Bitch: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution and the Female Animal

Description

In our fiercely contested social, political and cultural landscape, Lucy Cooke looks to the animal kingdom to ask what it means to be female. __________ Mother. Daughter. Ruler. Provider. What does it mean to be female? The female species has never been more scrutinized or politicised. As we search to define our gender, combat prejudice, and celebrate the myriad of femininity - what can the animal kingdom teach us about its true nature? In BITCH, award winning zoologist, broadcaster and author Lucy Cooke, takes the reader on a global journey to meet the animals and scientists that are helping to redefine female species and release it from the shackles of stereotype. Lucy will present us with a dazzling portrait of the female, introducing us to polyamorous chimps, alpha-female hyenas, menopausal killer whales and lesbian lizards. By showing us the spectrum of the species, she sets out to re-write the evolutionary labels that have come to define a gender and propose a new understanding of what it means to be female today.

Lucy Cooke has a Master's in Zoology from the University of Oxford, where she was tutored by Richard Dawkins. She is the author of two previous books, A Little Book of Sloth, which was a New York Times bestseller, and The Unexpected Truth about Animals, which was shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize and has been translated into seventeen languages. She has also written for the Sunday Times, Telegraph, Mail on Sunday, New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Lucy is also an award-winning broadcaster and documentary filmmaker. Initially working behind the scenes in television comedy, she is now a regular on Radio 4 and has presented prime-time series for BBC, ITV and National Geographic.

Lucy Cooke's Bitch shows just how far we have come in seeing nature's females for what they actually are.' -- Simon Ing * Telegraph * Surprising sex lives of the animal kingdom: From bondage-loving spiders to 'Scrooge-like' lobsters who save their sperm for a female who's 'worth it', BITCH lifts the lid on kinky creatures -- Claire Toureille * Daily Mail * Best books of 2022 so far: Zoologist Lucy Cooke's hilarious and enlightening book reclaims evolutionary biology for females of all species. * New Statesman * Mr Darwin, your time is up...This is the evolutionary reboot us bitches have been waiting for. -- Sue Perkins Brilliant ... Cooke is a superb science writer -- Carol Tavris * TLS *