Sir David Attenborough has been accused of “ignoring gay animals” in his BBC nature documentaries by an academic study.
Dr. Brett Mills, head of media studies at the UK’s University of East Anglia, said that while he doubts Sir David was deliberately ignoring homosexuality in the animal kingdom, he has nevertheless identified three shows that perpetuate the fallacy that animal relationships are predominantly heterosexual.
Dr. Mills says wildlife documentaries have a responsibility to show viewers a wider perspective on animal sexuality, and that by ignoring the homosexuality in animals wildlife documentary makers are giving audiences false views of what is natural, Herald Sun reports.
Insisting homosexuality exists “pretty much everywhere” in the animal world, he went on to say:
“These programs make a valuable contribution to environmental awareness and how people think about the world around them. They are highly regarded and educational but they should also be offering alternative interpretations of animal behavior.”
“The central role in documentary stories of pairing, mating and raising offspring commonly rests on assumptions of heterosexuality within the animal kingdom. This is despite a wealth of scientific evidence which demonstrates that many non-human species have complex and changeable forms of sexual activity, with heterosexuality only one of the many possible options.”
The researchers found BBC wildlife documentaries mostly portray animals as heterosexual when often those animals are also gay.
As evidence Dr. Mills, lead author of the new study, said, “‘The central role in documentary stories of pairing, mating and raising offspring commonly rests on assumptions of heterosexuality within the animal kingdom.”
According to him, those assumptions sit at odds with demonstrable evidence that shows animals have “complex and changeable forms of sexual activity, with heterosexuality only one of many possible options.”
The study focused on three BBC wildlife documentaries narrated by the British broadcaster — The Life of Birds,The Life of Mammals and Life in the Freezer — and analysed the descriptions used by Attenborough in his voiceovers, said The Independent.
“Voiceovers tell the audience how to make sense of what is being seen. The environment, via the voiceover, is interpreted and understood via decidedly human cultural norms and assumptions”, Dr. Mills said.
He added that Attenborough’s shows push forward the idea that the “survival” of the species depends on “traditional” family units with biological blood-ties and a traditional number of parents.
“The descriptions of animal behavior, because of their association with the ‘natural’, play a telling role in the policing of human behavior,” claims Mills.
The study was published today in the European Journal of Cultural Studies. Neither the BBC or Sir Attenborough have as yet responded to the accusations, Gay Star News notes.