Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
doves are a potent biblical symbol, but this rarely affords them much protection
except, it would appear, in those places such as Belize where older traditions of
animism may persist beneath an overlay of Christianity and continue to influence
everyday attitudes and practices.
Gendered attitudes
Responses to 'Do men and women vary with respect to their attitudes towards
animals?' included perceptions of gendered preferences and attitudes towards
animals:
ALICE: Men like horses and dogs…some women like dogs and cats…very few
men like cats.
LAURA: Men like snakes.
VIVIAN: The idea that they [men] are better than animals…that they try to have …
control.
SUSAN: Men are harsh…men are harder on animals than women…. Men are real
rough with animals and women are more soft.
Interacting here are the social and gendered constructions of both animals and
gender itself. Accordingly, gender seems to structure attitudes towards, and values
of, animals, practices involving animals, and animal-specific preferences.
The notion that men are 'better', 'harder', 'harsh' and 'real rough' with animals is
consistent with post-colonial and feminist literature on the violent and oppressive
history of, generally, white patriarchal societies and value systems towards women,
(other) peoples and the environment. The idea of male control, as posed by Vivian,
was reflected in Alice's comment on gendered preference, noting that dogs and
horses tend to be preferred by men over, say, cats (generally considered an animal
with more of a 'feminine' character). That dogs and horses may be considered the
two most successful cases of domestication (control) in the course of human history
is significant. Although posed separately and with different intent, each of these two
comments reinforces the construction of 'male' as dominant, oppressive,
controlling.
The idea was found in earlier areas of discussion as well. In various ways, male
family members, especially fathers, were the decision-makers on the fate of animals.
They were the hunters (Bernadette, Frankie), the dispatchers of family pets (as in
the case of Alice's dog, Benjamin), the 'professionals'; in effect, the 'keepers' of animals
with all of the power and control that position entails. Consider the following
statements:
BERNADETTE: They [father and friends] weren't 'fishermen', they were
'professionals'.
IRENE:
[A male] friend came from the islands and [brought] real small
monkeys that fit in our pocket…but they…recently died. He had
a big iguana; jumped off his balcony…his house was like a zoo.
