Deep in the soul of the hot, wet swamps of the Congo, there is a tribe. It is here, in their wild, erotic Garden of Eden, that our closest cousins, the bonobos, live and share a powerful kind of pleasure, and make an extraordinary kind of love. 

Just in case you don’t know a bonobo from a bonsai tree, bonobos, classified as Pan paniscus in the textbooks, are also called pygmy chimpanzees in primatology circles. I call them the horniest chimps on Earth. Some scientists say they’re closer to humans than common chimps, though that’s debatable. They certainly look more like us, with their longer legs, smaller ears, more open faces with higher foreheads. Sexually speaking, the genitals of bonobo females are rotated forward like those of human females, so that they can have face-to-face sex rather than just "doggie style," with the male mounting from behind like most other primates. Basically, bonobos can do "it" in almost as many positions as we can, and they do do it--a lot. 

Bonobos have some kind of sex almost every day, usually several times a day. 

Like tantric sex practitioners, or just like two people very much in love, copulating bonobos often look deeply into each other’s eyes. 

But that’s not all that makes our kissin’ cousins, the bonobos, so worthy of our attention—worthy enough to be the official mascots of the Dr. Susan Block Institute (the staff of which we often call the "Bonobo Gang")! It’s not just how they have sex, but how they use sex-- to maintain friendly relationships, to ease stress (e.g., Don’t be nervous, come here and sit on my face), as a form of commercial exchange (e.g., I’ll give you a blowjob if you give me a banana), and to reduce violent conflict. That is, they seem to use sex to make peace. And that, in a coconut shell, is why I love bonobos. 

 

Above: "Goin' Downtown" is Common Practice Among Bonobos at the Zoo

Scientific observation has revealed that social interactions among bonobos are far less hostile than among common chimps. This is not to say that bonobos never fight--they just do so a lot less. Unlike common chimps (and humans, of course), bonobos have never been observed deliberately killing members of their own species. Among bonobos observed both in the wild and in captivity, sex and mutual pleasure are keys to keeping the peace, reinforcing social relations based upon the give and take of sensual, erotic pleasure rather than on pain and force and fear.

Apparently, all that hot sex just cools ‘em out. 

Bonobo "ladies" strengthen their friendships through "lesbian" sex, frequently performing what researchers call "genito-genital rubbing." The Mogandu people have a much cuter, more expressive name for this act of rapidly rubbing their large sensitive clitorises and labia against each other: hoka-hoka. Sounds like a sexy sort of dance, doesn’t it? That’s what it looks like, the bonobo tango, but it’s quick vulva-to-vulva action rather than slow cheek-to-cheek. Bonobo females grow closer to each other as they do the hoka-hoka, consolidating their social connections along with their orgasms. These highly sexed females are also far more likely to initiate sex with the males than any other great ape females (including humans!). So the bonobo guys get a pretty good deal: Give the ladies some respect, and get plenty of sex, all year ‘round. 

Above: Female Bonobos in the Wild Do the "Hoka-Hoka"

Moreover, since the males do get plenty of sex—from confident, horny females who disguise their ovulation time—they don’t compete with each other so much. That is, male bonobos don’t seem to partake in the deadly "wars" and raiding parties so prevalent among male common chimps, and humans. They also tend to resolve any conflicts they might have by mounting each other or engaging in oral or manual sex. As Dr. Franz de Waal points out in Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape, "common chimps resolve sexual issues with power. Bonobos resolve power issues with sex." The latter seems to be safer and more fun for everyone. I guess that means I’m not a Republican.. 

What I call "The Bonobo Way" is a very simple philosophy (after all, these aren’t geniuses, they’re chimpanzees) that we all know deep in our bones, but that we seem to forget in the midst of our busy, lonely, fearful, stressed, repressed, polluted, violent lives: 

Pleasure Eases Pain 
Good Sex Defuses Tension
Love  Lessens Violence
Females Rule
And You Can’t Very Well Fight a War
While You’re Having an Orgasm

My philosophy of Ethical Hedonism applies the principles of The Bonobo Way to the far more complex, civilized lives of human ladies and gentlemen. Ethical hedonism supports the repression of violence and the free, exuberant, erotic, raunchy, loving, peaceful, consensual expression of pleasure. Every day, as ethical hedonists, Max and I, the Bonobo Gang and our circle of friends try to practice the Bonobo Way of peace through pleasure. It’s a worthwhile path, has occasional potholes, but is lots of fun to travel. 

