2008-12-15

Two female swans that have formed a couple. © Staffan Waerndt, Naturhistoriska riksmuseet

Move me, stir me, upset me

After visiting the “Rainbow Animals” exhibition in Stockholm our correspondent Ida Rutström wanted to see more of what was affecting and unusual.

Like the slightly confused, thinking and reflecting twenty-one year old that I am, I constantly seek out encounters and events that will stimulate my thoughts. I recently visited the “Rainbow Animals” exhibition which is showing at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, something I had been longing to do ever since I heard that it was to open.

Homosexuality in the animal kingdom

“Rainbow Animals” is an exhibition based on research by the American biologist Bruce Bagemihl into homosexuality in the animal kingdom. The exhibition is a bit tame and could well have been more daring and provocative. But, in spite of this, it is an important exhibition because it challenges the very basis of many of our normative ideas about sexuality.

A new view

My visit gave me an afternoon filled with lengthy discussions with my co-visitors about prejudices and how the world works. The fact that homosexuality appears normally in various types of animals provides people with a new view of our sexuality. This can upset and move people – and it can remind us of the most fundamental reason for humanity continuing to develop: that we never fasten in our ordinary ways of thinking and our notions of what is normal.

Questioning

I intend to take everyone from my grandmother to my younger sister to the exhibition so that we can discuss for hours things that are more important than what we are going to do at the weekend; that we need to be reminded that we should constantly be questioning things. That this develops us as individuals, as human beings, people and society. I consume books, feelings, music and pictures like a starving person. Among all the thousands of impressions every day, it is searching for whatever rocks my preconceived notions that causes me to carry on consuming.

“Like a hand-knitted jersey on bare skin”

As my tired, selective memory discards things, I want more of what sticks. I want to be moved, stirred or upset. I want more than mere information. I demand that something extra that demands something extra from me. I want to be reminded that I don’t know everything. I am greedy and I want more of whatever it is that irritates the eye and opens up new ways of viewing my everyday life. Give me more of being moved, stirred and upset. As a Christmas present for you I want new reflections, thoughts and a visit to the “Rainbow Animals” exhibition

Ida Rutström