Second Nature Documentary (2024)

From homosexual penguins and sex-transitioning fish to pregnant male seahorses and sexually dominant female bonobos, there are thousands of species that defy our expectations of gender and sexuality. Director Drew Denny takes the nature documentary to a whole new level in this eye-opening and entertaining expedition to the places David Attenborough overlooks, where giant duck penises and corkscrew vaginas take center stage. 

Turns out Darwin wasn’t right about everything. He nailed that theory of evolution, but his understanding of gender and sexual diversity in the animal kingdom was more than a little misguided. Turns out the natural world is way more diverse and complex than he — or your high school biology teacher — may have led you to believe. Meanwhile, many unsung contemporary scientists, like evolutionary biologists Joan Roughgarden and Patricia Brennan and primatologist Amy Parish, have been zealously studying animal behavior and anatomy and exposing the myth of the gender binary for decades, despite ongoing resistance to their findings from the research establishment.

High School NGSS-aligned activities on Life Cycles, Inheritance, Animal Behavior, and Sex Development

Thank you for your interest in the Inclusive Biology Curriculum Research Project. I am Charlie Blake (they/them), an Assistant Research Professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. I am leading a research study along with contributions and support from partners and advisors, including the folks at Gender Inclusive Biology (https://www.genderinclusivebiology.com/). I am currently recruiting high school life science teachers for the 2024-2025 school year. If you are able to participate, I would supply you with four activities (NGSS-aligned) that you would use whenever they fit into your teaching schedule. I would then invite your class to participate in some short pre- and post- surveys and invite a few students in each class to do interviews. The topic areas of the lesson materials are: Reproductive Life Cycles, Genetic Inheritance, Animal Bodies and Mating Behavior, and Sex Determination and Development. Even if you can’t do all the lesson topics you can still participate. A small stipend is available for all participating teachers!

“Inclusive Biology Curriculum Impacts on Students” IRB approved protocol #2171

If you would like to use the lesson plans but are unable to participate in the study, I will still share the activities with you, but I hope you will consider joining the study!

Google form to request the activities https://forms.gle/u5G6MbygvqunXH366

 

Thanks for all your help,

Charlie

 

Dr. Charlie Blake (they/them)

Assistant Research Professor

STEM Center for Research, Education, & Outreach

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Queer Animals Are Everywhere. Science Is Finally Catching On.

This article by animal studies graduate student Eliot Schrefer for The Washington Post highlights a recent surge in scholarship on same-sex animal behavior which challenges longstanding misconceptions about the connection between animal sexuality and evolution.