SALVE ROMA! A Felidae Novel - By Akif Pirincci Page 0,81
still forbidden under penalty of death in Islamic theocracies.
In having sex with »their own kind« males indeed are dominant in nature, but also many females are cut from the same cloth. Female dolphins push their fins into their partner’s genital slit, male bonobos suck at another male’s penis, and manatees give their partners a fin job, due to default of hands. From occasional escapades through to a livelong relationship, scientists have observed everything. Homosexual herring gulls and penguin couples actually remain faithful to each other their whole life. 450 animal species were caught red-handed at the »gay research« by scientists. This is a tidy sum, as actually behavioral scientists by now have only soundly observed about 2000 of the approximately multiple million animal species in this world.
In the face of so much animal homoerotism our cat doesn’t stand apart. Even both cat sexes have the aptitude of having a sexual role swap at least sometimes. Among a dozen tomcats one can always find a couple, which have a partiality for other males. Not only female house cats, also a couple of their big and wild relatives have been observed at lesbian flirts. According to Paul Leyhausen, the Konrad Lorenz of cat science, the gay coitus is a perfect copy of the heterosexual cat love except from the penetration.
Nowadays, the belief that the passive female role is totally unacceptable for tomcats is also confuted. Sometimes tomcats actually do slip into a female role when having sex, they just have to be in the mood, in fact outside of a rape scenario. But even this happens. We know it from countless American police and prison movies. Strange tomcats, who are put into a cage with an established cat of the house, often become victims of sexual violence.
There are countless theses on why homosexuality is firmly fixed in the world of animals, although it does harm to the spreading of genetic material. The American biologist Bruce Bagemihl hypothesizes most provocatively, that it is nonsense to speculate about a rational sense when seeing a gay giraffe or a lesbian squirrel. In fact, he says, homosexuality is just an expression of nature’s joy of playing – nothing more.
3. Although the physical premises exist, it remains an unanswered question, if cats reach an orgasm during sex. To be precise, scientists still don’t know when and why nature presents their creatures with the »bonus« of a sexual climax. Principally, it is absolutely possible to breed without pleasurable sensation – just like some clerics would prefer. »I kept watching mating carpenter bees«, the American zoologist John Alcock explains, »but I can’t see whether they feel anything comparable to our idea of joy.« The simpler the creatures, the harder it gets to read ecstasy or joy of love in their reactions. The problems are even bigger than for a human Casanova, who already needs to rely on the woman’s statements.
At any rate most mammals show striking interest in sex and are willing to bear exertions in order to get it. The best sign for it being fun for them. With its whole habitus the male rat creates the impression of having a fantastical orgasm when having sex. After the ejaculation it thrusts hard another time, slowly gets up and its eyes glaze over – which only leaves little room for doubt. So most scientists believe that at least male mammals – including tomcats – scale the height of sexual pleasure. In tribal history it was actually very useful to pour the increasing greed for orgasms down the male animals throat. Because males are capable of increasing their genetic fitness and father more viable descendants, if they lustfully jump at every chance of sex. Females, who bear the brunt of procreation, would be ill-advised, if they got involved in every noncommittal romantic adventure.
Whether evolution sweetens the »breeding work« of female mammals with the ultimate gift of lust, namely orgasm, as well, strikes many scientists as doubtful. »The female orgasm seems to be notably absence with most species«, the American psychologist Roy E. Baumeister states, »and evidence suggest that male animals get more lust out of sex than females.« After all women can be fertilized without orgasm or any pleasant feeling. The autonomic nervous system of male mammals almost does somersault, when the semen shoots out of the erect penis with euphoric twitches. For example, the blood pressure of dogs heavily increases at the moment of ejaculation. The blood pressure of the bitch does show some fluctuation, but none is at