mimesexuality 11: ad finem

you can't fight mother nature

a 19th-century tintype photograph

ad finem

Mimesexuality is not a deviation, not a modern phenomenon, not an aberration to be corrected—it is a recurring feature of human sexual dynamics, emerging wherever competition, selection, and recognition create openings for mimicry. (Here, Darwin—natural selection does not favor truth; it favors survival.) The mimic survives because the system is not perfect. Because identity is not absolute. Because recognition—though sharp—is never flawless. To understand this is not to condemn him, but to place him in the structure where he has always belonged.

The failure, then, is not in the existence of the mimic, but in our collective inability to recognize him for what he is. When mimicry is left unchecked, when doubt is mistaken for proof, when hesitation is rewritten as conversion, mimesexuality ceases to be one phenomenon among many and becomes the dominant framework into which all sexual uncertainty is absorbed. The gay man becomes a failed mimic. The woman’s body becomes a category that must be shared. The adolescent’s unease becomes a predetermined truth. And when the mimic’s delusion is mistaken for reality, reality itself bends under the weight of maintaining it.

A humane society does not eliminate mimicry (nor could it; nor should it). It learns to manage it. To protect women without cruelty. To protect young people without coercion. To protect the mimesexual himself from the trap of self-delusion, from the instability of an identity that requires constant external reinforcement. To recognize mimicry is to free everyone from the demand that they participate in its expansion. And once that demand is lifted, balance—necessary, overdue—can return.

appendix bestiiformis

Here’s a small list of mimesexuality in nature, a tiny sample

• Mimic Octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus)—shape-shifting invertebrate genius (pretends to be crabs, sea snakes, and—on occasion—females).

• Mourning Cuttlefish (Sepia plangon)—divided loyalties (male on one side, female on the other—fooling everyone simultaneously).

• Giant Cuttlefish (Sepia apama)—cephalopod Casanova (small males disguise themselves as females and sneak past the brawlers).

• Pygmy Cuttlefish (Sepia bandensis)—tiny, tactical, and a master of soft deception (camouflages into the background—of a female harem).

• Green Spoonworm (Bonellia viridis)—if you’re male, you don’t become the female—you live inside her (parasitic marriage at its finest).

• Photuris Fireflies (Photuris spp.)—not here to mate, just to murder (females mimic the signals of other species to lure in hopeful males—for a meal).

• Scorpionflies (Panorpa spp.)—some males mimic females to avoid fights (because sometimes, being a bad boy is less effective than being a convincing girl).

• Rove Beetles (Staphylinidae)—males shrink, feminize, and sneak into harems (tiny infiltrators, exploiting territorial blindness).

• Leaf Beetles (Chrysomelidae)—males take on female coloration to avoid aggression (fashion-forward deception).

• Pine Sawflies (Neodiprion sertifer)—males mimic female pheromones (an evolutionary “you up?” text).

• Marine Isopods (Paracerceis sculpta)—three-tiered society: territorial bruisers, fighters, and effeminate males who live among the ladies (guess who’s winning?).

• Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis)—the polite, less aggressive male gets more chances (deception, but make it wholesome).

• Golden Orb-Weaver Spiders (Nephila pilipes)—small males keep a low profile and wait for the big guys to tire out (patience is a strategy).

• Giant Wood Spiders (Nephila spp.)—hanging out quietly until the female is distracted (a very literal take on “sneaky link”).

• Belted Sandfish (Serranus subligarius)—sex-fluid opportunists (can change sex depending on who’s around).

• Clownfish (Amphiprioninae)—where the biggest female rules, and males switch teams as needed (power-based sexual politics, but in a coral reef).

• Wrasses (Labridae)—males resemble females until the moment is right (the art of blending in, then striking).

• Bluehead Wrasse (Thalassoma bifasciatum)—males oscillate between dominance and deception (when life makes you small, make smallness work).

• Striped Parrotfish (Scarus iseri)—males adopt female coloration (better to be unnoticed than beaten up).

• Rock Gobies (Gobius paganellus)—males pretend to be less dominant (because nobody punches the nerd).

• Northern Pike (Esox lucius)—juveniles sometimes mimic females to dodge fights and breed early (small fish, big brain).

• Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens)—small males blend in with females and slip past the gatekeepers (like sneaking into VIP at the club).

• Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch)—the jacked “hooknose” males battle, while the “jack” males just slide into the spawning grounds unnoticed (work smarter, not harder).

• Bitterlings (*Rhodeuamarus*)—certain males to access spawning sites (acting coy = reproductive success).

• Red Sided Garter Snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis)—males fake female pheromones to gain warmth and later sneak in matings (warm-blooded deception).

• Garter Snakes (Thamnophis elegans)—males pretend to be females temporarily (sometimes being left alone is the better strategy).

• Side-blotched Lizards (Uta stansburiana)—the evolutionary rock-paper-scissors (dominant orange, territorial blue, and sneaky yellow, who looks just enough like a female).

