Given the genetic overlap alluded to by the 98.5% question in the headers for this site, do you think the genes that give rise to this behavior in bonobos might somehow be present in humans and so give rise to what we commonly consider to be deviant behavior? ” —David in Cambridge, England, is a freelance science journalist. By day, Ben Levin was the esteemed educator, tenured U of T professor, former Ontario deputy education minister, the expert who had the ear of premiers and leaders the world over. He liked to frequent an online incest chat room to counsel single moms on how to sexually assault their daughters for his pleasure and theirs, a site where his profile listed his sexuality as “nothing is taboo.” How frightening to think this was the man who had so much influence on education in this province and beyond. A look at his Facebook page shows that he was speaking at conferences and workshops around the globe before his July 2013 arrest. What makes us human, and what makes a chimp a chimp? Unlike chimps, bonobos utilize sex as a social networking tool. In this discussion, visitors to our web site had the chance to ask two researchers who have studied our simian relatives about the similarities and differences between the species. Their activity (in human terms) could be described as heterosexual, homosexual, incestuous, pedophilic, etc.
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