But meanwhile, the actual bonobo chimpanzees are extremely endangered. There are only between five and ten thousand in their natural habitat in the Congolese jungle, plus a few hundred scattered around zoos and primate centers throughout the world. That’s all. As war, the logging industry and environmental problems wreak havoc with their lives, their chances of survival drop further. Even though it’s against the law to kill bonobos, many desperate hunters do so anyway, killing adult bonobos for meat which they sell on the black market, and occasionally capturing babies to sell as pets to people who usually can’t take care of them.

The current war in the Congo is especially devastating to all forms of life in that rain forest, including the bonobos. Time is running out quickly. Our hairy, horny, kissin’ cousins will simply die out very soon if we humans don’t make an active effort to help them. 

There are various attempts at bonobo preservation by primatologists like Japan’s Takyoshi Kano in Africa, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh’s Bonobo Protection Fund in the United States and Sally Coxe's new Bonobo Conservation Initiative. Gay Reinartz at the Milwaukee Zoo is working to conduct a bonobo census, so we can get a clearer idea of just how endangered they are. Dr. Tony Rose and Karl Ammann are working through the Bushmeat Project to help save the bonobos and other Great Apes.

I hope that what you have learned here about the bonobos inspires you to practice the Bonobo Way of Peace through Pleasure, and to do what you can to help save the actual bonobos in the jungle.

"The Bonobo Way" is a revised excerpt from Dr. Block's book, The 10 Commandments of Pleasure, available through BlockBooks.com

For more information about how you can help save bonobos, go to The Bushmeat Project
The Bonobo Conservation Initiative
The Bonobo Protection Fund 

And you can always call us at 213.749.1330, whether you want to help save the bonobos or just save your own sex life. We’ll be here for you. 

NEW: Read Bonobo Initiative Director Sally Coxe's
Letter to Bonobo Faithful & Friends

NEW: Read Primate Conservation & Welfare Society Director Hope Walker's Letter to Dr. Susan Block

Read Erik Ness’ article in Grist Magazine about Dr. Susan Block’s uniquely exciting and controversial crusade to educate the public about bonobo chimpanzees and help save them from extinction. Then read Dr. Block's Response to Grist Magazine

      

Click Here to See & Hear Dr. Block's fascinating, disturbing, shocking, illustrated interview with  Dr. Tony Rose, award-winning director of the Bushmeat Project:

"THE BONOBO IMPERATIVE"

 

Need to Talk?

READ DR. SUSAN BLOCK'S
Open Letter to the President of The Democratic Republic of Congo

Listen to Dr. Block discuss Bonobos on the Dr. Susan Block Show

---

SAVE THE BONOBOS!

Coming Soon to Dr. Susan Block's Speakeasy Gallery:
SEXUAL EVOLUTION
An Erotic Art Exhibit of New Works that Explore & Celebrate Our Sexual Past, Present and Future as Humans and Sensuous Living Creatures of the Earth
Part of the Proceeds of "Sexual Evolution" will go to
Help Save the Bonobos and other Great Apes
Check out the Current Art at
Dr. Susan Block's VIRTUAL Speakeasy Gallery

The Dr. Susan Block Bonobo Foundation is dedicated to protecting, promoting and researching bonobo chimpanzees. The Foundation also works to educate humans in The Bonobo Way; that is, how these chimps use sex to maintain peace in their societies. There are only between 5,000 and 10,000 living bonobos in the world. War, the logging industry, environmental and political problems in their native habitat in the jungles of the Congo make the plight of the bonobos even more urgent.
Help us save our closest relatives from extinction.
For more information, please call 213.749.1330.

Portions of The Block Bonobo Foundation, sponsored by:

Need to Talk?

 
The Dr. Susan Block Institute
for the erotic arts & sciences