BITCH: ON THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES WITH LUCY COOKE

Wed 7 September 2022

Museum of Zoology

Join us for this fascinating talk by Lucy Cooke. Lucy Cooke is a New York Times best-selling author, award-winning documentary filmmaker and broadcaster, National Geographic explorer and TED talker with a Masters in zoology from Oxford university. Her latest book ‘BITCH: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution and the Female Animal’ is out now.
What does it mean to be female? Mother, carer, the weaker sex?

Think again. Our perception of the animal kingdom has been warped by centuries of sexist thinking.

In the last few decades, a revolution has been brewing. Lucy Cooke’s best-selling book BITCH introduces us to a riotous cast of animals, and the scientists studying them, who are redefining not just the female of the species, but the very forces that shape evolution.

Whether investigating murderous meerkat mothers, same-sex albatross couples , philandering female monkeys, menopausal orca matriarchs, or the battle of the sexes waged by ducks, Cooke exposes the sexist bias embedded in evolutionary biology since the time of Darwin, and reveals the emerging truth about female animals.

The females in BITCH overturn outdated binary expectations of bodies, brains, biology and behaviour and showcase the extraordinary plasticity of sex and its expression in nature.

Praise for BITCH:

“Deeply important. Lucy Cooke blows two centuries of sexist myths right out of biology.” Professor Alice Roberts

“A witty guide to animal sex from the heir to Attenborough” The Telegraph

“A dazzling, funny and elegantly angry demolition of our preconceptions about female behaviour and sex in the animal kingdom” The Observer

Talk starts at 6pm in the Whale Hall at the Museum of Zoology - doors open at 5.45pm. Tickets are FREE and must be booked in advance. Suitable for ages 12+

This talk is part of the 'Darwin in Conversation' programme run by Cambridge University Library.

Cost: FREE