Animal Equality : Language and Liberation [Hardcover]

Joan Dunayer (Author), Carol J. Adams (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2001

The first book on language and nonhuman oppression--and the most progressive animal-rights book to date--Animal Equality shows that deceptive, biased words sustain injustice toward nonhuman animals. Speciesism (prejudice against nonhuman animals) survives through lies. Animal Equality's compelling evidence of nonhuman thought and emotion debunks language that characterizes other animals as unreasoning or insensitive. Vivid descriptions of hunting, sportfishing, zoos, aquaprisons, vivisection, and food-industry captivity and slaughter reveal the cruelty that misleading words legitimize and conceal. Animal Equality also uncovers the speciesist attitudes and practices underlying much sexist and racist language. Every animal--nonhuman or human--deserves equal consideration and protection, Joan Dunayer argues. Offering pronoun, vocabulary, and style guidelines, she proposes new language that will bring us closer to nonhuman liberation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A giant step for animalkind.... intensely powerful: groundbreaking, definitive, comprehensive, compelling." -- Carol J. Adams, author of The Sexual Politics of Meat

"A major contribution to the advancement of both animal protection and our humanity." -- Dr. Michael W. Fox, Senior Scholar, Bioethics, Humane Society of the U.S.

"Brilliant and devastating. . . . a book of monumental importance for animal rights. A tour de force that has no equal." -- Tom Regan, author of The Case for Animal Rights

"Brilliant. . . . A great step forward in the march for justice for all persons, human and nonhuman." -- Jim Mason, coauthor of Animal Factories

"Powerfully eloquent [and] illuminating." -- Evelyn Pluhar, author of Beyond Prejudice

Anyone interested in changing the status of animals will find Animal Equality a valuable book. -- Peter Singer in Vegan Voice, December-February 2002

About the Author

Joan Dunayer is a writer whose publications include articles on a wide range of animal-rights and language issues. Her work has appeared in magazines, journals, college English textbooks, and anthologies. A former college English instructor, she has master's degrees in English education, English literature, and psychology. Animal Equality is her first book.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 283 pages
• Publisher: Ryce Pub (May 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970647557
• ISBN-13: 978-0970647559
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #576,741 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Book, February 28, 2002

By 

C. H. Young "peace to all beings" (Pine Plains, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Animal Equality : Language and Liberation (Hardcover)

We use words not only to inform -- but to deceive and retain our biases. This important book shows how we use words to cover-up and desensitize ourselves to our abuse and cruelty toward other species. It shows how our use language to support our attitudes toward non-human animals as being things or "tools." Dunayer also compares our speciesist language with our expressions of gender bias -- we use the term "mankind" for humankind and "lower" animals for all but humans.

Even people who are sensitive to our more obvious speciesist epithets (like the use of "animal" or "subhuman" to refer to bad actions and "pig" to refer to human sloppiness) and our use of impersonal pronouns when referring to non-humans -- even such sensitized people might still find themselves not exactly "off the hook" (also speciesist).

The book includes a useful thesaurus of speciesist terms and substitute, preferred expressions, as well as a list of style guidelines.

Although this is not a book that one can read in one sitting, it is an important work for both people who care about our treatment and "use" of animals as well as those who care about how we use language.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Language is powerful, July 7, 2002

By 

Lisa (Toronto Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Animal Equality : Language and Liberation (Hardcover)

Joan Dunayer compellingly argues that the cruel treatment of nonhuman animals (in vivisection, entertainment, sport, rearing/slaughter for food consumption, etc.) is often masked by the euphemisms we employ. We are all familiar with our tendency to call the flesh of dead cow "beef," but Dunayer digs deeper and calls for an end to other common practices that undermine the individuality and unique personality of each and every nonhuman animal that exists. "Wildlife management" groups facilitate hunting. "Animal welfare committees" often oversee research in which countless nonhumans are blinded, subjected to burns, and killed. Zoos market themselves as "wildlife conservationists," imprisoning sentient beings in cages and tanks, depriving them of natural stimuli, and driving them to repetitive and self-destructive behaviors.

Dunayer dispels the myth that language separates humans from nonhumans. Two of her many examples include Alex the African gray parrot who can count, identify objects, and convey fear and sorrow (all using human English), and Washoe the chimpanzee who learned American Sign Language then spontaneously taught it to her son.

The author draws analogies between the current treatment of nonhumans and past abuses of human slaves and women. (At one time both human slaves and women were not considered "persons," much like nonhumans today.) Words like emancipation and abolitionist are resurrected and applied to a cause just as worthy of our concern and immediate action.

The book incorporates a handy thesaurus of words that can be used as alternatives to speciesist terms (e.g. use "flesh" or "muscle" instead of "meat," use "captor" or "keeper" instead of "caretaker") as well as style guidelines for countering speciesism (e.g. use the term animals to include all creatures, human and nonhuman, with a nervous system; avoid expressions that elevate humans above other animals, such as human kindness, the rational species, the sanctity of human life).

This book is a very important building block in making the world a better place for everyone.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Is shooting a human also an act of kindness?, September 25, 2001

By 

Paul MacKenzie - See all my reviews

This review is from: Animal Equality : Language and Liberation (Hardcover)

Animal Equality masterfully delves into the deep-seated bias the English language contains concerning nonhuman animals. Dunayer crosses many different areas of animal exploitation to show how our language is manipulated to erase the individuality of individuals, remove the space from which empathy can naturally develop, and to justify immoral and cruel actions. This book is a great resource for open minded people and linguists who wish to delve deeper into how the language we use shapes our own reality. Dedicated to all nonhuman animals, Animal Equality is one big step towards a kinder and more compassionate future; a future void of Speciesism. Learn how the use of simple words like, animal, reinforces our exploitation of nonhuman animals by reading this book.