GENDER BIAS AND ANTHROPOMORPHISM IN STUDIES OF A SEXUALLY MONOMORPHIC SEABIRD METHODS

Transcription

1 GENDER BIAS AND ANTHROPOMORPHISM IN STUDIES OF A SEXUALLY MONOMORPHIC SEABIRD INTRODUCTION Researchers perceptions of, often traditional and static, gender roles may impact their initial assumptions, how results are interpreted, and how findings are described or communicated (Ah-King 2012). Often male behavior is depicted as aggressive, competitive and active, whereas females are described as passive and caring for the offspring. These depictions are given despite the same behavior being observed in each gender, which in some cases is contradictory to the evidence (Lawton et al 1997, Ah-King 2012). Perceptions of gender are often strongly linked to assumptions regarding sexual orientation. There are several theoretical models describing these in human relationships. For example, Butler (1990) developed the heterosexual matrix to describe the norm of correct associations between body, gender and desire. For example, a person with female sex and gender needs to desire men in order to be perceived coherently. Such norms may influence studies of animals; especially as the occurrence of same-sex pairs and the variety of sexual interactions among animals have only recently been given attention (Bagemihl 1999). Anthropomorphism is a common feature in popular science descriptions of non-human animals and, perhaps surprisingly, it also occurs in scientific papers published in peerreviewed journals. This is despite the fact that anthropomorphism is looked down upon in academia for taking a biased perspective. The anthropomorphic descriptions invoke connotations of human behavior, which could lead to placing the described behavior in a potentially inaccurate context. At the same time, anthropomorphism may improve readability of a text as well as attract more attention as catchy wording and identification with the study objects become easier. In this study, these aspects are investigated in relation to published studies of common murres Uria aalge. The common murre is a sexually monomorphic seabird with shared parental care, but slightly different roles during some of the phases of reproduction. Thus, it is interesting to investigate whether assumptions about gender roles and heteronormativity impact study design and interpretation of results in a monomorphic species since sex determination is difficult and differences between sexes are small. Further I look at the occurrence of anthropomorphism, as murres and humans share several characteristics so such descriptions may be tempting to use. METHODS A search in Web of Science (see appendix 1) resulted in 33 relevant papers that were available in full text. The sex determination methods used in each of the studies were examined to assess whether it included any assumptions regarding the sex of the members in a pair, or of individuals mating. I looked at the occurrence of words that have an origin in descriptions of the relationships between humans or of human behaviors (listed in appendix 2), hereafter referred to as anthropomorphic words. The Introduction and Discussion sections of the papers that focused on sex-differences in behavior, or biology, were read to qualitatively assess gender-biased and anthropomorphic descriptions.

2 male offspring were also used interchangeably. RESULTS A sex determination method was used in 31 of the 33 investigated papers. The methods used in 15 (48%) of the cases implied that oppositesex pairing was assumed. However, a large share of these publications are based on two datasets, so the number of instances were a sex determination method was selected are lower than the reported numbers No assumptions Assumptions of opposite-sex pairing Figure 1. Publication year in relation the occurrence of assumptions of opposite-sex pairing in sex determination methods in studies of common murres (n=31). Slightly fewer recently published papers have used methods assuming opposite-sex pairing than among older studies (Fig. 1), but there was no significant difference in publication year between studies grouped by sex determination assumptions (Wilcoxon rank sum test, p>0.1). Anthropomorphic words were found in 13 of the 33 investigated papers, but only five papers used more than one of the words. Seven different investigated words were used: divorce (occurring in 8 papers), father (5), mother (4), partnership (3), courtship (3), rape (2), daughter (2), son (not possible to quantify). Alternatively, the phrases male parent and female parent were also used in the papers. In one paper using son and daughter the terms female offspring and Higher numbers of anthropomorphic words per paper are seen in more recent publications (i.e. since 2005), as illustrated by Figure 2. However, there are also more papers published each year, therefore these trends can not easily be distinguished. No. of anthropomorphic words found in the article Publication year Figure 2. The number of different anthropomorphic words (see appendix 2) found in each common murre study, in relation to publication year (n=33). There was a strong positive association between the occurrence of an assumption of opposite-sex pairing and the number of different anthropomorphic words in a paper (Wilcoxon rank sum test: W=65, p<0.01, Fig. 3). No. of anthropomorphic words found in the article Assumptions of opposite-sex pairing No assumptions Figure 3. Papers presenting a sex determination method with no assumptions of opposite-sex pairing used fewer

