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The Sexual Evolution

How 500 million years of sex, gender and mating shape modern relationships
Brief Description
We find ourselves in a time of great social upheaval. People are testing the boundaries of just about everything related to sex and gender. Biological sex, long thought to be a simple binary, is now being understood as a spectrum. Gender is being uncoupled from sex... Read More
Format: Hardback
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A perspective-altering and deeply researched journey through the history of sexuality and gender across the animal kingdom by forensic biologist and university professor Nathan H. Lents

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

We find ourselves in a time of great social upheaval. People are testing the boundaries of just about everything related to sex and gender. Biological sex, long thought to be a simple binary, is now being understood as a spectrum. Gender is being uncoupled from sex and expanded to an astounding range of diversity. The traditional categories of sexual attraction are being supplanted by more creative labels.

Where is this shift coming from? The answer may surprise you. Diverse sexual behaviour is not a new development, or even a human one. It didn't emerge from recent progressive culture; it's the product of billions of years of experimentation throughout the animal kingdom.

Evolutionary biologist Nathan H. Lents takes readers on a journey from silent crickets to lesbian albatrosses to bonobos who kiss, revealing what this incredible array of sexual diversity can teach us about our own. Amusing, enlightening, and meticulously researched, Lents convincingly shows that diverse genders and sexuality have evolutionary functions far beyond procreation.

The Sexual Evolution is a perspective-altering book that advocates understanding and demolishes biases held by even the most open-minded among us.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781837260706

Publisher: Canongate Books

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 05 June 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Canongate Books

Edition: Main

Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 28.0mm

Width: 159.0mm

Height: 240.0mm

Weight: 542g

Pages: 336

About the Author

Nathan H. Lents is an American scientist, author and university professor. He has been on the faculty of John Jay College in New York since 2006, where he is currently the director of the Cell and Molecular Biology programme.

@nathanlents | thehumanevolutionblog.com

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