In 1919, after prolonged study, the Harvard ethologist William Morton Wheeler pronounced the male wasp 'an etiological nonentity'. An animal behaviourist had scrutinised the male wasp and found - no behaviour. We can well imagine the male wasp's response to such a verdict: his initial shock and hurt; his descent into a period of depressed introspection; his eventual decision to improve his act. For nowadays, according to a recent Scientific American, 'interest in the long-neglected male is flourishing, a tribute to the animal's broad array of activities.' Male humans will surely feel for their brothers in the wasp kingdom. After a phase of relative obscurity, we too have rallied. In fact, we seem to have bounced back pretty well immediately, with all kinds of fresh claims on everyone's attention. Male wounds. Male rights. Male grandeur. Male whimpers of neglect.

LRB 5 December 1991 | PDF Download