Paganistan: Notes from the Secret Commonwealth
In Which One Midwest Man-in-Black Confers, Converses & Otherwise Hob-Nobs with his Fellow Hob-Men (& -Women) Concerning the Sundry Ways of the Famed but Ill-Starred Tribe of Witches.
Gendering Animals
We be of one blood, you and I.
Animals have gender.
Animals—by which I mean, of course, non-human animals—are male and female, just like we are.*
Why then, in English, do we refer to animals as “it”?
If you think that there are religious implications here, you're right.
“Animals” are our kin. As such, they deserve to be accorded dignity and treated with respect.
As such, they deserve to be spoken of as he or she, not it.
In standard journalistic style sheets, named animals—by which is meant, those on whom human beings have bestowed names, like Lassie, Bambi, or Cecil—get to be dignified with gendered pronouns. So-called “unnamed” animals, however, merit only an inanimate it.
Well, screw that, say I. Just who do we think we are?
But wait, you say: How do I know if that squirrel in the tree is male or female?
Oh for gods' sakes. Do you honestly mean to say that you can't tell?
And you call yourself a pagan?
*Biologically speaking, of course, the situation is rather more complicated than that, but let's start there for now.
Photo: Paul B. Rucker
Comments
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Sunday, 19 August 2018
Thanks, Virginia: the better that we know others, the better we know ourselves.
That said, in the nature of things, we're probably more likely to be discussing a cow, or a turkey, or a honeybee than we are a snail or a slug.
I'll tell you. Some species.
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Sunday, 19 August 2018I'm afraid you're confusing gender with biological sex. Gender is grammatical, a product of language, which is a product of culture. We call a ship she, yet it is not even alive; we even call a ship she if she bears the name of a human male. In languages other than English, many things are called he or she which have no biological sex.
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Monday, 20 August 2018
Yes, thank Goddess English shed its grammatical genders 1000 years ago, as Old English morphed into Middle.
But no, there's no confusion here, Erin. The distinction between (biological) sex and (ascribed) gender that you speak of is a function of the human animal.
When speaking of non-human animals, however, the two terms are, in effect, synonymous.
"Sexing animals," after all, means something else. -
Monday, 20 August 2018The distinction between (biological) sex and (ascribed) gender that you speak of is a function of the human animal.
Quite. -
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Well, if you are discussing mammals and birds, yes. With snails and slugs, they are either "it" or "both gendered." Going further into invertebrates, you will find that binary gender is meaningless. Reptiles and insects have cases of females procreating without males. So that brings another dimension to the discussion of gender and sex.
"It" can be appropriate depending on the animal. I would prefer "They" and "Them."
Your friendly "Animal Wisdom" fellow blogger.