I know that I am a “she” and my desk is an “it.” My husband, sitting over there working, is a “he” and all the stuff around us is “it”: speakers, art, guitars, wrapping paper, printers, books. All that stuff that’s important to us, but it’s all stuff. It’s all an “it.”
While we call my computer “Ms. Mac,” she doesn’t have any internal organs nor can she think or feel, so she’s really an “it.” Our cars don’t have names, and we like them a lot, but they don’t carry any endearing titles. I imagine that if we named them, we might keep them cleaner, as in, “Betsy needs a bath,” or “Tony needs an oil change.”
So we generally call living things who breathe and eat and play and sleep “he” or “she.” Things that are stuff and don’t have a face or don’t go poop are “it.”
What I continue to find amazing is that people call animals “it.” Even animal rights people I know. An animal is referred to as “it” until they speak or have a name or maybe the person determines the animal’s gender. So Wilbur in Charlotte’s Web was “it” until they named him.
What is the significance of that? I firmly believe that it makes all the difference in the world. It’s part of the dominion we hold… it’s speciesism. I wonder if African slaves were referred to as things instead of beings. I cringe when I hear people refer to a human baby as “it.”
When a cow is an “it,” we can do anything we like to her. When she is a “she,” she belongs on a sanctuary with other cows who have names and who are loved. How can we love something that’s an “it?” We can’t, and that’s the key to turning our backs on living things that are going to be killed or don’t need the same treatment we do.
I sometimes edit books I read to the kids… changing burger to tofu, for example. But the most-often edited word I come across is “it.”
It was interesting to explore sexist language at San Francisco State. The one I’ve given up on is the use of “he” when gender is unknown. People say that it’s just easy to use the masculine… it’s a simplification and doesn’t mean anything. Just like using “it” doesn’t mean the person hates animals or human babies.
But what is the culture implication? Language is everything. Everything!