Busting the Myth of Primate Patriarchy:  The Nature of Sex and Gender in Our Ape Relatives

Busting the Myth of Primate Patriarchy: The Nature of Sex and Gender in Our Ape Relatives

Author: Bioneers December 17, 2025 Duration: 31:15
The late world-renowned primatologist Professor Frans de Waal (1948-2024) explores the nature of sex and gender among our cousins the apes, and how gender diversity is a common and pervasive potential on nature’s masculine-feminine continuum. In the quest to overcome human gender inequality, he suggests that our focus needs to be on the inequality. Featuring The late Frans B. M. de Waal, Ph.D., was a Dutch/American biologist and primatologist widely renowned for his work on the behavior and social intelligence of primates. C. H. Candler Professor Emeritus at Emory University, de Waal was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and was declared one of The Worlds’ 100 Most Influential People Today by Time magazine in 2007. The author of numerous highly influential books including Chimpanzee Politics, Our Inner Ape, and Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist. Executive Producer: Kenny Ausubel Written by: Kenny Ausubel Senior Producer and Station Relations: Stephanie Welch Program Engineer and Music Supervisor: Emily Harris Producer: Teo Grossman Host and Consulting Producer: Neil Harvey Production Assistance: Anna Rubanova Resources Read an excerpt from Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist Living Links Center for the Advanced Study of Ape and Human Evolution This is an episode of the Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature series. Visit the ⁠radio and podcast homepage⁠ to learn more.

There's a quiet revolution unfolding, one that draws its most profound ideas not from boardrooms or labs alone, but from the living world itself. Bioneers: Revolution From the Heart of Nature gives voice to that movement, presenting conversations that feel both urgent and deeply grounded. This award-winning podcast, curated by Bioneers, acts as a gathering place for some of the most compelling social and scientific thinkers of our era. Each episode explores how the genius of natural systems can inform our approach to modern crises. You’ll hear detailed discussions on topics ranging from practical biomimicry and ecological design to the interconnected realms of social justice, indigenous wisdom, and restorative psychology. The series refuses to silo these subjects, instead weaving them into a coherent vision for transformation. What emerges is a kaleidoscopic view of solutions that are as much about healing our communities as they are about restoring the planet. Tuning in, you encounter a rare depth of perspective, where the separation between ecological and social health dissolves. It’s a space where leading-edge ideas feel less like abstract concepts and more like a viable path forward, all explored through genuine dialogue and a celebration of human ingenuity working in concert with nature’s intelligence. This is a podcast for those looking to move beyond the headlines and into the heart of what it means to build a truly regenerative future.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

Bioneers: Revolution From the Heart of Nature
Podcast Episodes
Nature’s Phoenix: Fire As Medicine [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:15
Contemporary Western fire science is integrating what Indigenous Peoples discovered over thousands of years of observation, and trial and error: fire is key to optimizing forest vitality and biodiversity. The merging of…
3-D Ocean Farming: Making a Living on a Living Planet [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Challenging American Patriarchy at Its Roots [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:15
Sociologist, storyteller, and best-selling author Anna Malaika Tubbs calls for dismantling the key system that has determined who actually gets to be considered human in the United States: The American patriarchy. She sa…
Backlash Moment: Converging at the Crossroads of Identity and Justice [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:15
When Donald Trump rode a wave of white anxiety into the White House, it was part of a backlash to the Obama presidency, one that revealed an increasingly explicit white nationalism and revived an overtly exclusionary age…
Vice to Virtue: From Carbon Crisis to Carbon Farming [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:15
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Duration: 29:15
Calling someone an “animal” means they’re less than human – not worthy of respect, rights, or even of life itself. But in truth — and in biological fact — human beings ARE animals. Scientists continue to find that intell…
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Duration: 29:15
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Duration: 29:15
The infinitely curious author and science writer Michael Pollan embraces the mystery at the heart of the great mystery of life: What is the nature of consciousness? And how can we understand consciousness when our only t…
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Duration: 29:15
History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes. From the historic Indigenous occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969 to the fossil fuel fights throughout Canada and the U.S. today, Indigenous resistance illuminates an activi…