• Sand Lizards (Lacerta agilis)—males resemble females in size and coloring to reduce detection (camouflage as a dating strategy).

• Swordtail Fish (Xiphophorus nigrensis)—small males lack flashy tails, but make up for it with deception (winning without trying to win).

• Bearded Dragons (Pogona vitticeps)—some males develop female-like features due to temperature-based sex reversal (nature’s experimental phase).

• Tree Frogs (Hyla spp.)—some males call less and mimic juvenile movement to avoid drawing attention from rivals (quiet boys win too).

• Mourning Doves (Zenaida macroura)—certain males use female postures to defuse aggression (body language as survival).

• Great Tits (Parus major)—some males mimic female plumage (a visual hack for social acceptance).

• Eurasian Wrynecks (Jynx torquilla)—some males mimic juveniles to avoid territorial fights (playing small to win big).

• Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus)—females sometimes adopt male traits (aggression comes in many disguises).

• Spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum)—males sometimes reduce sexual signaling to avoid competition (sometimes subtlety is strategy).

• Northern Elephant Seals (Mirounga angustirostris)—some males go silent, stay small, and sneak into harems while dominant bulls fight (stealth over strength).

• Mojave Desert Tortoises (Gopherus agassizii)—males with smaller heads look like females to avoid male aggression (mimicry as a peace treaty).

• Dusky Dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obscurus)—younger males sometimes act submissive to avoid fights while still sneaking in matings (low-key charmers).

• Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes)—juveniles alter their vocalizations and movement to mimic females near aggressive males (the art of going unnoticed).

• Long-tailed Macaques (Macaca fascicularis)—beta males act submissive (until the alpha isn’t looking).

• Spotted Hyenas (Crocuta crocuta)—female hyenas develop pseudo-penises, not for deception, but for social dominance (evolutionary feminism at work).

• Zebra Finches (Taeniopygia guttata)—males mimic female coloring when competition is too high (a soft boy survival technique).

• Puffball Fish (Tetraodontidae)—some species alter their shape and movement to confuse mates (flexibility is key).

• Gray Wolves (Canis lupus)—some lower-ranking males alter vocalizations to sound less dominant and avoid conflicts (tone matters).

• Wild Horses (Equus ferus)—some stallions mimic the behavior of young mares to avoid aggression from dominant males (playing weak to stay strong).

• Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta)—certain males adopt juvenile-like behavior to gain tolerance in groups (playing innocent to survive).

• Bonobos (Pan paniscus)—males sometimes adopt juvenile or female-like behaviors to reduce tension and avoid aggression (flirting as conflict resolution; sex as diplomacy).

• Humans (Homo sapiens)—the only species where mimicry becomes identity, and identity becomes ideology (sometimes biology, sometimes theater, always politics).

• The Mimic (Dungeons & Dragons)—not biological, but spiritual kin (takes the form of an ordinary object—treasure chest, door, chair—then attacks when someone gets too close). Unlike nature’s mimics, this one doesn’t reproduce. It just eats you. (The final evolution of deception: not for sex, not for survival—just pure, predatory trickery.)

• Boggart (Harry Potter)—takes the form of your deepest fear, a mimic that weaponizes perception itself (not to mate or feed, but to terrify).

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  (More than biology, now a war of words.)

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  I admit—I detest scientism, that glib overreach where science becomes not method but religion (lab coats as vestments, jargon as scripture). And I have no patience for the compulsive habit of lacing sentences with foreign words—when perfectly serviceable English ones exist. (Why say jouissance when you mean pleasure? Why murmur différance when difference will do?) It’s a tic, a flourish, a way to signal membership in the right intellectual cocktail party (Levi’s black turtleneck optional; references to Saussure mandatory).

• And yet—irresistible. (I indulge, I confess.) Because to write essays like these, soaked in biology, mimicry, the theater of delusion, it feels only fitting to serve postmodernism its own cocktail—shaken, not stirred, with a twist of its favorite affectations. A dose of their own medicine (bitter, perhaps, but familiar). If it comes off fatuous, offensive, or unrepentantly smarty-pants—well, I offer no apology, except that it’s done with a wink. (After all, they started it.)

Chapter for chapter.

• incipendum or “the beginning” (in principio seemed a bit much)

• videor, ergo sum or “I am seen, therefore I am” (as opposed to cogito, ergo sum, I think therefore I am)

• scutum mimesis or “Shield of imitation” (or what a disguise)

• subdolus fornicator or “sneaky fucker” (best phrase ever)

• accessus liber or “Free access” (as opposed to substack subscription)

• sagitta recta or “Straight as an arrow” (need I say more)

• ludus incognitus or “Unknown game” (the hardest one to win)

• tempus fugit or “Time flies” (coincidentally, like an arrow)

• terra dubia or “Doubtful land” (as opposed to incognita)

• apparentia inexorabilis or “Inevitable appearance” (party crasher)

• ad finem or “to end” (not “the” end)