MEH. “SEXUAL HARASSMENT” IS SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED. Finding sexual harassment everywhere, even among birds.

Modern society has become so obsessed with finding gender discrimination that we are now finding it in animal behavior.

First let me point out that this is being done by just a handful of researchers, in a single scientific journal. Science isn’t (I hope) suddenly going to lurch toward explaining almost every behavior as having to do with sexism.

The researchers have suggested that one of the reasons that females in the animal world are not as colorful or pretty as males of the same species is so that they can avoid sexual harassment. Big eyeroll. . . .

Here are some of the other theories for why female animals just aren’t as pretty to look at as males (all of which I find more believable):

Males are the ones competing for females, so they need to look good to do so and display the best genes for mating.

Females are less colorful so that they can blend in with their surroundings — camouflage — and better protect their eggs.

Lots of color and ornamentation would reduce female fertility, as they would have to exert more energy to produce those ornaments.

Science.