like if it were one "female" in a group of "males", she wouldn't be framed this way. they wouldn't call her the Alpha Dominant Female in her Harem of Males. this framing is only ever used in groups of all or mostly females (thinking of hyenas and sort of honeybees as well) and usually if a "male" is involved he surely MUST be the specialest and most important member of the group ever.
like in the hawkfish's case, why is this social dynamic presumed to revolve around the one male? they're protogynous and can change sex at will and yet organize themselves in groups of mostly females and few males--is the assumption that, because the males "compete" to be the "dominant male" that it must be an important position? if we paid greater attention to the females, would we see more of this behavior between females? what would the point be in competing for mates if they're protogynous fish? they literally reproduce through spawning and crucially don't raise their young so ?? there is also a presumption that egglaying is more resource intensive, and as such animals which have a choice in the matter will not generally choose to be egglayers and will instead choose otherwise. but generally, the signifiers of "maleness" in animals does not actually confer any special biological advantages and often poses a clear disadvantage instead--signifiers of "femaleness" instead, confer greater rates of survivability and resilience; if the idea is animals who can change their sex at will want to conserve resources, or want to be more resource-efficient, they will choose to be "female" more often--and they do seem to. the issue is sexism is so deeply embedded into science that no one would ever seriously posit that these animals are choosing to become female--femaleness simply happens to them, when the male hawkfish "loses" the "contest," he is emasculated and femaleness happens to him--there is no consideration that, perhaps, the contest is part of the mating ritual, a sort of 'prove to me you're worthy of having me'. he is becoming female and as such, this must be a sort of punishment for his failing to be male. it's fucking insane i'm going insane!!