3 anthropomorphic words than papers including such assumptions (n=31). The size of the dots correspond to the number of paper each represent. DISCUSSION A sex determination method assuming opposite-sex pairing was used in almost half of the studies. This can partly be explained because efficient molecular sex determination methods were only developed during the 1990 s, and several of the murre population studies started in the 1980 s. While same-sex pairs are common in many other seabird species, there are hitherto no evidence of same-sex breeding pairs in common murres. The studies using unbiased sex determination methods (most often molecular sex determination) have not reported any breeding pairs consisting of individuals of the same sex, which supports the assumption that this is rare the common murre. However, the most often used method is based on copulation positions assuming males to be on top. Male-male mountings occur rather frequently (Henrik Österblom, pers. comm) so given: i. the high occurrence of nonreproductive copulations (e.g. immature birds and during the post-breeding period, own obs.), and ii. the variety of same-sex sexual interactions in other species (Bagemihl 1999), concluding that female-female mountings do not occur is yet to be proven by research. Anthropomorphic words, stemming from descriptions of human behavior and relationships, were found in a large share of the papers. Some of these words can easily be replaced by other phrases, which may be perceived as more neutral and more scientific. For example, using male parent in stead of father and female offspring replacing daughter. Forced extra-pair copulations is a term sometimes used instead of rape, and it would be possible to write termination of pair-bond in place of divorce. All these expressions are however longer than the word they are replacing and the change reduces readability in most cases. Anthropomorphic language should be used with care to avoid suggesting intentions, feelings, or a context that may be inaccurate. On the other hand, there may be benefits from using words that make the reader recognize or relate to studied phenomena. It may, for example, increase the public s understanding of the frequency and nature of animal behaviors that are superficially or truly similar to ours. There was a strong link between the use of anthropomorphic language and assumptions regarding opposite-sex pairing in the investigated papers. A limited sample size and similar author teams using the same datasets repeatedly may impact this connection. However, combined with my impression from a qualitative reading of the papers, I think it remains an interesting hypothesis that there are differences between researchers. Some researchers may carefully consider bias in relation to human gender and sexuality norms, whereas others may be more unaware. This idea is further supported by the differences in writing and tone in the papers. It ranges from stereotypical statements that males are the more aggressive sex without support from peer-reviewed studies (Miller et al. 2008), to carefully phrased descriptions and application of gender-neutral models (Kristensen et al. 2013). The study by Kristensen et al (2013) is the most recently published among the investigated papers, and it is hopefully an indication of increasing awareness about gender issues among researchers in the field.

4 REFERENCES Ah-King, Malin Genusperspektiv på biologi. Stockholm: Högskoleverket. Bagemihl, Bruce Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity. London: Profile Books. Lawton, Marcy F., Garstka, William R. and J. Craig Hanks The mask of theory and the face of nature, pp in: Feminism and evolutionary biology, boundaries, intersections and frontiers. Gowaty, P. A. (red) New York: Chapman & Hall. Kristensen, Ditte L., Erikstad Kjell E., Reiertsen Tone K., Moum Truls, Barrett Robert T. and Susanne Jenni-Eiermann Are female offspring from a single-egg seabird more costly to raise? Behavioral Ecology 24: Miller, Edvard H., Seneviratne, Sampath S., Jones, Ian L., Robertson, Gregory J. and Sabina I. Wilhelm Syringeal anatomy and allometry in murres (Alcidae : Uria). Journal of Ornithology 149: APPENDIX 1. WEB OF SCIENCE SEARCH A search was made in the Web of Science database to identify relevant papers. The following search query was used: TOPIC: (uria AND aalge) OR "common murre" OR "common murres" OR "common guillemot" OR "common guillemots" AND TOPIC: (female AND male) OR (females AND males) OR (females AND male) OR (female AND males) OR sexes OR sexual OR "sex differences" OR "differences between sexes" OR "differences between the sexes" OR "difference between sexes" OR "difference between the sexes" OR gender* The search results included 91 papers. Each abstract was read to find the papers actually presenting data on common murres (n=35). APPENDIX 2. SELECTED WORDS THAT MAY BE VIEWED AS ANTHROPOMORHPIC Anthropomorphic words not used in the papers: Enemy Friend Friendship Lover Love Marriage Mum Dad Unfaithful Faithful Affair Cheat Anthropomorphic words used in the papers: Rape Divorce Partnership Courtship Son Daughter Father Mother

5