She, he, not it: Language, personal pronouns, and animal advocacy

Abstract

Abstract The move away from binary labels of he/she as all-encompassing terms, determined at birth, represents a tidal change in how humans are categorized. However, when it comes to animals other than humans, change appears only as drops in the linguistic bucket with slow progress in recognizing them as individuals, who are sexed, and whose treatment by us is determined by which sex they are assigned at birth. Language that continues to refer to them as “it”, for example, rather than “he” or “she” (when sex is known), and not as “they” when it is not, concretizes living beings in the category of object, not subject. This article discusses language as power and focuses on how language matters in the lives of animals other than humans. There is a brief discussion about the creation of animalsandmedia.org. This website is discussed in terms of what informed its creation, what fuels its maintenance, and finally, a media example that shows what using personal pronouns looks like, breaking with style recommendations. How we refer to animals does not reflect who they are, but rather who we are. This matters not only in the categorization and subsequent treatment of animals but also in broader ecological domains and well-being.