of men and women, love in animals
So I’m far from an expert on this topic. Maybe that’s why I’m pondering it.
How different sexes and genders are! I know there’s a debate about how ‘gender’ is different than ‘a person’s biological sex’ so I’m going to try and write about this carefully. It really seems like men are such different creatures from women. It frankly amazes me how we can live together and the population has continued. Ways of thinking are different, communication styles are different, so many things are different. And yet, we multiply. And for some reason, nature added this thing in us how “opposites attract.” I wonder if that’s nature’s way of ensuring a variation in the gene pool.
Then I thought, “How do people stay together?” and I thought, “That’s what love is for. It binds people together.” If you love someone, you try and overlook their differences, right? So then I thought, well, we are biological creatures, animals. So how does it work in the animal kingdom? Do other animals feel love? How long are male and female animal parents together?
Before that, I decided to look up the length of marriages. It seems like the average length of a marriage in the US is now 8 years. WHOA. Apparently the divorce rate exceeds 50%, and the rate of people who GET marriage in the first place is dropping. And in the UK the average length of a marriage is 37 yrs? I know these rates are effected by the social acceptability of divorce. In Japan, it’s not socially acceptable to get divorced, especially if you have kids. Forget about it.
Back to animals. Can animals feel love? Pet owners together, on the count of three…one…two…three, “What a dumb question!!” lol They must feel something. As a former dog owner, I can attest to that. But what about ROMANTIC love?
I’m looking on the interwebs and I’m realizing that animals tend to have shorter life-spans than humans, and that must effect statistics. Oh, I found a website of animals that mate for life (http://www.mnn.com mother nature network):
-gibbons (monkeys)
-swans
-black vultures
-French Angelfish
-wolves
-albatrosses
-prairie voles (rodents)
-turtle doves
-bald eagles
So I’m almost thinking that it’s biologically unnatural for animals (including people) to stay together for their entire lives. People grow and develop…and naturally grow apart in different directions. Is that really so bad? I mean, biologically, two beings of the opposite sex get together to produce offspring to ensure the survival of the species. Marriage seems like a social construction- a necessary one, I think, because people need some kind of commitment and rule to keep some kind of order in societies.
I just wonder… is there a better social system out there? That better matches human’s natural tendencies? Or was this social system introduced to repress our natural tendencies and keep people in check? Much like a damn too small for the river, but at least it holds some of it back?
[edit] From people’s comments so far, it seems like people think I’m questioning my gender. ^^; I’m not…I’m just wondering about the social system of marriage and what love is. That’s it……