Stop Calling Animals ‘It’
Non-human animals aren’t objects, they’re someones
At its core, veganism is simply a philosophy that rejects the exploitation of animals. However, the vegan movement is full of different ideas, expanding and broadening as time passes. Intersectionality, a term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, is, in her words, “…a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects. It’s not simply that there’s a race problem here, a gender problem here, and a class or LBGTQ problem there. Many times that framework erases what happens to people who are subject to all of these things.” Intersectionality is what inspires some animal rights activists to fight for the rights of oppressed slaughterhouse workers or for expanding access to fresh produce for those living in food deserts, and allows us to make links between structural racism and misogyny and the violence perpetrated against animals.
Language is one of the next big frontiers for the vegan philosophy, and we as activists have an opportunity to influence others to change something that may seem innocuous to the average person: Referring to other animals as if they’re objects.
There’s no arguing that the way we choose to express ourselves can impact our own perception and…
