Bird Divorce: Representations of the Mating Systems of Endangered Species in the Era of Climate Change

Keywords: biodiversity, extinction, gender, sexuality, popular culture
Abstract Type: Virtual Paper Abstract

Abstract

This talk analyzes how biodiversity scientists and the media portray the impact of climate change on the reproduction of endangered species. I ask: what is the role of gendered rhetoric in depictions of the influence of climate change on the mating systems of endangered birds? For example, scientists describe increased rates of “infidelity” and “divorce” in socially monogamous birds due to climate change. Accompanying media headlines read “Albatrosses Mate for Life, but Climate Change Has Doubled Their ‘Divorce’ Rates.” Despite excellent work on representations of wildlife in popular culture, the role of gender and sexuality in representations of endangered species remains understudied. Using textual analysis and interviews with scientists, I find that portrayals of endangered species draw upon human reproductive politics, such as cultural discourses surrounding infidelity and monogamy in humans. These representations of the reproduction of endangered species often encode cultural anxieties about the maintenance of heteronormativity and the future of humanity in the era of climate change. These findings have implications for understanding how cultural ideas of gender and sexuality influence depictions of environmental futures for humanity and biodiversity.