Amy Parish | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | University of Michigan University of California, Davis |
| Employer | University of Southern California |
| Known for | Bonobos Studies Darwinian Feminism |
Amy Parish is a biological anthropologist, primatologist, and Darwinian feminist. She has taught at the University of Southern California in the Gender Studies and Anthropology departments since 1999. She is recognised as being a world leading expert in bonobo studies.
Parish completed an undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan in 1989. [1] She received her Masters of Science from the University of California-Davis in 1990, where she completed her PhD. [2] Her dissertation focussed on sociosexual behaviour and the female-female relationships of bonobos, under the supervision of Sarah Blaffer Hrdy. [2]
After graduating UCD, Parish moved to University College London, where she worked with Volker Sommer on behavioural patterns of animals. [3] During this time Parish became an expert on bonobos. [4] [5] Whilst studying bonobos at San Diego's Wild Animal Park, she demonstrated a distinct preference of bonobo females for each other's company. [6] Parish moved to the University of Giessen in Germany, where she focussed on reciprocity. [7]
Parish uses an evolutionary approach to understand human behaviour. [8] In 1999 Parish joined the University of Southern California. [9] At USC she has taught eighteen different topics in across a range of disciplines, including Anthropology, Gender Studies, Arts and Letters, Health and Humanities, School of Education, Psychology. [10] She taught a course on "love, marriage and the experience of being a wife and on the cultural impact of Darwin’s theories". [11]
In 2012 she gave a talk at the Natural History Museum, where she revealed "bonobos have more sex, in more ways, and for more reasons, than most humans can imagine". [12] Whilst at Wilhelma, a zoo in Stuttgart, she observed "two females attack a male at the Stuttgart Zoo in Germany and bit his penis in half". [13] In 2013 Parish spoke at World Vasectomy Day about the Evolution of Contraception. [14] In 2016 she gave a keynote talk at the In2In Thinking Forum, "Apes, Power, and Sex: Why We Make War Not Love". [15]
Alongside research, Parish teaches English at La Jolla Country Day School. [16] [17]
For centuries, the mainly male evolutionary scientists overlooked the significance of female animals behaviour; treating it as a passive constant in a drama dominated by aggressive males. [18] Darwinian Feminism began when Parish and her then supervisor, Sarah Hrdy, began to reevaluate animal behavior. [1] Their goal has been simple; to pay equal attention to male and female interests. [18] In Bonobos, Parish found a matriarchal society, which she thinks "should give hope to the human feminist movement". [19] [13] Parish was featured in Angela Saini's 2017 book Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong and the New Research That’s Rewriting the Story . [20] [21]
Parish has been featured in Ms Magazine, as well as on the television Nova, National Geographic Explorer and Discovery Channel. [18] [22] Her research formed part of the PBS evolution library for teachers and students. [23] She regularly gives public talks about her research. [24] [10]
Parish is a fellow of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities. [25] She is on the board of the Kids Eco Club. [26] She is the scientific advisor for the Bonobo Conservation Initiative. [27] [28]
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