Koko the gorilla and sexual harrassment

As readers of this column probably know, I’m a fan of Koko , the well-known gorilla who was the first of her species (although not the first simian) to learn a human language. I have long followed the story of her education and accomplishments.

Thus, the accusation that the Gorilla Foundation, the organization responsible for caring for this remarkable ape, was being sued for sexual harassment caused me a deep consternation. Two women employees filed suit, charging that Dr. Penny Patterson, who is in charge of the experiment and acts as both Koko’s primary teacher and adoptive “mother,” interpreted Signs Koko made as requests to see the female workers’ nipples. Dr. Patterson was quoted as telling the gorilla, “You see my nipples all the time, Koko, so I’ll turn around and she’ll show you some new nipples.” The women said they were fired because they refused to flash the simian which Dr. Patterson supposedly said was something they had to do in order to establish a bond of trust with Koko.

Soon after the first two women filed their lawsuit, a third woman filed suit. She gave essentially the same story they did but said that she had taken off her top as requested and shown her breasts to Koko.

This whole story gave me quite a turn. I knew that Koko liked to rhyme “nipple” with “people.” An attorney for one of the women said, “This nipple thing has a history” and pointed out that the word “nipple” comes up frequently in Koko’s conversations.

It also seems to me that people at the Gorilla Foundation tend to want to make Koko as happy as possible and that could lead them to indulge her whims in bizarre fashions or what they interpret as her whims.

Some people who commented on the initial stories thought that it was probably Dr. Patterson, not the ape, who had the “fetish” and that the psychologist made interpretations based on what she fantasized.

I asked a couple of people I know if they would have indulged a gorilla who wanted to see their private parts exposed. Since the people I asked were men, they discussed the possibility of showing an ape their genitals. One of them said, “The gorilla can’t have any understanding of human modesty. You can see her nipples. I don’t know if I would show my genitals to her or not. If I thought it would build a bond of trust with the animal, I might.” The other man was similarly equivocal, saying, “I wouldn’t do anything actually sexual but if it was showing myself to her and I thought it would help in my work with the gorilla, I might do it.”

All three lawsuits were settled out of court. As a Gorilla Foundation supporter, I breathed a sigh of relief but I was still troubled by the entire situation. I wrote to the Foundation asking if Koko does indeed have a nipple fetish and if female employees had been expected to display their mammary glands to her. Lorraine Slater, Development Director of the Gorilla Foundation replied unequivocally, “Simply stated, Koko does not have a nipple fetish and no employee of the Foundation has ever been asked or expected to expose their breasts to Koko. Any suggestion to the contrary is false.”