Clownfish, Lesbian Lizards, and Casey Anthony

Friday Night Happy Hour at Cnemidophorus Neomexicanus Cocktail Lounge, Whiptail, New Mexico

Poor Nemo, the Clownfish. Now he must Find Himself.  Nemo is now an object lesson in transgendering for elementery age school children.

Redwood Heights Elementary School, in Oakland,  is in the hot-seat after the school decided to education students about gender diversity.

 On Monday and Tuesday, students of every grade were taught what the school called age-appropriate lessons about gender differences. Some lessons included all-girl geckos, a transgender clownfish, and boy snakes who act “girly” reports the San Francisco Chronicle

“That’s a lot of variation in nature,” Gender Spectrum trainer, Joel Baum, told the students. “Evolution comes up with some pretty funny ways for animals to reproduce.”

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Transgender-Clownfish-Controversy-122617749.html

This is not the first time that reverse-Anthropomorphism has been used to explain or justify some aspect of human sexuality and it certainly won’t be the last.

For example, the poor New Mexico whiptails (Cnemidophorus neomexicanus) are an entirely female species of lizard that reproduce by parthenogenesis.  Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction found in females, where growth and development of embryos occurs without fertilization by a male. They also engage in mock mating behaviour and have the nickname of Lesbian Lizards. Apparently, these girls kiss girls and they like it. A whole lot.

Anthropomorphism is the act of ascribing human emotions and characteristics to animals or non-human things.  It is what made Disney rich. Think Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck here. Reverse-Anthropomorphism, which may be a term I have coined, is the opposite–ascribing animal characteristics to humans. This practice is on very solid ground because like it or not, human beings are part of the animal kingdom. We eat, sleep, breathe, reproduce, and poop right up there with the bears in the woods.

But still, we draw the line somewhere. We have to, or there would be no civilization. For example, no one gives Casey Anthony, who allegedly killed her two-year old daughter, a pass on the grounds that certain animal species kill their young. No, Casey is on trial for first degree murder. Similarly, the “But Spiders Do It!” defense has never been successful for those accused of murdering their spouses. The same is true for rape, killing sexual rivals, and cannibalism. Among humans, these are classified as felonies.

I suspect we are also missing the point on the clownfish and Lesbian Lizards. Both species manage to propagate and reproduce. To my knowledge, with humans, it still takes a male and a female.

Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter