Both The Naked Ape and The Descent of Woman helped me get my head out of the man-as-pinnacle of evolution/created-in-God’s image conflation.
From the diary: “Sunday December 1, 1985
“Am reading The Descent of Woman by Elaine Morgan. Great book. Great sequel to The Naked Ape -- it refutes a lot of Desmond Morris’ sex constructions – breasts [are] for babies to hold onto instead of fur [our ancestors having lost their fur, rather than the] pseudobuttocks [intended to redirect sexual attention from the behind to the upfront that Desmond Morris suggests].
“I started to tell Mom about some of this and she had to know first what the woman’s qualifications were. Her first reaction wasn’t, as mine would be, ‘Oh, what do they say?’ but ‘Oh, what gives them the right to say that?’”
This diary entry comes before the one that refers to The Color Purple. Same argument?
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