Cats Are Not Things, They Are Living Beings
We all have certain trigger points. Me, I can run my fingernails down a chalkboard and it doesn’t bother me in the least. But other sounds, even certain words and how they are used can either send a shiver down my spine or cause me to interject and correct the other person. When I hear a person say Illinois with the s on the end, I shiver a little but I don’t feel compelled to correct them. But when I hear someone refer to a cat as “it”, I automatically interrupt and say, she or he, cats are not things they are living beings. “It” is one thing you should never call a cat or any animal.
Yesterday I was looking over student projects. There is a peer review requirement where one student evaluates another student’s work to help with clarity, grammar, formatting and content. One of the students corrected another student’s use of the pronoun “she” referring to a big cat. In the track changes I saw “she” deleted and ” it” was inserted. I sat back in my chair and let out a long heavy sigh.
The Power of One Word
There is power in the words we choose to use when referring to an animal. “It” refers to an animal as a thing, an object, as property. I remembered a conversation last November with a vendor at the Alley Cat Allies conference . She was explaining how we could microchip our own cats. I answered that I would not feel comfortable inserting a chip into my cats as I am not a veterinarian. She responded, your cats are your property. You can do whatever you want with them. That made me shiver and I calmly replied, cats are not property. They are living beings, not things. Yes, it was awkward. But it is important to remind others whenever we get a chance that animals are not things. If we are to continue to make progress for the humane treatment of animals, we cannot remain quiet when another refers to animals as things. It is a subtle but powerful distinction.
The Choice of Pronoun Matters
When Jane Goodall submitted her first scientific paper for publication on her groundbreaking research on the social life of chimpanzees in Tanzania, the paper was rejected. The publisher returned the paper replacing every “he” and “she” with “it” and every “who” with “which” where Goodall referred to individual animals. Goodall changed every word back to its original form and resubmitted refusing to back down. This was unprecedented and the paper was eventually accepted.
Last week as part of the global birthday celebration for Dr. Goodall’s 80th birthday, there was a Google+ Hangout on Air that was hosted in conjunction with Google Earth Outreach and Connected Classrooms. About 27:17 minutes into the 30 minute hangout, the host from National Geographic refers to a chimp as “it” and Goodall quietly yet sternly interrupts and says, “She please. Animals are not its.” 50 years later, Dr. Goodall is gently reminding others that animals are not things.
So yesterday, I sat back up in my chair, and I deleted the “it” referring to the big cat and reinserted the original “she” into the student’s paper. The pronoun matters when we speak and write about animals.