goddessing

My beloved came home from work last night with the flu. I fed her half a sweet potato and put her to bed. With an unexpectedly free evening at my disposal, I turned to TV and a crochet project.

Lucky me! I happened upon the first airing of a Nova program on PBS: The Last Great Ape, a documentary about Bonobos, the research team that has been studying them, and the political conditions in the Congo that disrupted the research and that put more of these already-at-risk primates at even greater risk.

Bonobos are interesting for so many reasons. Chief among them, for me, is the mirror they hold up to us about human primate nature and social possibilities. Like chimpanzees, bonobos share 98% of their genetic material with us. Unlike patriarchal chimpanzess, however, bonobos are matriarchal. Matriarchal. That's the word they used on the program. Dr. Frances White, featured in the program, said that while studying the bonobos she kept being told, when she reported that there was no evidence of patriarchal social behaviors in them, to look harder. Matriarchy in bonobos was so unthinkable a reality that the powers that be kept denying evidence of it over and over again. Sounds familiar to those of us who think there were (or might have been) matriarchal social structures in our human past, not to mention the handful of living matriarchies still in existence.

Matriarchal behaviors as defined in the program: there were no gangs of males exhibiting dominant behaviors; all male privilege resulted only in a male bonobo's relationship with his mother (and all privilege was lost when she died); the female bonobos distribute all food that is found, no matter who finds it, and the males eat last; male bonobos do not attack or harass female bonobos; there is no concept of paternity in bonobo culture, since bonobos mate freely (if not copiously) with various partners all of the time; bonobo groups do not make war against other bonobo groups.

"While chimps are a patriarchal species in which males often brutally dominate females, bonobo females tend to have priority in terms of feeding and sharing food with each other and with males. In territorial disputes, the females take the lead to avoid conflict, using peaceful means rather than fierce aggression. They also keep the stronger males in check by forming alliances with other females." (TV Program Description)

Called the "make love not war" ape, referring to the much better studied chimpanzee with its patriarchal and bellicose nature, bonobos share with humans some DNA that chimpanzees don't have — a piece of genetic material involved in bonding behaviors.

There's a fact to ponder, with hope for our species.

Labels: matriarchy / patriarchy, quotes / quotations

I love bonobos, they're wonderful.

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