic. It's hugely broadening to read, and I'd recommend it to anyone with the slightest interest in human beings.
I bought this fearing it would be too dry. I couldn't put it down.
One of the most intellectually stimulating books I've read in years.

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Summary: An Embarrassment
Review: If you desired, you could read through the 400-plus pages of this book without believing one word that Dr. Roughgarden says, but one thing is for sure: it will make you think, whether you believe it or not. It would be hard not to agree with most of what the author states, as she uses more than enough evidence, and often important experimental results, to make a valid concluding point. I was fascinated in every chapter, from reading about sexuality in a variety of mammals, to learning the sexual practices of Acient cultures, to discovering the Bible's take on sex and sexuality. So if you are at all interested in biology, this book is a must for a fascinating, thought-provoking read.

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Summary: Maybe the most important biological book of the 21st century
Review: Joan Roughgarden is a world-class population biologist, unusually qualified to write on this topic as she is a rare combination of a distinguished theoretician and an accomplished field experimentalist. She has produced a stunning volume that reexamines peoples' comfortable assumptions about gender identity and reevaluates Darwin's theory of sexual selection. Roughgarden brings not only her great technical expertise to bear on these topics, but she also deals clearly and compassionately with the many social issues where gender is involved. She makes a powerful plea for sane approaches to subjects that even within the scientific community are classically clouded with biological misinformation and prejudice. There are lots of books exposing the biological nonsense of racism; this is the first to do the same for homophobia and related psychoneuroses. Agree or disagree with the many conclusions, this is a book that every biologist, indeed every human being interested in sex, should read.

Reviewer: Paul R. Ehrlich, author of Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect.

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Summary: An Embarrassment
Review: Roughgarden embarrasses herself and decides to abandon her former role as a scientist in favor of becoming a politically correct activist. This book has one huge, massive, fundamental flaw: It is not science, but it is presented as such. The real scientific method goes something like this: accumulate data, observations, and facts, then formulate a theory that best explains them. Roughgarden does the opposite: she starts with a theory already in mind, and then seeks out facts to support it. That is not the way to the truth -- it's just a form of narcissistic self-congratulation. I've spoken to many scientists in the biological sciences, and every single one of them dismisses this book out of hand as a joke. It has nothing to do with real science, they say -- it's just someone making a personal statement. By ignoring or abandoning the basic scientific method, Roughgarden has declared what side she's on: politics over truth. Activism over science.

As to the specifics of the case: Sure, as the author points out, there are hundreds -- yes, HUNDREDS, wow! -- of species with unusual gender or sexual roles. But what she intentionally fails to mention is that there are MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of species on earth, and that the few hundreds she describes are but the tiniest fraction of 1% of all species. All sorts of variations of all types can be found in the animal kingdom, much of it bizarre and much of it non-sexual. Of course there are some creatures with unusual gender identifications -- such variation is to be expected. But it doesn't prove anything beyond what we already knew about the diversity of nature. Then Roughgarden goes on to say, incredibly, that gender identification is nothing more than a choice, a cultural artifact -- even among the most primitive animals. In other words, gender is not necessarily biologically determined, she claims -- it's an intellectual decision. Yes: insects and lizards and fish DECIDE what gender they want to be, according to Roughgarden. It would be funny, an urban legend kook theory, if it wasn't given the veneer of respectability by UC Press, who decided to publish this book solely because it's so PC and "subversive."

Then Roughgarden foolishly tries to take on Darwin, but misses the point entirely. Her critique of Darwinian sexual selection is so amateurish, so politically motivated, that at this point in the book I actually started to feel sorry for the author. She had obviously lost her way intellectually, and no longer grasped the fundamentals of evolutionary theory. She seems to believe -- because her political stance compels her believe -- that current theories of sexual selection always entail passive females choosing the strongest, most aggressive males. Puh-leeze. There's no room in this short review to elucidate the full extent of sexual selection theory, but Roughgarden is just setting up a "straw man" argument that she can rebut -- even though no one in the world even holds the views that she's rebutting. And Roughgarden never explains how the genetic transmission occurs if sexual selection does not happen how Wallace and Darwin described it.

The entire second half of the book has nothing to do with science at all, and is just a feel-good litany of homosexuals and "transgendered people" throughout history and across various cultures. Is this news? No. Just because there was homosexual behavior in ancient Rome doesn't mean that it has any relevance to biological theories of evolution. This section of the book is just an exercise in identity politics, someone standing on the mountaintop and shouting, "There are others like me and we are acceptable!"

That's fine, Joan. You do that. Just don't call it science. It's an insult to all the other clear-minded people all over the world who are engaging in real science and seeking the truth without a political agenda in mind.

Rating:
Summary: A Mixed Bag
Review: Roughgarden's convingly-argued case against the theory of sexual selection is long overdue, and the alternative she proposes -- social selection -- is intriguing. However, one is advised to approach the second half of the book with caution. Roughgarden is far too uncritical in her acceptance of sex differences research. Definitely read Fausto-Sterling, Tavris, and/or Hubbard before tackling this one.

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Summary: Best Book I've Read in a Long Time
Review: This book has been praised in the gay press, but it is much better than even these favorable reviews have indicated. The huge variety of detailed examples of both natural and social phenomena is impressive! I thought Dr. Roughgarden's perspective as a transgendered person enabled her see clearly what others have not seen.

Not only has she provided the best information now available about sexual and gender diversity from a biological perspective. She provides the best explanation I've yet read about the biblical perspective on sexual diversity, beginning with Noah's ark and continuing into the New Testament.

This is a must read for anyone who values diversity!

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Summary: Fascinating, hilarious in places, inspiring
Review: This is a great book. The writing is excellent. There's a lot of backhanded humor that had me laughing out loud in places. And the scientific, anthropological, sociological, and even Biblical details are fascinating and often mind-blowing. Just start reading this and you'll realize how little you know about sexual diversity, animal and human. The author's appeal for more rational approaches to sexual and gender diversity are inspiring, sensible, and long overdue. Definitely a must-read.