Darwin’s Queer Theory

Dr Ross Brooks gives a free evening talk on queer ecology and how Victorian natural history and Darwin's evolutionary theory already documented sex diversity in nature.

This evening talk explores queer ecology, the field examining the diversity of sexes and sexual repertoires among plants and animals. Dr Ross Brooks argues that many of the phenomena studied by queer ecologists were documented by Victorian naturalists and formed part of Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory. The talk covers examples such as gynandromorphs, sex-limited polymorphism and a hen-feathered cockerel named Hector, showing how they continue to shape thinking about the nature of sex today.