ND, about the cats: I volunteer with a cat rescue organization, and have some great methods for getting the cats to quit antagonizing each other. One that has been personally helpful is to take a small squirt bottle, fill it with water, and give the instigator a squirt with it while not letting them see you do it. Otherwise they’ll associate it with you, and not their bad behavior. It takes time (depending on how much your cats dislike each other) but it works really well.

You can also make a loud noise each time you see the beginning of an altercation. If they aren’t getting violent with each other, I’d just make a loud noise.

Most likely the cats will settle into a hierarchy that they’re okay with on their own, but if not try those suggestions. Another good way to get them used to each other is to pet one vigorously and then rub your hands all over the other one so that they’re exposed to the scent of the other cat.

Good luck with the term papers! And I hope to read more about how much men suck real soon.

Well, uh. I am assuming consent on the part of a hen who crouches down, lifts her tail, and flutters her wings while looking over her shoulder at the rooster, and assuming non-consent on the part of the hen who doesn’t do those things but instead tries to run away and gets jumped on and pushed to the ground by a rooster, who scratches her and pulls feathers holding her down.

All my roosters either seemed to bribe the hens with presents (and it was fun to give him a tasty scrap and watch him call them over and then strut around while they ate, and usually one or two would ‘consent’ after that) or serial rapists. I tended to eat the latter, because it’s just not very ornamental to have one’s yard of ornamental fowl be sexual-violence-land.

Lots of animals are not only gay, but have consistent preferences in a consistent portion of their populations.

But since we’re on animal sexuality, lots of animals are gay…..(or at least exhibit same sex sexual behaviour).

I do agree however that ‘natural’ is a red herring.

Alas, not so. Lots of mammals rape. Primates. Ungulates. Social rodents in close quarters. Rabbits, probably. Bottlenose dolphins are notorious for behavior that is very clearly and undeniably rape for anybody willing to term any animal behavior as rape.

You’re certainly correct that cats don’t do it. Nor do canines. But in general one finds that the more heavily armed an animal is, the more likely it is to respect members of its own species, which is why roosters are always running about raping the hens but hawks approach each other with charming and romantic caution.

None of this has squat to do with ethics and values anyway. If some dipshit is trying to tell you that patriarchy and rape are desirable or even remotely okay simply because they are ‘natural,’ offer him some delicious all-natural cream of Botulinal toxin soup with smallpox infested crackers on the side. He’s too dumb to live anyway.