Feminists and civil rights campaigners are well aware of the power of words. For example, until a decade ago, it was usual to say "he" to refer to either a man or a woman. But feminists pointed out that this meant that the woman was secondary to the man, since the feminine meaning was incorporated within the male. The words used to describe other races have also fallen into disrepute. While words like "nip" and "nigger" mean the same as "Japanese person", and "African", the connotations are not quite the same.
In the same way, if people use "it" to refer to an animal they are objectifying that animal. Apart from a few species that are genuinely hermaphrodite or neuter, all animals have gender. It is neither correct nor respectful to use "it".
Words are often used to disguise the abusive relationship which some humans have to other animals. For example, some people use the word "game" to describe animals which are traditionally killed for sadistic pleasure. The word gives a spurious legitimacy to a process in which an insecure human being tries to prop up his or her self-esteem by killing or maiming another creature. Genuine games involve equal partners, both of whom benefit from the relationship.
Indeed, sometimes one feels that there is a genuine sense of shame in the attempt to disguise what is really going on. For example, slaughter-houses in America are often referred to as "meat-packing plants" as if packing up the end product were the main thing that they do. Some slaughter-houses even refer to "harvesting" rather than "killing" the animals. An alternative word is "abattoir", which sounds good because it comes from French.
English even has different words for animals when they are alive and when their bodies are ready to eat. "Pigs" become "pork", "calves" become "veal" and "deer" become "venison". The vocabulary arose because, after the Normal Conquest, the people who were waited on at high table spoke French, while the people who looked after the animals spoke a language which had developed from Anglo-Saxon. Although the different terminology did not arise to disguise this distinction, it has the same effect as if it had: many English speakers find the thought of eating "dead pig" less appealing than eating "pork".
Some languages even use different words to describe the same biological behaviour, depending on who is carrying it out. For example, in German, the word "essen" means to eat, but only if you are a human. The word "fressen" is exactly the same, except that you have to be some other species (or a very vulgar human). English uses the words "copulate" and "breed" when referring to other animals, but exactly the same physiological processes in humans are called something different.
Even relationships with animals which appear to be non-abusive use language which gives away their true purpose. The word "pet", for example, suggests that the main "purpose" of a dog or cat is to be petted. But dogs and cats do not have purposes, any more than humans do. Nor are they "owned" like a car or a washing machine. They are not a party to the belief system which included the financial transaction which brought them into contact with the humans who look after them. It would be no more meaningful for me to go to Romania and buy an orphan child, and believe that I owned the child.
The idea of "pet" suggests, quite accurately, that the human treats the animal as a surrogate child, and gets physical contact that would be inappropriate or difficult with another human. This is not quite the healthy relationship of equals that we started out with a few thousand years ago. A healthy relationship with a dog or cat would be one in which the animal is seen as a companion (and referred to as such), and has maximum freedom to carry out his or her natural instincts.
Abusive relationships between different races and sexes have not been eliminated by changing the vocabulary. However, it has been accepted that words carry political meaning. Using the word "nigger" is not a neutral way of describing a black person. In the same way, using different vocabulary to describe those characteristics and behaviour which we share with other species is an attempt to create a distinction where none exists. Moreover, this is not done for a benign reason, but to disguise a number of unpleasant truths.
Think about it.
