Today's Frog Article (1/10/2025)
Why were scientists assuming that sex and gender are binary? Why, Packer asked, were they proceeding under the assumption that male = masculine = aggressive, while female = feminine = passive?
Lambert had questioned several assumptions that well-meaning biologists had previously left unquestioned, namely: 1.) that queer sex among frogs is unnatural, 2.) that tadpole sex changes are unnatural, and 3.) that intersexed frogs are not only unnatural but also cannot reproduce.
In some ways, Lambert’s earlier research on frog sex was squarely situated within dominant narratives. For example, he used terms such as “demasculinized” frogs, which treats variation in sexual expression as a pathology, though such terms are—unfortunately—standard in his field.
Lambert’s openness to the messiness of life took him from being someone who uncritically aligned himself with the mainstream scientific story that male frogs are “feminized” by hormone-interfering chemicals to someone who embraces queer feminist possibilities for frog physiology and sexual behavior, and subsequently finds data that support alternative explanations, thus adding to our knowledge of basic biology.